Stage Adaptation

[Fhegy]

Now this, I do like! I hope your play will get the attention it deserves.
But you what else would be awesome? Katawa Shoujo The Musical~!

[ContinualNaba]

Not to dip my fly in the ointment, but...

... eh. Give it a shot.

[traitor]

and you know how chapter 1 is full of Hisao being snarky and having thoughtful observations at everything. How are you going to act that out? Have monologues playing in the background? Have him speak to the audience? Let him break into a song?

Katawa Shoujo The Musical~!

[DRKO]

I believe asides are used for the purpose of conveying the actor's thoughts to the audience.

[neumanproductions]

Katawa Shoujo The Musical~!

Actually I feel like a musical for this sense could be strongly supported if a single path is chosen but the plot does incorporate all of the aspects. This would of course require a bit of a rewrite on the part of the story as a whole. The First Act of the musical would in essence be the first act of the VN followed by the second act with Hisao actually choosing one of the girls in the sense of the anime adaptation of "Shuffle!".
In fact, if I had some people who had musical aptitude in the sense that they could compose the music while I write the lyrics we might actually be able to make a hit production out of this. Overall, my view of a musical would have to drop the audience participation piece, as I have stated it will need to be written with a definite ending in mind; which I have no problem doing. Definitely comes with the territory of writing a script, and if I had more time then 10 minutes, I would have done something like this for a project I had been the director/playwright from this year provided the Team's permission.
Think of the concept of "RENT" for those who know it or even the events of "Hair" when they hit Broadway. Sure, this concept might not make it that far but it could be surprisingly successful by hitting on a topic that shakes the foundation of theatre to some degree. After all, that is what theatre is there for, to really go out there and throw something interesting into the mix.

and you know how chapter 1 is full of Hisao being snarky and having thoughtful observations at everything. How are you going to act that out? Have monologues playing in the background? Have him speak to the audience? Let him break into a song?

In this sense it has something to do with what DRKO says about asides but they are not necessarily needed. As an actor, it is very important to convey meaning simply though the actions and facial expression. And of course an adaptation into a script for performance is entirely different from a written form that is meant to be read. Just think about adapting books into movies and such; there is extra material to make up for certain cuts and such or parts are cut all together.
Sometimes Hisao might speak to the audience or to himself in a manner (such as slightly rewriting the part where he first meets Hanako in the library) but I would envision it as being done more by his interactions with people. If you've seen as many revisions as I’ve done to my script before performance you would be astounded at how much goes into adapting a script.

In a general musical picture I would envision each of the 5 girls (Shizune is using Misha to represent her voice) having a song involving a description of who they are as a person or having to do with their hobbies when Hisao in the vicinity with them. (Meaning Shizune/Misha get a huge number on trying to get Hisao to join the student council) Of course Kenji would get a song as well in both the first and last act.
I would also play the story to the concept of one of my Fanfics and that of Leotrak’s “Numbered Days” where one or two of the girls are those that are really in love with him while two just see him as a friend and the last one has mixed emotions that get expressed at some point but throughout is troubled seeing that Hisao might have feelings for another.
I really do have a knack for this I think.

Hey devs, let me ask this question. If I work on writing a musical version of this pending release would you allow me to present it to the community theatre and see how it goes over? I would of course make mention where the concept and original idea lies but I would like to verify now if I have the go ahead by the entire team.
First of all, because if this makes any money (hypothetically speaking) I would like to know that I’m not getting sued for having stolen the idea but I would for sure give full credit to all you for the source and maybe we could work out a compromise.
And secondly, it makes me feel better knowing I have the original developers on my side. Considering you guys/gals are in no way considering pitching for an anime adaptation (despite the current sucess in the Japanese fanbase) and weren't intending on this going any farther than a single VN.
My main point of using this is as a base to build my first major script around that isn’t meant to be a movie. (Since I wrote a script back in HS for a movie and got it turned down by a few companies I will not name) So perhaps having a stronger, passionate base will be just what I need to get the job done. And i'm sure to have a few friends who can write music that I have met around through my VA and college ventures.

[Fhegy]

Lot-sa Text

Really, I'm kinda glad that you like my idea?
But if you have the guts and the permission to do this, then I wish you the very best of luck!
It would be really cool if you succeeded with your ambitions!

[thepurpleknight]

Given the height of our stage space, we probably can't use the skyrunners. Realistic prosthetics are probable the best way to go, even if it is a little disappointing.

[thepurpleknight]

Katawa Shoujo The Musical~!

All That Jazz

That sounds like a brilliant idea! I really hope you succeed. As for Hisao's internal monologue, we would definitely have asides, though some of it would be cut, in favor of adapting the dialogue to show his responses more thoroughly.

[Razzmatazz]

Katawa Shoujo The Musical~!

Overall, my view of a musical would have to drop the audience participation piece, as I have stated it will need to be written with a definite ending in mind; which I have no problem doing. Definitely comes with the territory of writing a script, and if I had more time then 10 minutes, I would have done something like this for a project I had been the director/playwright from this year provided the Team's permission.

Actually the idea of multiple endings has been used to moderate success in musicals before, 'The mystery of Edwin Drood' or just 'Drood' as I believe it now goes by uses it really effectively. Based on Dickon's unfinished novel of the same name, the show has a set script however in the last section the audience is asked to say who they believe the murderer is (its a murder mystery of sorts), and which couple should end up together, depending on the choice a reprise of one of the previous songs is sung, I believe there were 10 possible endings all together for it.

I agree the entire multiple choice path system would be near impossible to replicate but having multiple endings with the audience voting on the girl he ends up with I reckon could work amazingly well, with a different lot of dialogue leading into a reprise of the girl's signature song (as what normally happens with musicals) but turned into a duet that Hisao could join in with.

Its a hard weight up though because the full multiple path options could work really well incorporated into a straight theatre piece, however KS could work so well as a musical as well, music just heightens everything, hell I refuse to play the demo without having the music on, its just seems incomplete without it.

[neumanproductions]

Katawa Shoujo The Musical~!

Overall, my view of a musical would have to drop the audience participation piece, as I have stated it will need to be written with a definite ending in mind; which I have no problem doing. Definitely comes with the territory of writing a script, and if I had more time then 10 minutes, I would have done something like this for a project I had been the director/playwright from this year provided the Team's permission.

I agree the entire multiple choice path system would be near impossible to replicate but having multiple endings with the audience voting on the girl he ends up with I reckon could work amazingly well, with a different lot of dialogue leading into a reprise of the girl's signature song (as what normally happens with musicals) but turned into a duet that Hisao could join in with.
Its a hard weight up though because the full multiple path options could work really well incorporated into a straight theatre piece, however KS could work so well as a musical as well, music just heightens everything, hell I refuse to play the demo without having the music on, its just seems incomplete without it.

The hard part to this extent would be the concept that after act one the paths are strongly set so in truth I will really have to wait for awhile until after the release to see what I can work with. Hopefully, I can have the script done sometime in summer with the score as well depending on how well I can get a musical writer to work with me in the coming months.
I really wanted the devs permission though first to go along with this but it seems they are a little busy geting ready for the release so i'll start rough drafting act one and wait for them to get back to me.

[purple haired Katawa Shoujo character]

>only doing Act 1
>no H-scenes

sounds like a terrible play.

[anonymous guest person]

Katawa Shoujo The Musical~!

I can already see the Misha/Shizune number - Shizune tapdancing around stage signing, as Misha interprets everything loudly in the form of either metal or opera.

[Sajomir]

Regarding prosthetics, going for the 'realistic" ones is probably gonna be your best bet. Why not either have the actress wair painted leggings of some kind, or otherwise do a sound effect bit where she knocks on her shins early on and a generic wooden/metal/whatever sound plays?

[ThreeStep]

You're probably better off contacting the devs directly instead of posting in places they're not guaranteed to notice it.

[Sajomir]

You're probably better off contacting the devs directly instead of posting in places they're not guaranteed to notice it.

Silentcook was one of the first repliers.