Seagull the Musical or When a word is the key...
“When you’re working on an adaptation, the benefit is that audience come to see and they
already feel some attachment to those characters, they already have some expectations. The
challenge is that they’re also coming and feel ownership of that.”1 This quote of playwright Kate
Hamill interprets how challenging goal it may be to adapt a play, book or a movie for theatre
stage. However, an opportunity to bring to life a new performance, putting your own stamp on it
whilst being driven and motivated by vision of something yet unseen, have been the main factors
that encouraged me to choose the topic of adapting a random playtext into a musical theatre
genre. Because of being incredibly inspired by rich debate on one of our workshops and
considering it a perfect material for storytelling through music, I am presenting my own plan of
putting on a new musical theatre adaptation of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov’s The Seagull. In this
essay I am discussing the most important aspects of a new production with emphasis on
adaptation, music, directing and rehearsal process. By presenting my own ideas that popped into
my head during long-lasting research as well as supporting whole process of creating the piece
by words of experts from the field, I am giving general overview of a production that could one
day has its premiere on big stage. Ladies and gentleman, may I proudly present to you... Seagull
the Musical!
Thinking about what approach to choose and deciding what I wish to say by my version, I knew
that the good starting point will be to get as many opinions on adaptations of classic texts as
possible. Director Simon Stone on adapting Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard says: “The way I
approach adaptations is to treat these early modernist works as if they were already myths, which",
like other pieces of mythology, exist outside time or place.”2 Therefore, it is your choice of
environment and time period. If you see a picture in front of you while reading the play, you should
develop it. Importance of being familiar with the text is belief of Mike Poulton who states that “...
there’s the language. You have to know what every line means and every shade of meaning
1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTMUKbcZyKU Kate Hamill, Working in the Theatre: Adaptation, American
Theatre Wing, 24th January 2018
2 Simon Stone, Adapting a classic, Melbourne Theatre Company, 5th August 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTMUKbcZyKU
existing under the line.”3 Influenced by opinions like this, I have decided to create musical theatre
piece where music, singing, dance and acting come from pure conversation. Main element of my
adaptation is strength of word and its connection to musical phrase or sound. My musical does not
contain songs as something that starts with first verse finishing in last chorus. Thoughts of my
characters are expressed through musical numbers as conversation that has no end but start of new
conversation. And in fact, it also links to history when in second half of 19th century and theatre
being everything but not realistic, naturalist Émile Zola said: “What I want to hear in the theatre
is spoken language.”4
Speaking of music and finding a tone for my performance, I touched a little bit upon the work of
Stephen Sondheim. Considering him as a perfect example of putting lyrics and music together
whilst still supporting characters’ thoughts and motivations, I enclose brief description of his style:
“If the actions and thoughts of a character affect changes of tempo and key, then an analysis of
how a character comes to act or think is just as important... … as is a melodic or harmonic
analysis.”5 Next technique that I found helpful was Description/Analysis method introduced to us
on one of our lectures of textual studies. Firstly, you write description of the scene (what happens)
and then you write analysis of the same scene (why is it happening, what impact it has on you, on
audience). This system allows you to see similarities and find any potential metaphors within the
text.
I combined these approaches and came up with a scene where I could experiment with different
meanings in particular. It is the opening of the play where we see Masha and Medvedenko walking
through space, talking to each other. The Seagull is story set in Russian country estate dealing with
hunt for personal happiness of an individual as well as drama representing revolutionary ideas
about a need of “new theatre”. But it is not the main character that introduces the theme of being
unhappy in life. It is Masha and that is why my beginning would be presented with her as a narrator",
through her eyes. Therefore, I can avoid typical opening number of may musicals with group-song
of all characters. She would bring the theme and later in plot somebody else could employ it as
his/her own theme culminating in all characters singing same theme {maybe in different rhythms",
3 Mike Poulton, How to think like Chekhov or Turgenev, The Spectator, 30th November 2013
4 Émile Zola, Naturalism on the Stage, Playwrights on Playwriting: from Ibsen to Ionesco (Toby Cole, 2001), 1881
5 Steve Swayne, How Sondheim Found His Sound, The University of Michigan Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-472-03229-7",
page 3
keys, words} in finale of the show. This is the idea of using theme as a something what can differ
people, but connect them in their state of mind. I have already tried to find the topic by using
Description/Analysis method and highlighting the line that speaks most for whole scene. It was
Masha saying “Even a beggar can be happy.” Then I used a little bit of what Sondheim used to do
with his musicals and I have tried to act/say the line many times. By listening to positions of words
in sentence and how high/low they seem to me when saying them, I tried to put them in specific
tones and rhythm. At that moment, I have invented first theme based on pure pronunciation of
words by human. And immediately, it was something original and easy-to-sing too because of
natural way of building the melody. I imagine whole opening scene going in this manner. Every
new theme – maybe conversation of gossiping people at rear stage - comes and flows to something
different, maybe mumbling of old Sorin who is just about to enter the scene.
In this production of a new musical Seagull, I would like to remain in tradition of Stanislavsky’s
acting method with lights, costumes and set all supporting naturalistic vision of this piece. What I
would like to give emphasis on, is directing and rehearsal process. The whole musical would be
created with workshops where the whole company could discuss some ideas and find nuances and
persona for characters in this new adaptation. The piano and musical director would be present in
the room. Once the creative team come up with final text, I imagine actors speaking their lines and
noticing natural pronunciation. In collaboration with a musical director, songs (musical numbers)
could be made on the spot enabling actors to find their own journey within the song resulting in
one big soliloquy. Once every single character finds his/her own “voice”, themes could then be
unified preserving main features of each other while giving rise to duets, trios or group songs.
“Musicals are like children. They are conceived out of an act of excitement, the pregnancy is
long, frustrating and rewarding, birth can be very painful, raising them is an act of collaboration
with many people and if you are very lucky, they will support you in your old age.”6 Seagull the
Musical with the concept described in lines above could be created only with determination and
willingness of all participants to create something truthful, meaningful. With musical numbers
coming from natural dialogue and being supported by narrative, body language and action, my
musical theatre adaptation promises to be honest, simple and clear. The adaptation which is not
6 Julian Woolford, How Musicals Work: And How to Write Your Own, Nick Hern Books Limited, 2012, ISBN 978 1
84842 175 2, page 3
trying to be a play yet still supporting the classic story. The adaptation which lives separately while
paying tribute to the original. Chekhov’s story with my rules of storytelling...
