Garfield creator Jim Davis is working on a stage musical production to feature his signature cat. According to Playbill.com, 14 songs have been created so far and a director and choreographer is working on the national tour.
Jim described the show:
Davis has conjured up an elaborate escapade for Garfield’s stage debut. “Even though he’s lazy and loves his life at home, he harbors these fantasies of becoming an entertainer. He wonders, ‘What if I took my act on the road?’ So he falls out of his own comic strip and goes on an adventure though other comic strips. One’s a Disneyesque thing with cute characters. One’s an action strip, kind of a Fu western. Another one is kind of a West Side Story thing between cats and dogs.
“Garfield’s going to be knocking down the fourth wall, as he does in the comic strip, and he’s certainly going to be taking advantage of that in a theatrical presentation. I call it an old-fashioned family book musical – with technology.”
Cute idea. I am interested to see it come together, though I can’t imagine an actor playing Garfield.
(Remember listening to some of the songs from the Luann musical on Greg Evans’s site not too long ago.)
The 14 songs…
?I Hate Mondays?
?Fat, Fat, Fat!? (rock anthem)
?I Just Met a Cat Named Maria?
?One-In-A-Million Kitty!?
?I Love You as Much as Lasagna?
?There?s a Fine, Fine Line Between Catnip and Pot? (controversial drug scene)
?Let Me Lick You!? (Odie?s solo)
?Love is Like a Litter Box Filled with Poop? (heart-wrenching breakup song)
?I Hate Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays Too?
?Alone? (Jon?s emotional ballad)
?Can?t Keep A Good Cat Down!?
?Tongue Bath?
?I Love You More Than Lasagna?
?Fat, Fat, Fat!? (reprise)
I’ll wait for the Kabuki version.
Don’t know how I’ve lived without Garfield the Musical. How about Lost’s Jorge Garcia as the lead?
Part of me just died a little bit inside.
Hey, if they’re actually serious about doing “Spider-Man” on Broadway, “Garfield” actually makes sense…in a strange sort of unsettling way.
Part of me just threw up a little bit inside.
Other comics to make the transition to stage musical I can think of:
Lil’ Abner, Luann, Peanuts, Little Orphan Annie…
Are there others?
There was also a Doonesbury musical, Samantha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doonesbury_(musical)
Krazy Kat wasn’t a musical I don’t think but there was a stage production
Krazy Kat was a ballet by John Alden Carpenter. Classy, huh?
http://imslp.org/wiki/Krazy_Kat_(Carpenter,_John_Alden)
There was also a “Kudzu” musical.
And a Wizard of Id musical. I saw it try out at University of Maryland in the late 70s. Blanche was outstanding.
Oh yes! the Doonesbury musical. I did know of that one, but this is the first I’ve heard of the Wizard of Id and Kudzu musicals.
A Krazy Kat BALLET makes my mind boggle, though. What little I know of Krazy Kat doesn’t make me think of ballet.
It was easy to think of a Garfield musical in my mind because so many of eps. of the Garfield cartoon, the tv specials and the movies had songs.
there was a little nemo in slumberland operetta way back in 1908. Music was by the great Victor Herbert.
I’d rather see “Garfield Minus Garfield: The Musical.”