I wonder if during VDT, they could have almost a spooky musical number where the crew is about to enter the dark Island and then in the middle, it's interrupted by a heroic music where Reepicheep tells them to brave the darkness lest it leave a stain on their honor. 

We could have a jaunty song by the Dufflepuds as well, after they are visible again. 

-KingEdTheJust 

@kingedthejust I love that idea!

Makes me want to write lyrics, or at least titles, for those songs. Like "Are You Men or Mice?", or, "Defy the Darkness," for Reep's song, and "Couldn't Have Put it Better Ourselves!" or "What I Always Say Is..." for the Dufflepuds. 

I kind of also envision in The Horse And His Boy, Prince Rabadash singing Gaston's solo line in "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast (where he tries to woo Queen Susan, "Hey, I am a handsome prince and she's a beautiful queen. We're both attractive so we have to be married").

A friend of mine made his own Narnia (mainly LWW) musical about 25 years ago, while he had small children. I think most of the parts were played by children, and it was a very family friendly version. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend any of the performances, but I heard some of his (and his family's) working on it.

He even wrote a Narnian national anthem. I've forgotten most of the words now (in Norwegian, anyway), but I still remember the music - a merry and rousing tune. And to represent the wide variety of creatures in the Narnian population, he had the tune span two full octaves!  

So a musical for each Narnia book is an idea. It's an idea to have an appropriate setting. For instance, Voyage of the Dawn Treader should have sailing type music. The Horse and His Boy should obviously have some middle eastern type music, especially in Calormen.

Posted by: @the-mad-poet

Makes me want to write lyrics, or at least titles, for those songs. Like "Are You Men or Mice?", or, "Defy the Darkness," for Reep's song, and "Couldn't Have Put it Better Ourselves!" or "What I Always Say Is..." for the Dufflepuds. 

Perhaps we should have a little fun with sharing ideas that would work a musical number (opening songs, "I want" songs, villain songs, comedy songs, filler songs, love songs, ending songs).

Here some ideas I have for a villain song-

In Prince Caspian, Miraz could sing about how the stories of the old days are nothing but a fairy tale. It could even overlap with Caspian's longing for the old days.

Since Voyage of the Dawn Treader doesn't have a villain, there wouldn't be a need for a villain song. Although, I suppose you could have each of the characters sing about their inner conflict, sort of like "Confrontation " from Jekyll and Hyde or "Gollum" in Lord of the Rings Musical.

In The Silver Chair, the Lady of the Green Kirtle could sing a very mesmerizing song. When she puts Prince Rilian, the children, and Puddleglum under her control, it could work well as a song.

In The Horse And His Boy, Prince Rabadash could sing about how he wants to marry Susan and his plan to invade Archenland and Narnia.

In The Last Battle, I guess you could have all three of the villains sing a song together or maybe even have Rishda and Ginger sing a song together about their secret plan into using Shift like a puppet.

As for love songs, since the series doesn't have that many romantic couples (given that these are children's books), there's not a really a whole lot of ideas for a love song.

Rabadash and Susan could sing a duet. It's really rare for a villain and an heroine to sing a duet, but it would make an interesting twist. It would be like "Love Is An Open Door" from Frozen.

Then maybe Bree could sing a love song while observing Shasta and Aravis. It would show that a love song isn't always sung as a duet by a couple (though a majority are).

Caspian and Ramandu's daughter could even sing a love duet while the crew is still on Ramandu's Island. It could even take place where Caspian and the crew are getting ready to board back on the Dawn Treader, and he tells her that he hopes to see her again.

Please, feel free to share ideas you might have that would work as a musical number for each category.

Imagine if Narnia was done in opera style, though I think most operas are tragic love stories. Maybe in The Magician's Nephew, the stars could sing in operatic form.

For a Narnia musical for each book:

The Magician's Nephew- A song where Digory wants to strike the bells but Polly tries to stop him. Also, the creation of Narnia is a song, sung by a choir of stars.

The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe- How about that the Beavers sings a song about "Aslan is on the move."

The Horse And His Boy- Shasta singing a song about "Who am I?" as he is talking to Bree.

Prince Caspian- Doctor Cornelius and Caspian having a song while they're in the tower, looking at the stars

Voyage of the Dawn Treader- Reepicheep singing a song about sailing to the Utter East.

The Silver Chair- Puddleglum singing the base melody and Eustace and Jill harmonizing is idea. Then Puddleglum could try to nudge them back to the same melody. Also, the gnomes singing a song after the Lady of the Green Kirtle is killed, kind of like "Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead."

The Last Battle- Maybe at the Battle of Stable Hill, Tirian and Rishda sing the base melody and the Narnians (including Eustace and Jill) and Calormenes harmonize.

Speaking as someone that hates musicals...eeyew. 🤢 

I even thought of that in Prince Caspian, just before the duel, Peter and Miraz sing the base melody and Edmund, Caspian, Sospesian and Glozelle harmonize.

Also in The Last Battle, while Tirian and Rishda sing the base melody and the Narnians and Calormenes harmonize, the dwarfs try to nudge in or sing a different melody. Plus, Eustace and Jill could try to nudge in to the same melody and Rishda could try to nudge them into a different melody, showing how much authority he has. Then Tirian could try to nudge Eustace and Jill back to same melody. 

Maybe for VDT for a comedy song have Eustace sing about wanting to be put ashore at once and demanding to see the British Consul 🤣 

@queencrunchytheweeb There's an idea. I can actually see that! Then at the Lone Islands, when Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, and Reepicheep get kidnap by Pug and his gang, Eustace sings a reprise of he demands to see the British council!

There's also some ideas for a motif (sort of like "The Bells of Notre Dame" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and "Facade" from Jekyll and Hyde)-

LWW- "Coming of Spring"

PC- "Narnia Shall Be Renewed"

VDT- "To the Eastern End of the World"

SC- "Follow the Signs"

HHB- "Narnia and The North"

MN- "The Magic Begins"

LB- "Further Up, Further In"

I think if I was going to adapt the Narnia books into Musicals, then the Voyage of thr Dawn Treader would be the best place to start.

Of all the books it's got a natural episodic structure which would lend itself well to a Musical adaptation, as it would neatly map itself into a succession of songs. I think its slightly harder to find the breaks with the more complex flowing narratives of other books 

VDT also has an interesting range of situations with a large background cast to form the chorus of singers and dancers - the Lone Islanders, the Dufdlepuds, the ships crew, etc. Again, it feels like it would be harder to generate those big musical numbers in a book where there's only just the 3 or 4 main characters present.

The maritime setting of VDT also provides a natural musical theming, such as Sea Shanties

I think also, musicals often work best when they are larger than life and underpinned by themes for hope and yearning - the sort of emotions a singer can really belt out to the back row. Again this feels like it would be a tougher sell on the darker or more introspective stories, but VDT seems ready-made for those grander moments.

I'm well aware I'm mostly talking about musicals in terms of the big clichés, and I've seen plenty of musicals which buck every one of these traditions - still, if I was going to do just one book as a Musical, I'd want it to be the book most suited to the format, and which would really benefit from the sense of heightened reality you get from a big musical song and dance number - for me that's VDT.

I like the idea of VDT being turned into a musical, though I do think that all seven books could have potential to be musicals. Some ideas I have for each-

The Magician's Nephew- A song when Digory and Polly explore the attic, Uncle Andrew singing a low-key villain song and Jadis doing a show-stopper reprise.

The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe- Edmund could sing a song during his inner monologue as he walks towards the White Witch's castle, and switch back and forth between himself and his conscious, sort of like "Gollum" in the Lord of the Rings musical or "The Confrontation" from Jekyll and Hyde.

The Horse And His Boy- Shasta and Bree singing a song, perhaps something similar to "Journey to the Past" from Anastasia, and Aravis and Hwin singing a song, something similar to "These Palace Walls" from the Broadway version of Aladdin. Then later, they sing they song sitamoulsy, like "Seventy-Six Trombone" and "Goodnight, My Someone" from The Music Man.

Prince Caspian- Caspian singing about his longing for the old days, the Nurse singing a lullaby, during the duel, Miraz and Peter singing the main melody and the Telmarines and Narnians harmonizing.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader- Caspian and his crew singing as they march to the slave market to free their friends on the Lone Islands, perhaps something like "Do You Hear The People Sing" from Les Miserable.

The Silver Chair- Puddleglum singing the main melody and Eustace and Jill harmonize. Then Puddleglum tries to nudge them back to the main melody.

The Last Battle- During the Battle of Stable Hill, Tirian and Rishda singing the main melody and the Calormenes and Narnians harmonize, and the dwarfs singing a totally different melody, showing that they don't want to be on either side. Eustace and Jill harmonize as well, then Tirian tries to nudge them back to the main melody and Rishda tries to nudge them out of the main melody, showing how much authority he has.

I know it may start to get a little cheesy. But it's sure fun to think about.

I can also vision the Tisroc's Secret Meeting maybe having a song attached to it. It could be a duet between Rabadash and the Tisroc! I can also see Ahosta trying to incorporate into the main melody only to be kicked out of it by Rabadash