Most people know that the Aladdin musical was adapted from a Disney film, but did you know that the film was itself adapted from a centuries-old folk tale? The story of Aladdin first appeared in an 18th-century European translation of One Thousand and One Nights, the classic collection of Middle Eastern folk tales collected from as early as the 8th century. Aladdin wasn't in the original manuscript, but French translator Antoine Galland added it after hearing it from a Syrian storyteller, Hanna Diyab.

The story has since become one of the most famous folk tales in the book, partly due to its pickup by Disney in 1992. Much of the story remained unchanged from its source material for the Aladdin movie and musical: after finding a magic lamp with a wish-granting genie inside, Aladdin uses it to transform himself from a street-dweller into a noble prince, and he uses his new status to win the hand of a princess and defeat an evil sorcerer — characters we now know as Jasmine and Jafar.

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Gypsy Rose Lee wasn't just a burlesque performer, but an author, too. Gypsy: A Memoir was published in 1957 and documented her time in showbiz, particularly the effect her mother, Rose, had on her career and that of her sister, June. Two years later came the Gypsy musical, centering on Rose's obsessive efforts to make her daughters into stars. The classic, award-winning Broadway musical is considered one of the best of all time, and Rose is a role countless theatre actresses long to play. (Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald is doing it in the 2024 revival.)

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Hamilton, of course, is based on real American history, as experienced by former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and fictionalized by Lin-Manuel Miranda. But Miranda was inspired to write the musical after reading Ron Chernow's biography of the Founding Father, simply titled Alexander Hamilton. He even asked Chernow to be a historical consultant on Hamilton, and Chernow aided the writing process for six years.

So now that his hip-hop treatment of Hamilton's life and career has won 11 Tony Awards, Miranda has Chernow and Alexander Hamilton to thank! The Hamilton book, published in 2004, was a success in its own right even before the Hamilton musical made it famous: Chernow won the first-ever George Washington Book Prize and was nominated for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award in biography for his work.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was written as a play from the start (though, like any other play, you can buy a copy bound like a book), so the story isn't "based on a book," per se. But the characters are, as audiences first fell in love with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and the rest of the Wizarding World in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series.

These characters — plus many others like Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, and some brand-new characters — all have a major presence in Cursed Child, though the main characters are Harry's son Albus Severus and Draco's son Scorpius.

Just after Harry sends Albus off to Hogwarts for the first time, picking up where the last Harry Potter book left off, Albus and Scorpius become fast friends and end up going on a time-traveling adventure to right some wrongs from Harry's time at school. The pair, along with Harry and his former schoolmates, travel through multiple moments first created in the books — and some all-new scenarios that we won't spoil!

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Southern charm hides sinister secrets. That's the theme of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a nonfiction novel by John Berendt about the fallout from a Savannah, Georgia, resident being accused of murder. Soon, the secrets of many of Savannah's eccentric characters begin to spill — and they'll be spilling out on stage when the musical adaptation arrives on Broadway in 2025.

Check back for information on Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

The '20s are roaring again, old sport. The Great Gatsby is perhaps F. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous novel, telling the bittersweet story of mysterious billionaire Jay Gatsby and his passionate pursuit of Daisy, his long-lost love. The novel became a popular subject for adaptations when it entered the public domain in 2023, and one such adaptation is a new jazz-pop musical starring Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada.

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Did you know S. E. Hinton was only 15 when she started writing The Outsiders? Her now-classic novel, taught in countless schools and adapted into a cult classic film alongside Francis Ford Coppola, remains a beloved coming-of-age story more than 55 years after its release. Set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Outsiders follows a gang of teenage "greasers" who have little to rely on but each other, finding hope in their brotherhood when they can't get it anywhere else. The story is now a folk musical with songs by Jamestown Revival.

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Among his many plays and poems, The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde's only novel. The story of a man who trades his soul for eternal youth — and comes to regret it — was controversial in its time but is now a literary classic. The first Broadway adaptation of the novel, by Kip Williams, stars Succession's Sarah Snook as all 26 characters.

Check back for information on The Picture of Dorian Gray tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West has so many gripping plot twists, you could finish the book in one short day. But if you've seen Wicked, you know that, as Frank Maguire's book is the basis for the blockbuster musical (and now, too, the Hollywood film).

Maguire took significant liberties from L. Frank Baum's classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to tell a story centered on Elphaba, the green-skinned, magical outcast that took up a quest to expose the Wizard as a fraud and was eventually dubbed the Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire's tale is markedly more adult than Baum's family-friendly book, adding violence, sex, and profanity.

The Wicked musical struck a balance between the two, retaining the basic, edgy plot and complex exploration of good and evil, while taking out enough adult content to keep the musical suitable for young audiences. That balance proved just right, as the musical quickly became popular upon its 2003 premiere and is still defying gravity at the Gershwin Theatre.

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