Do you hear the people sing? Or, As long as he needs me

The other day I was thinking that I should do a post about musicals based on books that are on the list; the only problem was that I could only think of two that would really work, where I've both read the book and seen the musical: Les Miserables and Oliver Twist. Now, I am not a fan of either the book or the musical of either of these, so I don't really want to do an in-depth comparison. Suffice it to say that I found both musicals to be overly long and pretentious, and both books were kind of sloggy for me.

If I had to choose, I would choose the musical of Les Miserables, because some of the songs really are very beautiful, but overall I'm not a fan. There are two kinds of people in this world, those who think the Thenardiers are hilarious, and those who think they are irritating, insufferable, grating, unfunny, and given way too much time on stage. You may be able to guess which kind of person I am.

This isn't to say that there isn't more musical/1001 list overlap. In many cases, though, I've just listened to the soundtrack. I definitely want to see Jane Eyre and Jekyll and Hyde. I'm a fan of both soundtracks, and I adore Jane Eyre (Jekyll and Hyde I can do without as a book, but the musical is great). I'd also be interested in seeing Woman in White, though I have some issues with it/it doesn't solve many of my problems with the book (interesting tidbit, but Phantom of the Opera isn't on the list; I've seen that one many times, though).

There are also some list books with little known, short lived musicals like Dracula and A Tale of Two Cities. I'm particularly interested in Dracula, but I've never had luck with finding too much of the soundtrack (actually, there are multiple musical versions of this one). I haven't read Ragtime yet, so I can't comment on that one really at all, though I have a very strong feeling that the musical will far and away trump the book.

Oh, wait! I just thought of three more: Little Women, Cabaret, and Candide. Go figure. I wonder how many of these I would be able to think of if I really put in a more concerted effort. Anyway, there are many songs from the Little Women musical that I love, but nothing can compete with the book (but I certainly cry during pretty much the whole second act), Cabaret worked better for me as a musical (maybe sense they could show the cabaret, perhaps?), and Candide I'm again fairly meh on overall for both versions. It's a little heavy handed, and the musical is crazy long. But the version I saw was really good.

I should try to think of some more (though I'm not sure this was a very insightful post).