so after reading this article by ben brantley in the times, i was kind of annoyed because most of his rant is predicated on the idea that musicals being based on pre-existing material is a bad thing. yes, yes, i get that it's not his central point, but still. if you think about it, most "great" musicals are based on previous source material. for example, here are the shows represented on some "best of broadway" compilation i have:

Oklahoma	play (green grow the lilacs)
Carousel	play (liliom)
Annie Get Your Gun	original
Where's Charley	play (charley's aunt)
South Pacific	short story collection (tales of the south pacific)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes	novel
The King and I	memoir which had already been a movie
My Fair Lady	play, took the changed ending from pre-existing movie
Bells are Ringing	original
West Side Story	play, but we'll say original
The Music Man	original
Gypsy	book
The Sound of Music	memoir
The Fantasticks	play (les romanesques)
Camelot	book (the once and future king)
Hello, Dolly	play (Einen Jux will er sich machen), adapted into a play (The Matchmaker) adapted into a movie.
Fiddler on the Roof	short story collection (various by shalom aleichem)
Funny Girl	original?
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever	original?
Man of la Mancha	original but drawn from a book
Mame	play (Auntie Mame) based on a book
Cabaret	book (berlin stories) and movie (i am a camera)
Hair	original
A Little Night Music	movie (some ingmar bergman movie)
Chicago	movie which had already been made twice
A Chorus Line	original
Annie	comic strip
Evita	original... sort of based on a biography
Dreamgirls	original
Cats	book of poetry (old possum's book of practical cats)
La Cage aux Folles	movie
Les Miserables	novel
The Phantom of the Opera	novel
Sunset Blvd.	movie
Rent	opera (la boheme), but in the spirit of west side story, say original

i don't mean to say that these are the shows i think are the best, i'm just using it as a list from an outside source of what are pretty inarguably some very, very popular shows. only 12 out of 35 (a definitive minority) are original, and that's counting west side story and rent. hell, make it 13, cats is pretty far removed from its source material, whatever you think of it. 5 of them were based on movies, and 4 of those are old enough and popular enough to have been revived.

most were based on either plays or books, and the fact that today's writers are now turning to movies and popular music speaks to the fact that movies and pop music have largely taken the place of books, plays and musical-theater-music in today's culture.

while i'm at it, some other well-regarded musicals based on movies: promises, promises (the apartment), sweet charity (nights of cabiria), kiss of the spider woman.

as long as no one tries to make a musical based on a video game. i don't know if i could handle that.

finally, how do you write an article about how the musical is very close to being dead but not quite there without invoking the "fabulous invalid" line? i guess brantley was too afraid to base his article on pre-existing material.