Whale Rider - The Musical

First of all if I were to adapt the book The Whale Rider to the stage I would make it a musical. In my opinion, and after having done Once on this Island there is no better way to express magical realism than with music. The book makes great usage of playing with the readers emotions, something that can be done best with music on stage.

If I were to set up The Whale Rider as a musical I would want a detailed stage. Props and setting would be detailed and look realistic, while the magical and more abstract scenes would be expressed through lights and sound. As I think it would be difficult to make the whales appear and make them look impressive, I would use the digital projection of waves as a backdrop for the scenes with the whales. In addition I would use blue lighting. The whales I would merely show as big shadows on the digital projection backdrop. There would be one actor who narrates all the scenes that involve just the whales and the Gods. This narration would be half sung half spoken, similarly to the song The Sad Tale of the Beauxhomme just without the comedic aspect and with a more serious tone.

The characters I would focus on would be Kahu, Nanny Flowers, Koro Apirana, Rawiri as the four main characters. Other characters would involve Rawiri’s elder brother and Kahu’s father Porourangi and Kahu’s mother Rehua (although she has only  brief role in the beginning I find it important to include her). I would focus the story less on Rawiri's experiences in Australia with Jeff and his family as I found this to be less relevant to the book's main plot. Another reason why I would not include this is because it is necessary to shorten the book in order to make it a play or musical. I would do one song in which Kahu grows up, during which Rawiri is in Australia. This would be the song right before intermission and at the end of it Rawiri decides to go back to his family. For the song I would split the stage in half, one half showing Nanny Flowers and Kahu who is growing up continuously struggling to gain Koro’s attention and affection The other half would show Rawiri in Australia. The verses would be letters that are send between Nanny Flowers and Rawiri. The last verse is a letter Kahu writes in which she tells Rawiri that she misses him.

One theme I would focus on particularly is the blindness that traditions can cause. The main example therefore is Koro’s blindness towards Kahu who he wont accept as successor because she is a girl. To show this I would focus on Kahu’s innocence which is clear for the audience to see but invisible to Koro’s eyes.

    As every musical needs the audience favorite sidekick I would include Rawiri’s boys. They will be a funny bunch not absolutely necessary to the plot but amusing for the audience. They along with others will make up the ensemble. Ensemble roles would include people who live in the city, people from Kahu’s school and the whale helpers on the beach.

I think this book could have great potential as a musical. Singing and dancing could perfectly express the emotions and the magical realism that plays such an important role in the book.