Expy/Theatre: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

** Similarly, although the character in ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' is a ghost character (never appearing on stage), the Petruchio of that play ''could have been'' the same person as the one in ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'', given that both are from Verona.

*** ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' has Launcelot (technically Launcelet, "little Launce"), an obvious copy of Launce. Both characters are [[Cloudcuckoolander|oddball]] servants who go off into comedic monologues, and their dialogues and jokes are eerily similar. Nerissa could also be seen as the new and improved Lucetta--both are maidservants who act as straight men in practically the same dialogue about suitors, and both assist their mistresses in disguising themselves as boys.

*** As an added bonus, ''each'' of the two couples informed one of Shakespeare's other famous couples. Sylvia [[Romeo and Juliet|sneaks off to marry her man in a friar's cell, after which he is "banished" and believes it's a fate worse than death because be can't be with his new wife]]. <ref> Both scenarios were inspired by Arthur Brook's poem ''Romeus and Juliet'', but the latter was a straight adaptation.</ref> Julia, [[Twelfth Night|disguised as a boy, ends up delivering love letters for the guy she herself in love with, while ambiguously trying to convince him that sending the letters is a bad idea]]. Just to make it more obvious, her alias is "Sebastian", which was used as the name of Viola' [[Half Identical Twin]] who complicates the situation further.

** The basic "Friar Laurence" type appears a third time as "Friar Francis" in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'', once again convincing people that the best solution to any romantic difficulty is for the girl to fake her own death.

** Characters: Tony=Romeo, Maria=Juliet, Jets=Montagues, Sharks=Capulets, Bernado=Tybalt, Anita=Nurse/Lady Capulet, Riff=Mercutio, Chino=Paris, etc.

** Scenes: the opening fight, Juliet/Maria's betrothal to Paris/Chino, Juliet's debut party=Maria's first dance, the balcony scene=the fire escape scene, Romeo & Juliet's elopement (The Friar corresponds to Doc)= Tony and Maria acting out a wedding, Tybalt/Bernado killing Mercutio/Riff, Romeo/Tony killing Tybalt/Bernado, the Nurse being taunted and insulted by the Montagues and thus unable to tell Romeo that Juliet's death is faked=Anita being assaulted by the Jets and thus lying about Maria's death, leading to Romeo/Tony's suicidal response.

* [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''Utopia, Ltd.'' features a Sir Edward Corcoran, KGB, who can be identified with Captain Corcoran of ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' - especially given that he sings part of the younger character's entrance song. Since {{spoiler|Corcoran and Ralph Rackstraw switch places}} at the end of the earlier musical, it is a matter of some debate which of the two (if either) the older character is supposed to be.

** Also from [[Gilbert and Sullivan]], some believe that Dick Deadeye in ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' may be an older, more jaded version of Dick Dauntless in ''Ruddigore''.

 

* Wait? A man with ''questionable'' morals falls in love with a considerably more wholesome woman and much singing is involved? Are we talking about [[Guys and Dolls|Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown]] or [[The Music Man|Professor Harold Hill and Marian the Librarian]]?

** Cyrano is an expy of Grisóstomo, a [[Marty Stu|fair, intelligent, rich and easygoing guy]] [[Renaissance Man|who is a talented physic and poet]] so in love with the shepherdess [[Mary Sue|beautiful, intelligent, easygoing and rich Marcela]] that he decides to become a shepherd himself just to court her. After a long chain of rejections, he decides to [[Driven to Suicide|kill himself]] and blames Marcela in his poems.

** Le Bret is an expy of Ambrosio, best friend of Grisóstomo, [[The Watson|who talks in his burial and explains that Grisóstomo was a]] [[Love Martyr]] [[Driven to Suicide]] because Marcela’s cruelty, and [[Undying Loyalty|became another shepherd to follow Grisóstomo’s wishes and is adamant in his resolution that his friend last will be respected: to burn all his poems and bury him when he first saw Marcela]].

* Every character in [[Miss Saigon]] corresponds to one in [[Madame Butterfly]], which it's based on:

** Kim=Cio-Cio San (Madame Butterfly).

** Benny is Benoît

 

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