Zibby Mag

By Alisha Fernandez Miranda

Your favorite Broadway intern is back! And this time, my task isn’t sweeping up apple cores or arranging music stands—it’s connecting two of my great loves: the stage and the page.

The journey to opening night can be long, arduous, and involve many edits (so, not that different from writing a book). But some shows start even before the first chord is composed, between the binding of a novel, memoir, or non-fiction title.

Here are four musicals and two plays (one with puppets!) currently on Broadway (or headed there soon) with strong literary roots. While you’re waiting for My What If Year: The Musical (featuring the not-yet-written classic songs “Don’t Kill Stephen Sondheim,” “Hands Off My Picasso,” and “You Can’t Get Fired If You Work for Free”), let these books tide you over until your next visit to the Great White Way.

Life of Pi

While the question, “How do you survive on a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a tiger?” seems like the beginning of a riddle (it might be—take the tiger to shore first!), it’s also the premise of this new Broadway show based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Yann Martel. A transfer from the West End, it’s already making a “splash” (get it?) in New York.

Sweeney Todd

I always thought the musical about The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was based on a real (awful) barber, but actually he first appeared as a fictional villain in the Penny Dreadful series The String of Pearls, published in the mid-19th century. This fresh new production stars one of my favorite soulful baritones Josh Groban as Sweeney himself, but it’s the show-stopping Annaleigh Ashford that will have you in stitches.

Parade

While the musical, based on the 1913 trial, imprisonment, and lynching of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank, was written as an original book by Alfred Uhry with music and lyrics by the great Jason Robert Brown, some exceptional non-fiction titles have been written about this American tragedy. An Unspeak­able Crime: The Pros­e­cu­tion and Per­se­cu­tion of Leo Frank by Elaine Alphin came out in 2010 and “prompts excellent discussions about prejudice and anti-semitism” according to the Jewish Book Council. The musical, currently starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, does the same.

Camelot

The legend of King Arthur and his knights of the round table dates back to the 1400s, but most cite the fantasy novel by T.H. White, The Once and Future King, as the original story we’ve come to know today from Disney cartoons, X-Men, and the classic musical by Lerner and Loewe. The show is being revived at Lincoln Center with a new book by Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame. I have been obsessed with the music since I was little (you try getting “The Lusty Month of May” out of your head next month) and can’t wait to see this one on my next New York visit.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong

J.M. Barrie’s classic novel about the boy who won’t grow up has been turned on its head in this comedic show-within-a-show. This slapstick farce follows a troupe staging their own production of Peter Pan (it’s meta!) and promises silliness and delight. A success on the West End, I’m so excited that the new Broadway production features Quit Your Day Job guest actress Bianca Horn and household name Neil Patrick Harris.

Six

I’m cheating. Six isn’t based on a book at all, but was the brainchild of Lucy Moss and Toby Marlowe, who were university students when they developed this delightful musical about the wives of Henry VIII. But if you want more Tudor Time, check out Philippa Gregory’s many novels about the women who all deserve a place in her-story.

Alisha Fernandez Miranda is the author of My What If Year, the inaugural release from Zibby Books. She serves as chair and former CEO of I.G. Advisors, an award-winning social impact intelligence agency that consults with the world’s biggest nonprofits, foundations, and corporations on their philanthropy and social initiatives. A graduate of Harvard University and the London School of Economics, her writing has been featured in Vogue, Business Insider, Romper, and Huffington Post. Originally from Miami, she currently lives in Scotland with her husband and children.