The Structure
Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music is structurally the most narratively and stylistically different from the original source, having been "adapted" a great deal to fit its performative and spectacular medium.
It is structured as a live 90-minute staged production with multiple interwoven musical numbers and no intermission. It is worth noting that these musical numbers are not individually named or separated from the moments of straight acting. It is indicated that characters just begin singing for short interludes of dialogue and then stop suddenly, hence the reference in the title that this is a "play with music," not a musical. I go further into detail about how the existence of music transforms the spirit of the source in the section titled Music.
It is technically written as two acts, but has only ever been performed in one. The written act break falls at a unique place where Act One ends with Alex viewing the Ludovico technique films and Act Two begins with him screaming that they've ruined Beethoven's music for him. In both the previous book and film, there has been no separation between these events so it's a unique adaptation choice of Burgess to take a break here. Also, this musical is written as having no official "scenes," it just flows from one action to another with no blackouts, mimicking the mostly continuous editing of the film. However, for ease of explanation and analysis, I will refer to individual moments of action as scenes despite them not formally being separated in the script.
In terms of content, this musical attempts to cram everything from the source into a short 90-minute production that is cramped even tighter due to long musical numbers suspending the action in that moment. Because of this challenge, the specific scenes are cut extremely short, some lasting only a few lines. However, to fit all the context in, most lines are quite long monologues. For example, here is the reduced dialogue of the entire scene where Alex gets out of incarceration to receive the Ludovico technique:
"The Chaplain addresses Alex seriously.
Chaplain: So. you are to be made int a good boy, little 6655321. Never again will you have the desire to commit acts of violence or offend in any way whatsoever against the State's peace. I hope you take that all in. I hope you are absolutely clear in your own mind about that.
Alex: Oh, it will be so nice to be good, sir.
Chaplain: It may not be nice to be good, 6655321. It may be horrible to be good. I know I shall have many sleepless nights about this. What does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him? You are passing now to a region where you will be out beyond the power of prayer. A terrible, terrible thing to consider, And yet, in a sense, in choosing to be deprived of the ability to make an ethical choice, you have in a sense really chosen the good. So I like to thing. So, God help us all 6655321, I shall like to think." (Burgess 24).
Also, out of the adaptions I've studied, this one retains the Nadsat the least. This is due to the fact that since staged productions are viewed live and in-person, the language has to become simplified to ensure the information can be understood and received by the audience in real-time. It does, however, preserve that feeling of first-person narration as Alex never leaves the stage and has several direct addresses to the audience.
Musicals have the advantage of including choreographed elements into the narrative, allowing this adaption to be much more artistically vague and abstract. Due to the limited lines and time for each event, they utilize a lot of highly choreographed movement sequences to imply meaning and context. For example, here is a scene when Alex first arrives at the prison. Notice how the interpretive movement really heightens the sense of chaos, discipline, and danger, as well as advancing the seductive and hyper-sexual ambiance of the society. Also, unlike the source and the film adaption, this is not realistic. It's not meant to be understood or perceived as realistic. This type of interpretive movement fits the spectacle-filled expectation of a musical.
It is structured as a live 90-minute staged production with multiple interwoven musical numbers and no intermission. It is worth noting that these musical numbers are not individually named or separated from the moments of straight acting. It is indicated that characters just begin singing for short interludes of dialogue and then stop suddenly, hence the reference in the title that this is a "play with music," not a musical. I go further into detail about how the existence of music transforms the spirit of the source in the section titled Music.
It is technically written as two acts, but has only ever been performed in one. The written act break falls at a unique place where Act One ends with Alex viewing the Ludovico technique films and Act Two begins with him screaming that they've ruined Beethoven's music for him. In both the previous book and film, there has been no separation between these events so it's a unique adaptation choice of Burgess to take a break here. Also, this musical is written as having no official "scenes," it just flows from one action to another with no blackouts, mimicking the mostly continuous editing of the film. However, for ease of explanation and analysis, I will refer to individual moments of action as scenes despite them not formally being separated in the script.
In terms of content, this musical attempts to cram everything from the source into a short 90-minute production that is cramped even tighter due to long musical numbers suspending the action in that moment. Because of this challenge, the specific scenes are cut extremely short, some lasting only a few lines. However, to fit all the context in, most lines are quite long monologues. For example, here is the reduced dialogue of the entire scene where Alex gets out of incarceration to receive the Ludovico technique:
"The Chaplain addresses Alex seriously.
Chaplain: So. you are to be made int a good boy, little 6655321. Never again will you have the desire to commit acts of violence or offend in any way whatsoever against the State's peace. I hope you take that all in. I hope you are absolutely clear in your own mind about that.
Alex: Oh, it will be so nice to be good, sir.
Chaplain: It may not be nice to be good, 6655321. It may be horrible to be good. I know I shall have many sleepless nights about this. What does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him? You are passing now to a region where you will be out beyond the power of prayer. A terrible, terrible thing to consider, And yet, in a sense, in choosing to be deprived of the ability to make an ethical choice, you have in a sense really chosen the good. So I like to thing. So, God help us all 6655321, I shall like to think." (Burgess 24).
Also, out of the adaptions I've studied, this one retains the Nadsat the least. This is due to the fact that since staged productions are viewed live and in-person, the language has to become simplified to ensure the information can be understood and received by the audience in real-time. It does, however, preserve that feeling of first-person narration as Alex never leaves the stage and has several direct addresses to the audience.
Musicals have the advantage of including choreographed elements into the narrative, allowing this adaption to be much more artistically vague and abstract. Due to the limited lines and time for each event, they utilize a lot of highly choreographed movement sequences to imply meaning and context. For example, here is a scene when Alex first arrives at the prison. Notice how the interpretive movement really heightens the sense of chaos, discipline, and danger, as well as advancing the seductive and hyper-sexual ambiance of the society. Also, unlike the source and the film adaption, this is not realistic. It's not meant to be understood or perceived as realistic. This type of interpretive movement fits the spectacle-filled expectation of a musical.
Finally, this staged version decides to include the content of the UK publication's 21st chapter where we see Alex grow up. This was a specific choice by Burgess because this musical was first released and performed in the UK, so he was tailoring it to the expectations of the audience. Also, as mentioned previously, the 80s were overall a much happier atmosphere world wide than the 60s-70s, so allowing Alex to become morally justified is fitting. Here is the final moment of the show, starting as just a monologue/song for Alex (it's indicated that he begins singing when the actor wants to), but expanding to the entire ensemble by the end:
"That's how it going to be, brothers, as we come to the end of this tale. You have been everywhere with your little droog Alex, suffering with him, and you have giddied some of the most granny bratchnies old Bog ever made, all on your old droog Alex. And all it was that I was young. I am not young, not no longer, ah no. Alex like groweth up, ah yes. Tomorrow is all like sweet flowers and turning vonny earth, like a juicy orange in the gigantic rookers of Bog. And there's the stars and the old Luna up there and your old droog Alex growing up. A terrible grahzny vonny world really, brothers and sisters. And so farewell from your little droog. And to all others in this story- except one, and you've just met her- profound shooms of lip music brrrrr. And they can kiss my shares. But you remember sometimes thy little Alex that was. Amen. And all that call.
Do not be a clockwork orange,
Freedom has a lovely voice.
Here is good, and there is evil-
Look on both, then take your choice,
Sweet in juice and hue and aroma.
Let's not be changed to fruit machines.
Choice is free but seldom easy-
That's what human freedom means!" (50-51)
