After the Beetles have returned to Earth and everyone learns exactly what happened to Grace, someone would probably make the story into a Broadway musical at some point. Kinda the Earth counterpart to @autumn-sweet-fae’s Eridian Opera idea.
The actor playing Grace would have to be ATHLETIC. Not just because Grace is muscular, but because he’s constantly jumping around, climbing the ladders of the Hail Mary. He’d also be doing lots of quick-changes when jumping from scenes on the ship to flashbacks on Earth. Since he’s always wearing a jumpsuit, it could be pretty quick; just unzip the jumpsuit, throw on the fox cardigan or a lab coat or his yellow raincoat, and vice versa.
He could also have little moments when he excitedly explains all the science he’s doing in terms the audience can understand, not just to Carl or Rocky but also directly to the audience, Bill Nye style. And he could throw in dated slang from back before he left Earth. It would perfectly capture his trying-to-be-the-cool-teacher-to-middle-schoolers persona.
They could have Rocky as a puppet, puppeteered by a team in ninja outfits just like the real puppeteers did for the movie. Or when he’s in the ball, it could be a clear ball that’s remote controlled to roll around the set while Rocky is projected onto/into it with screens/holograms.
During scenes that take place in space, the actors who play the other humans could act like a Greek Chorus, singing from the wings to cheer Grace on or remind him of the mission (very much like how the choir was used in the movie score).
It would be a pretty big set, but I’m imagining something on a swivel: one half of the set is the Hail Mary and on the other side is whatever other settings they need for a scene, be it Earth settings like Grace’s classroom, a biology laboratory, Stratt’s Vat, Baikonur Cosmodrome, etc, or space scenes that aren’t inside the ship like the Tunnel or Time Go Fishing.
The Hail Mary would be pretty big for a set, but if they use the book design for the ship, they could fit it into a three-story set like the Lost Boys Musical: Dormitory on bottom, Lab in the middle, and Cockpit up top. They could add Rocky’s tunnels during the intermission.
Obviously there must be at least one song (preferably more) that Stratt sings directly to Grace. Not Sign of the Times, but an original song with the same vibe, minor key and telling Grace they can meet again, somewhere far away. And at the end when Stratt receives the videos on Earth, she’ll sing the same line but now in major key.
areudirty
snowghoul
kianamaiart
origamiaround
blakekathryn
