Peer Gynt - Adaptations

Adaptations

In the 1930s German composer Werner Egk wrote an opera based on the story.

In 1948, the composer Harald Sæverud made a new score for the nynorsk-production at "the Norwegian Theatre" (Det Norske Teatret) in Oslo. Sæverud's music is considered anti-romantic, humorous, and rough. Sæverud incorporated the national music of each of the friends in the fourth act, as per Ibsen's request.

In 1951, North Carolinian playwright Paul Green published an American version of the Norwegian play. This is the version in which actor John Garfield starred on Broadway. This version is also the American Version, and features subtle plot differences from Ibsen's original work, including the ommittance of the shipwreck scene near the end, and the Buttonmolder character playing a moderately larger role.

In 1969, Broadway impresario Jacques Levy (who had previously directed the first version of Oh! Calcutta!) commissioned The Byrds' Roger McGuinn to write the music for a pop (or country-rock) version of Peer Gynt, to be titled Gene Tryp. The play was apparently never completed, although McGuinn is currently (as of 2006) preparing a version for release. Several songs from the abortive show appeared on the Byrds' albums of 1970 and 1971.

In 1985–1987, John Neumeier wrote a ballet "freely based on Ibsen's play", for which Alfred Schnittke composed the score.

In 1998, the Trinity Repertory Company of Providence, Rhode Island commissioned David Henry Hwang and Swiss director Stephan Muller to do an adaptation of Peer Gynt.

In 1998, playwright Romulus Linney directed his adaptation of the play, entitled Gint, at the Theatre for the New City in New York. This adaptation moved the play's action to 20th-century Appalachia and California.

In 2007, St. John's Prep of Danvers, Massachusetts won the MHSDG Festival with their production starring Bo Burnham.

In 2008, Theater in the Open in Newburyport, Massachusetts, produced a production of Peer Gynt adapted and directed by Paul Wann and the company. Scott Smith, whose great, great grandfather (Ole Bull) was one of the inspirations for the character, was cast as Gynt.

In 2009, a DVD was released of Hans Spoerli's ballet adaptation of the play, which Spoerli choreographed. This version uses mostly the Grieg music, but adds selections by other composers. Spoken excerpts from the play, in Norwegian, are also included.

In Israel, poet Dafna Eilat (he:דפנה אילת) composed a poem in Hebrew called "Solveig", which she also set to music, its theme derived from the play and emphasizing the named character's boundless faithful love. It was performed by Hava Alberstein (see ).

In 2011, the Polarity Ensemble Theater in Chicago adapted the play, where Peer’s mythic journey is envisioned as that of America itself, " a 150-year whirlwind tour of the American psyche."

On an episode of "Inside the Actor's Studio", Elton John spontaneously composed a song based on a passage from "Peer Gynt".