How many times has your favourite Velveteen Rabbit been adapted for screen?
Have you read the story of a stuffed rabbit who desired to turn real through the love of its owner? Well, we are talking about the Velveteen Rabbit from the famous British children’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit. Also known as How Toys Become Real, the book is penned by English-American author Margery Williams Bianco and illustrated by British painter William Nicholson. Originally published in 1922, it has been re-published and translated several times and has even been voted as one of the top 100 children’s books of all time.
The Velveteen Rabbit has also been adapted for quite a number of times for screen. In fact, it is one of the rare kid’s fictions that has been adapted into a TV show, a theatre production as well as a video recording, apart from the usual movie adaptations. Let us introduce you to the lesser-known on-screen renditions of one of your favourite books.
The video recording
In 1985, The Velveteen Rabbit was adapted into a video recording of the same name that was produced by Rabbit Ears Production (a production house run by Hollywood superstars such as Micheal Keaton, Meryl Streep, Amy Grant among others whose speciality was adapting children’s books into the screen) and Random Video House. Here, the original story of Bianco was recreated and voiced by none other than Meryl Streep in the role of the rabbit. The background music was provided by famous American musician George Winston. Interestingly, the video was nominated for a Grammy Award and had also won the Parents’ Choice Award for Multimedia.
A theatre production
Despite having the potential to become a musical, The Velveteen Rabbit was never performed on stage till 2015. So, the famous New York-based non-profit theatre called the Atlantic Theatre Company decided to adapt it for the stage in October 2015. It only took them 3 months to turn it into a perfect musical. It released at the Linda Gross Theatre as a Christmas special for kids and family. Anya Saffir, a struggling scriptwriter from Broadway wrote the dialogues, while the rest was done by American theatre veteran Cormac Bluestone out of his sheer love for the book. What’s interesting is that, the musical was left open-ended. It let the young audience decide whether or not the Velveteen Rabbit should be endowed with life or not. Can you guess what the vote was? Unanimously, yes!
The TV specials
In 1976, The Velveteen Rabbit was adapted for the small screen as a TV show. It was called The First Easter Rabbit and was based on the first part of the book wherein a toy bunny wishes to turn real. However, the later part was modified into how it eventually turns into the mythical Easter Bunny. No wonder this 25-minute-long Easter special released right on the Easter eve. For those unaware, Easter Bunny is a folkloric symbol of Easter, which is a colourfully clothed rabbit distributing Easter eggs and good luck.
Eight years later, another television series called Enchanted Musical Playhouse also featured The Velveteen Rabbit in the form of an episodic narration. It was the brainchild of American songwriter duo, Robert and Richard Sherman, better known as the Sherman Brothers.