how would go about re writing a film musicial into a stage musical?

[BlueDragonfly]

for the sake of this post lets say that i just watched west side story. I LOVED it and decided it would be great to turn into a stage show. How on earth would i go about it? Would i have to buy the script? Would i need permission from the production company to adapt it? would i need a license to perform it like i need a license to perform other musicals?

It would probably cost you lots of money as everything is Copyright protected. I know from my days in Amateur Theater where we used to have to pay licence fees for staging Musicals like Guys and Dolls.

Isn't there a stage version already ? Sorry to be thick , presumably it isn't actually WSS but don't most screenplays have stage version first to perform under licence.

i know you have to pay for staging them. i used to do musicals. ah money. so i wouldn't be doing say steven spielberg a favour by turning it into a stage show

There isn't already a stage script believe it or not!

riiiiiight am back to writing my own!(well DP is!)