The novel has twice been adapted to film, and a musical. The first was released in 1981 and distributed by One Pass Media. The second, by Disney in 2002, was directed by Jay Russell and starred Alexis Bledel as Winnie, Jonathan Jackson as Jesse, William Hurt as Angus, Sissy Spacek as Mae, and Ben Kingsley as the man in the yellow suit. It received mixed but generally favorable reviews and currently (May 2022) holds a 60% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[8] The New York Post praised it as 'handsomely crafted and well-acted'.[9] It grossed a little over $19 million at the domestic box office and was not widely released in foreign territories.
The novel has been adapted into a stage musical with music by Chris Miller, lyrics by Nathan Tysen, and book by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle. It was originally scheduled for a pre-Broadway run at Boston's Colonial Theatre, in June 2013, but plans were abandoned due to a lack of available theatres in New York. It was produced at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, in January and February 2015, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw.[10][11] The musical began previews on Broadway, on March 31, 2016, at the Broadhurst Theatre, opening on April 26, 2016, and closing a month later, on May 29. Carolee Carmello and Andrew Keenan-Bolger played Mae and Jesse, with Robert Lenzi (Miles), Michael Park (Angus), Terrence Mann (Man in the Yellow Suit), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Valerie Wright (Betsy Foster), and Sarah Charles Lewis as Winnie.[12]
