Musical theater has been steadily gaining popularity in Brazil. As a Brazilian passionate about the art form, I’m thrilled to see a rising trend: more and more Broadway and West End musicals are being adapted for Brazilian audiences. But this brings up a fascinating challenge—how do you adapt a musical into Portuguese without losing its essence or sounding awkward?
First, it’s important to clarify that when a musical is brought into another language, it’s not usually called a “translation” (tradução). Instead, we use the terms “version” (versão) or “adaptation” (adaptação).
In Brazil, the person responsible for this creative process is known as a versionista, which roughly translates to “versionist” or “lyric adaptor.” Their work is incredibly nuanced because adapting a song involves much more than just swapping out words from one language to another.
When crafting a Portuguese version of a musical, the versionista has to carefully balance five essential elements:
Meaning
Preserving the meaning doesn’t mean translating literally. In fact, the adaptor often needs to move away from the literal sense of the words to capture the essence of the original.
Umberto Eco illustrates this beautifully in his book Dire quasi la stessa cosa with a simple example:
“Let’s suppose that in an English novel a character says, ‘It’s raining cats and dogs.’ A foolish translator would be one who, thinking they are conveying the same meaning, translates it literally as, ‘Piove cani e gatti.’”
Umberto Eco
In songs, the challenge can be even greater. Lyrics often include jokes, cultural references, wordplay, and idiomatic expressions. It’s the versionist’s job to find the best way to evoke in the target audience the same emotions and reactions that the original lyrics inspire in the audience of the musical’s native language.
Rhymes
In his book Finishing the Hat, the legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim notes that “the immediate distinguishing difference between lyrics and dialogue is the conscious use of rhyme.” (p. XXV)
You probably already have a basic understanding of rhymes, but you might not realize there are different types. A rhyme can be perfect—when two words share the exact same final sound—or imperfect, also known as a slant rhyme or near rhyme, where the sounds are similar but not identical.
In Finishing the Hat, Sondheim references composer and lyricist Craig Carnelia:
True rhyming is a necessity in the theater, as a guide for the ear to know what it has just heard. Our language is so complex and difficult, and there are so many similar words and sounds that mean different things, that it’s confusing enough without using near rhymes that only acquaint the ear with a vowel… [A near rhyme is] not useful to the primary purpose of a lyric, which is to be heard, and it teaches the ear to not trust or to disregard a lyric, to not listen, to simply let the music wash over you.
Craig Carnelia (p. XXVI)
Victor Mühlethaler, a Brazilian versionist and director, echoes this sentiment, explaining that rhyme is not just an aesthetic choice but a functional tool for understanding. He notes:
“Rhyme isn’t just a stylistic indulgence; it actually helps with comprehension. If you have trouble catching the next line, the rhyme gives you a clue—your brain fills in the missing piece, and you understand the lyric perfectly.”
Victor Mühlethaler
One of the hallmarks of a good adaptation is respecting the original song’s rhyme scheme. And when the lyricist intentionally avoids rhyming, that choice should also be reflected in the adaptation.
Meter
To understand meter, let’s take the sentence “Happy Birthday to you” as an example.
When we break it down, we find six syllables:
1HAP2PY 3BIRTH4DAY 5TO 6YOU
Notice how it has a rhythm. Some syllables are naturally emphasized (strong beats), while others are lighter (weak beats). If we assign “1” to the stronger beats and “2” to the weaker ones, we get:
2 – 2 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 1
happy BIRTHday to YOU
We can assign a note to each syllable:
The phrase follows a specific rhythm, where every syllable aligns with a note:
1Hap2py 3Birth4day 5to 6you
2-2-1-2-2-1
Every song works this way. If we were to translate it into another language, we’d need to ensure we maintain the rhythm and the number of syllables or notes. The key is not to create notes that aren’t in the original and to respect the style of the song.
Prosody
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines prosody as: the study of versification or the rhythmic and intonational aspect of language.
Every word has its own rhythm. If you preSENT the word PREsent with the accent on the first syllable, it’s a gift; shift the accent to the second syllable, and it means “to introduce or show.” So the versionist must find phrases that fit the rhythm of the original song.
“I think the best way to explain prosody is to show an example where it’s wrong. [It’s wrong] when the musical emphasis—the accent in the music—doesn’t match the natural accent of the word. […] The tonic of the word must align with the song’s strong beat.”
Mariana Elisabetsky
Brazilian versionist for musical theater and dubbing for Disney and Netflix
“If you hear a word with the wrong prosody, you won’t understand the word.”
Victor Mühlethaler
For a quick example of how prosody changes everything, just think of Chandler Bing from Friends.
“Could I BE wearing any more clothes?”
Joey Tribbiani (imitating Chandler)
Friends, ep. The One Where No One’s Ready (S3, E2)
Here, the character stresses “BE”, whereas normally the emphasis might fall on the final word. That unusual shift creates Chandler’s signature sarcastic tone.
This is prosody at work. When used intentionally, it makes dialogue memorable. But if you accidentally stress the wrong syllable—especially when adapting lyrics—the result can feel unnatural and distracting.
Clarity
Last but definitely not least, we have the element of clarity—a quality Sondheim deemed vital, “without which nothing else matters.” (p. XV)
In her book The Craft of Lyric Writing, Sheila Davis writes:
“Above all, its meaning should be instantly clear. Unlike a poem which exists on paper, a song exists in time, as the motor of its melody propels the words forward. The listener, unlike the reader, gets no footnotes and must understand the lyric as it’s being performed. One confusing line or inaudible word will derail the listener’s attention. Unlike a poem, whose language can be as abstract as a cubist painting, a lyric should be as direct as a highway sign. Most important, a lyric is designed to be sung. Its writer, therefore, must be instinctively musical and must choose words that roll off the tongue and soar on high notes. Every word should sing.”
Sheila Davis (p. 7)
If poetry is the art of saying a lot in a little, lyric-writing is the art of finding the right balance between saying too much and not enough.
Stephen Sondheim (p. XIX)
Clarity also means avoiding jarring inversions. Take Yoda from Star Wars, for example—his sentences are famously twisted around:
“To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough you are not.”
Yoda, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
While it adds charm to his character, in normal English we’d say, “You are not strong enough to fight this Lord Sidious.” Using that kind of inversion in a song or text can make it sound unnatural or confusing if it’s not done on purpose for a specific effect.
“I try to avoid inversions as much as possible, because the audience’s mind can’t keep up. The key is to let the brain follow the information and be clear—aim for maximum clarity. So I’m always asking myself: how can this be singable, meet all the technical requirements, and still tell the story in a way that’s… I don’t like to say ‘simple,’ because it’s actually quite sophisticated work, but it needs to be easy to understand. After all, people aren’t going to listen to it a thousand times; they’ll be sitting in the theater wanting to grasp the whole story. You can’t make them pause to figure out what you wrote, or they’ll miss the next line.”
Victor Mühlethaler
The Ultimate Goal
These are the five pillars of musical adaptation. A good versionist can honor the original lyricist by focusing on these five elements, while also crafting a beautiful new lyric that sounds natural.
In his book Os Reis dos Musicais (“The Kings of Musicals”), versionist Claudio Botelho writes:
“The most important thing, in the end, is that the audience doesn’t realize they’re experiencing a translation. Everything should sound as if it were originally written in our language. Sometimes you need to completely rewrite a lyric or drastically alter an idea, but it’s worth it if the final result pulls the audience into the show—which, after all, is usually the ultimate goal of any musical.”
Claudio Botelho (p. 62)
The versionist’s job is to transform musicals from other languages into stories that feel natural and moving on the Brazilian stage. When the adaptation is done well, the audience doesn’t even realize it’s a version—they simply experience the magic of musical theater.
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