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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Sept 14, 2008 11:05:21 GMT -5
The premiere of the classic Broadway Musical is scheduled to open in Lisbon in October. The Cast is closed and I can advance some of the names: Cátia Tavares will leave her role as Chava in Fiddler on the Roof to play Maria. Rui Andrade will leave is role as Fydka in Fiddler to play Tony. Pedro Bargado who played Judas in JCS will return as Bernardo and also Anabela and Lúcia Moniz (both Marias in SoM) are back on stage as Anita and Anybodys.
Rehearsals will start tomorrow, 15th. I dunno if I will attend any of them, but this time I'm rather skeptical on the sucess of this. WSS is a way to american musical and I doubt the portuguese audience will like it. The script is also nothing speciall either with the usual butchering of the lyrics. (not that the original ones are anything special) Lets see what happens... I'll report more as things go on.
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Post by IchBinRory on Sept 14, 2008 14:26:44 GMT -5
WSS is definitely not way to American. Whenever it comes down to a production of this show it's upto the cast and staging. Not the actual plot. Because it's all most flawless.
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Sept 14, 2008 14:34:48 GMT -5
WSS is definitely not way to American. Whenever it comes down to a production of this show it's upto the cast and staging. Not the actual plot. Because it's all most flawless. unless you're forgetting about all the "puerto ricans against white americans" wich is the base of it... go try to explain here why on earth theres a "fight" between americans of puerto rico and americans from the continent... The only way people here would find it normal was if you forget the all puerto rico stuff and put simply blacks against whites. But that's not happening here The rehearsals haven't started so I dunno were will the cast lead it, but I doubt portuguese audiences will be interested in seeing a copy of Romeo & Juliet but with americans... Lets see what happens as for the quality of the show...as much as many people love it, I hate it. I find the music very bad and the lyrics aren't particulary speciall (sondheim has much better ones). Not to mention the staging with that ridiculous gang dance...I really doubt any gang in NY goes around the streets walking like that I totaly hope his production goes another way and turns out a success to the level of Fiddler, SoM and JCS...I just doubt it will.
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Post by IchBinRory on Sept 14, 2008 14:47:14 GMT -5
The Gang dance is meant to be interpretational ballet. WSS almost borders the line of opera if it didn't have so much dialogue. The score is so operatic. Along with all the ballet. But as for explaining the whole situation of the plot. I don't actually agree with that, because that's like saying people won't get Les Miserable because it's about a French revolution that failed. It's the same as anyone who has this idea that Elisabeth won't work in English because no-one knows who she was. But then isn't that the point of the show. To explain who she was? Anything can be explained if the plots clear. Which it is in this show. But I like Soundhiems lyrics in this show because he didn't over complicate it. Because the characters are meant to be young. And at the time it was generally the way they talked. He kept it simple but with a good rhyme. However as always your entitled to your opinion. ;D
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Post by exedore on Sept 14, 2008 14:52:20 GMT -5
All you need to know about WSS and accessibility:
1. It's based on "Romeo and Juliet" which, last I checked, is one of the most universal stories on Earth. 2. WSS has been done around the world successfully including a Takarazuka production. Give the audience *some* credit.
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Sept 14, 2008 17:18:47 GMT -5
But as for explaining the whole situation of the plot. I don't actually agree with that, because that's like saying people won't get Les Miserable because it's about a French revolution that failed. With the difference the French Revolution is knowned world wide because it influenced the course of history, and american relations between americans isn't exactly that important...oh death poor choice of example, I was expecting more ;D To exedore: - I am perfectly aware of what the story is about, I translated the book into portuguese (the book, not the libretto). I know its Romeo & Juliet, but let me say, to me its a butchered version of R&J. - The fact that the production has been done worldwide sucessfuly doesn't mean it has to be a hit in every country. While I'm sure the portuguese audience will swallow and like that crappy-romance between Tony and Maria, I'm not sure they will like the musical as a hole. People here will attend it because the show is staged by Filipe La Féria. They will go because of him not because of the show. I am sure that if the show was staged by some other company it would flop here It happened with Fame, Rent, Footlose etc...Even Miss Saigon was not that huge of a hit, so it never returned unlike Cats. Here, while Fiddler and SoM were famous because of the film versions, the film version of WSS wasn't sucessful at all, and few people remeber or even saw the film wich is the only thing the audience can relate to. We are not a country very cult in terms of Musical Theater so even things that may be a huge hit on B'way, here they are totaly unknowned. Another thing is this: we have a very long Theatrical tradition, so when it comes to Musicals, people here expect something good even if it includes songs. People here don't give a demme if the thing is from Broadway or West End or from the fingers of Jesus, they want good Theater and thats it. If it is well staged or audience connect with the story, it will sell, like Sweeney sold and JCS and SoM. If its just an american version but sung and spoken in portuguese, people will cast it aside and the thing will flop as it happened with shows like Rent, Fame, Godspell etc.
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Post by IchBinRory on Sept 14, 2008 18:49:43 GMT -5
Ok you totally missed my point. Les mis and Elisabeth were just examples. The fact is that the show explains itself. It's all explained through song and dance. Which I'm pretty sure is the definition of a musical. I didn't know about the whole racism thing in New york until I seen this show. Also I really don't think that many people put this amount of thought into seeing a show (unless your like one of us). It's either "Oh I liked it" Or "Oh that was a waste of an evening". And by the way Les Mis wasn't a French Revolution. It was a "failed" French Revolution". No revolution occurred. Not everyone knew there was attempted Revolutions. So therefore it's not known world wide.
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Sept 14, 2008 19:11:04 GMT -5
Ok you totally missed my point. Les mis and Elisabeth were just examples. The fact is that the show explains itself. It's all explained through song and dance. Which I'm pretty sure is the definition of a musical. I didn't know about the whole racism thing in New york until I seen this show. Also I really don't think that many people put this amount of thought into seeing a show (unless your like one of us). It's either "Oh I liked it" Or "Oh that was a waste of an evening". And by the way Les Mis wasn't a French Revolution. It was a "failed" French Revolution". No revolution occurred. Not everyone knew there was attempted Revolutions. So therefore it's not known world wide. The attempt based ON the previous French revolution. That whole idea is just a "new Revolution". "Do you hear the people sing" is obviously a song writen with the French Revolution in mind. The all show is very marked by the ideas of the French Revolution. People know the French revolution and they know why the characters do what they do etc.. As for Elisabeth, the show has the problem of not delivering the image of Elisabeth people like, meaning the Sissi-image. Many people don't fancy the idea of having a lunatic Elisabeth that speaks with Death. People prefer not to know that. That's why Elisabeth isn't for all types of audiences. You only discovered the racist thing with WSS...wich adds to my point of view. People don't know NY history and mostly don't really care about that. When people go see WSS, they either enjoy it because it has all that horrible choreograpy and those songs and because its a love story, or they may hate it because if you want to see Romeo & Juliet you may as well stage the play instead of butchering the classic by putting it in NY and with all that insane gang fight and spare you those horrible dances and themes. Its stupid enough the idea of two families hating each other on the XX century...in R&J it works because its a classic, writen in a time were Families had importance in society and in the control of the lands. Picking up Shakespeare and twist it into NY gangs its just no good to me. I just think its a show that doesn't work around here. In NY they like this kind of things...just see what won the Tony's "In the Heighs" a latin-spanished themed musical. It something that speaks to americans. Here, those kind of things tells us nothing. And love for love, at least give us true Shakespeare and R&J rather than some americanized version of it. Nevertheless, lets see what it ends in. I will maybe attend some rehearsals and maybe the director will try to put the thing in a way portuguese audiences won't find crappy. If that happens, great. But it may be a disaster. I dunno. Do you want to know why I'm so concerned? I'll tell you. We are trying to get the rights to stage Phantom of the Opera here. You know why we haven't got them yet? Because Filipe wants to stage Phantom in the 50's. With Maria Callas as Prima Donna etc etc. Do you like that idea? Can you imagine Phantom staged in the 50's? I can't, and neither can ALW...therefore we won't stage it until I'm able to take that awfull idea of my friends head. If he want's to do this with PotO, imagine what he may do with WSS... ;D
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Post by Milady on Sept 14, 2008 19:11:57 GMT -5
The audience would have to have an extremely literal and narrow view of the show to see it only as an 'American' story. If they could relate to the story of Jews in the Pale of Settlement struggling to hold on their poor shtetl and its ways, I don't see why they couldn't appreciate WSS, no matter how little the movie is known. Exedore is completely right about the love story being a universally known theme, and Death is also correct in that one doesn't have to be familiar with the history of the details to appreciate the show.
And while the gang/culture war aspect of the show has a factual basis in American history, the theme is completely universal. You could uproot it to the Netherlands in the aftermath of the murder of Theo van Gogh and make the rival groups immigrant Muslims and autochthonous, Christian Dutch, both gangs an extreme faction of their kind resorting to violence and thriving on hatred. The warring sides, cultural clashes, and even intra-cultural war over assimilation would all be there to challenge Tony and Maria's dream of "Somewhere".
If the production is bad, of course it could fail, and if you think the show itself is bad, believing it will fail is completely valid (though I personally think it's a brilliant piece of theatre.) But it's been proven time and time again that audiences embrace shows with unfamiliar material and see the broader theme far more often than the people who want to tailor the show to the locals ever give them credit for. Movie or no movie, if they embraced Fiddler, they can embrace West Side Story.
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Sept 14, 2008 19:27:03 GMT -5
And while the gang/culture war aspect of the show has a factual basis in American history, the theme is completely universal. You could uproot it to the Netherlands in the aftermath of the murder of Theo van Gogh and make the rival groups immigrant Muslims and autochthonous, Christian Dutch, both gangs an extreme faction of their kind resorting to violence and thriving on hatred. The warring sides, cultural clashes, and even intra-cultural war over assimilation would all be there to challenge Tony and Maria's dream of "Somewhere". If the production is bad, of course it could fail, and if you think the show itself is bad, believing it will fail is completely valid (though I personally think it's a brilliant piece of theatre.) But it's been proven time and time again that audiences embrace shows with unfamiliar material and see the broader theme far more often than the people who want to tailor the show to the locals ever give them credit for. Movie or no movie, if they embraced Fiddler, they can embrace West Side Story. It is one of the things I was hoping he would do in the translation, moving WSS to the present like he did with JCS. If you puted it more into "whites VS blacks" people would connect more. As for the jews theme, you lack a piece of historical information, wich made you say that. I don't blame you, you have no obligation of knowing Portuguese history I'll explain it to you. Portugal was one of the first countries along with Spain to persecute and kill jews in Europe. On the XX century, while in Europe the nazi's were killing the jews, many of them tried to flee to the USA. They would do it by comming to Lisbon and then taking a boat or a plain to the USA. But to reach here they would need passes and we had a consul in France called Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who, against the orders of Salazar (the Prime-Minister) passed them the visas and saved the lives of lots of jews. For that, Salazar fired him and he ended up in misery living of the help of the jews he saved. Portuguese people never forgave Salazar for that, and so, everytime they see the suffering of jews (either its in Fiddler of Schindlers list) they remember Aristides and they get moved by that. They look at it and think "poor people, they are always kicked out". That said, if they embrace WSS it will for sure because of the love story rather than the rest. I honestly hope the show is a hit, don't get me wrong. The last thing I want is a flop in that Theater...otherwise it may bankrupt and there goes my job But I fear for this show, I really do.
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Post by Andreas on Sept 15, 2008 9:03:26 GMT -5
I haven't read all your discussions, but what I want to add is that WSS has been successful all over Europe - why should Portugal be an exception? To enjoy the story, you don't have to be familiar with the history of NY or anything - I didn't now anything about the story before watching it and still I understood what was going on!
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Sept 15, 2008 15:15:19 GMT -5
Well you added nothing...read the discussions ;D lol (I know its a lot to read, can't blame you )
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Oct 23, 2008 12:28:24 GMT -5
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Nov 3, 2008 12:16:12 GMT -5
Premiere will be now in November and the poster is out The publicity on the site consists only in "a musical based on Romeo & Juliet", "a new version of Romeo & Juliet", "Romeo & Juliet of the modern times"...Basicly they want to attatch this to R&J...and Shakespeare must be spining in his grave
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Post by Valancy on Nov 4, 2008 4:11:57 GMT -5
Well, the story is based on Romeo and Juliet, and I'm sure that Shakespeare has by now gotten tired of rolling over in his grave every time somebody does an altered version of one of his plays and uses his name in the marketing. And WSS is old news to him anyway!
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