Good morning (or afternoon) world!
Please enjoy this week’s Monday newsletter on this fine Wednesday instead. Have a question, news tip, or wish I would get my act together and just start a podcast? Reply to this email, or
EMEA Region
“Come From Away” makes its Danish non-replica premiere with my friends at the Fredericia Musical Teater now running until 6 November
“Next to Normal” premiered last week at the Staatstheater in Kassel, Germany (not to be confused with the Magdeburg, German production I spotlighted earlier this month— the people of the world LOVE N2N RIGHT NOW AND I AM NOT MAD ABOUT IT!)
The 24th Annual Afife Theatre Awards took place last week in Turkey— A total of 16 awards were given out to honor theater artists after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic period, including a pandemic-delayed large production of Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus” which premiered on Broadway in 1980 with Ian McKellen and Tim Curry.
As I’ve written about before, the stage play with music being done by Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company Seeing Worldwide Interest In “My Neighbour Totoro,” Stage Show Based On Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli Classic— “Stage producers and theater owners from New York, Paris, Australia, Korea, Canada and Australia have been tracking the progress of the production being presented by composer Joe Hisaishi and the Royal Shakespeare Company.”
APAC Region
Local language license of “Hairspray” opened at the Hakataza Theater in Fukuoka, Japan
Food and drink will also be allowed in the theater for the first time in two years!
The 2023 Korean premiere of the musical “Amelie,” based off the 2019 UK Hartshorn-Hook production, has been temporarily suspended.
Producers Ateod and MPN Company (N2N, Spring Awakening, A Doll’s House Part 2) made the announcement on social media “after reviewing domestic production conditions during the pre-production stage… with close cooperation with overseas creatives and staff.”
“Cats” international tour to return to Korea, playing Seoul’s Sejong Arts Center and Busan Dream Theater in early 2023. The tour production will be the same as the 2017 Asian premiere production, helmed by British director Chrissie Cartwright who worked with the original choreographer, the late Gillian Lynne.
“Cats” is the first musical to surpass 2 million ticket buys in Korea. It is the fourth time the show is being done in Korea, following performances in 2015, 2018, and 2020 (which infamously featured the cats coming down the aisles in cats-themed face masks. Eat your heart out, Sammi Cannold).
The production will also see the return after 5 years of the “Jellicle Seat,” an aisle seat that sells out instantly as soon as tickets are opened.
Encore screenings of Korean producer EMK’s filmed production of Maury Yeston’s “Phantom” planned in Ft Lee NJ, West Newton MA, Glendale CA and an encore event at Symphony Space in NYC on November 13— who’s coming with me?
Featuring K-Pop sensation Super Junior’s Kyuhyun, world renowned soprano Sunhae Im, and world class ballerina Joowon Kim
Additional dates in Latin and South America in December. Additionally pursuing possible screenings in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Spain, Portugal, Australia, India and the UK.
Captured on film by WYS EN SCÈNE from the Charlotte Theater (South Korea); Presented in Korean w/ English subtitles.
What We’re Seeing: Off Broadway’s “XIMER, An Electronic Concept Musical”
Beneath the new EDM musical “Ximer”’s brilliant sheen lies a sense of doom. Look around you—can’t you sense it, too? Millions of us doom-scrolling through our phones with glazed eyes and fragile psyches, being spoon-fed tailor-made content catering to our every characteristic, unable to find connection and validation beyond the confines of our relentless inner monologues and seeking escapism through superficial interpersonal relationships just to register a pulse. You know, we live in a capitalist society. Creator Markus Ferraro explores these modern maladies in his new queer comicbook musical (a deliciously ambitious addition to his transmedia storytelling across graphic novels and music videos) with a comedic, clumsy edge, stuffing groovy, electronic beats with the vapid repetition of mulling adolescent thoughts– all to deliver a cliché, underbaked, yet sweeping experiment in American musical theatre.
What I’m Reading:
“THE ANDY WARHOL CASE THAT COULD WRECK AMERICAN ART”
“A hundred times every day,” Einstein wrote, “I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead.” But what if you’re barred from the building blocks that would allow you to create your project? What if you can’t access those original materials?
What I’m Listening To:
Formal request for The 1975 to contribute to a new Playlist Musical asap
Have a show or idea you want to expand abroad? Consider working with Natalie at Broadway DNA, just reply to this email and let’s chat!