Good morning (or afternoon) world!
In pulling the week’s global theatre headlines for you, I try to balance what I think a predominantly Western commercial theatre readership might value: what titles are successful, where, by who, and why? Some of the how, the nuts and bolts of licensing and/or producing, I am experimenting dipping into in asides mixed in with the news. Natalie-isms, if you will. Would a podcast be helpful or fun as well?
These are 3 different musicals. Let’s talk about it.
New Dutch musical “Blind Date” opened this week in Amsterdam (script by Allard Blom and music by Sam Verhoeven). Produced by De Theater BV whose focus is to “develop, create and produce Dutch/Dutch language theater and musical performances.”
Natalie Note: It caught my eye because I immediately and wrongly assumed it was a local language license of Broadway’s “First Date” by Zachary & Weiner!
The struggle of the show’s approachable subject and easily producible format spawning unintended copycats is familiar; an unofficial Russian sequel, “Valentine’s Day,” created after a successful legit license, has previously been documented by Forbes (hi Marc). But, considering said sequel is still running AND in rep with the legit “First Date” license STILL two years later, I am wondering at what point as a licensor are you compromising, and even failing, your show and authors’ reputations in order to cash a check and throw “seen in X countries” on a website with little regard as to the reality of the global musical landscape in which it’s intellectual property is being exploited? “Blind Date” isn’t as egregious, but its complicit in taking advantage of the original’s lax global marketing and licensing strategy with holes in localization and market impact awareness. Imitation may be the best form of flattery, but ignorance is unforgivable.
KOREA
"Dracula” cast revealed ahead of 2nd Korean remount of the Czech musical— not to be confused with Wildhorn’s “Dracula” which has been remounted across 4 seasons in Korea so far; a dangerous game of competing producers purposefully muddying the market with identical titles of different shows (hello “Phantom” and “Phantom”)
Daegu International Musical Festival (DIMF) now streaming FREE on Broadway On Demand through Oct 27— showing 5 New K-Musicals and 7 readings from the 16th DIMF held last summer. Personally, I’m watching for the unofficial Banksy musical.
EUROPE
Rehearsal footage released from the upcoming licensed production of “Godspell” at Antonio Baneras’ Teatro del Soho CaixaBank in Málaga, Spain
Vienna’s VBW (of “Dance of the Vampires” fame) to produce world premiere new jukebox musical “Rock Me Amadeus - The Falco Musical”
#WICKEDINOZ
Crossroads Live announced a remount Australian production of“Wicked” will play the Sydney Lyric Theatre in August 2023, in time to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary.
Natalie Note: Entertainment journalism around the world varying region to region will use various, and often misleading, verbiage to describe a show “coming back.” This is my most hilarious and frustratingly favorite problem in my corner of our business, since— duh— what sets theatre apart from other mediums is its ability to be reproduced (through select commercial options) OR reimagined.
TimeOut, which Broadway news sites then reposted, declared that “This will be a revival of the John Frost production, which opened in Melbourne in 2008 and went on to tour nationally and internationally.” IMO this is all kinds of confusing— it is a remount of the Australian replica license of the original David Stone production. A “revival” in traditional commercial terms should imply that there is a new director and creative team, “reimagining.” (Which is another rabbit-hole word journalists also like to bandy about irresponsibly when just talking about any and every local license; it is an oxymoron in this author’s opinion to call your local theatre’s “Into the Woods” “reimagined” by very nature of AS OPPOSED TO WHAT, THE ORIGINAL? Use your brain for one second and find real descriptors that don’t underline the very definition of theatre as living art.
Anyway— “Wicked” has been translated into six languages and seen by more than 60 million people in 16 countries. The only production that has been allowed to date to “reimagine” is Stage Entertainment’s 2021 German production, which I obviously saw and need to tell you about another day.
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COMING SOON: Reykjavik City Theatre’s “Níu líf: The Bubbi Morthens Musical”
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