Danish WICKED ushers in new era
And what do King Kong and Imelda Marcos have in common?
Good morning (or afternoon) world!
Welcome to the latest edition of the Broadway DNA bi-weekly newsletter! In pulling the latest 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 producing, I dip into in asides mixed in with the news. Natalie-isms, if you will. Whether you're a producer, educator, writer, director, or simply a musical theatre enthusiast, this bulletin is your ticket to staying informed and getting globally inspired!
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(Yet another) Newly announced non-replica “Wicked”
Denmark’s Fredericia Musicalteater and AHA Creations have announced a strategic partnership to produce one major musical per season from Fall 2024 onwards, beginning with a new production of “Wicked” at Fredericia Musicalteater and Tivoli's Concert Hall, directed by Thomas Agerholm with a new translation by Mads Æbelø Nielsen.
Some Background:
Founded in 1837, Fredericia has become Denmark's only state-supported theater that focuses exclusively on the musical genre. The theater has had an unusually dramatic history since its foundation – including several bankruptcies, a violent fire, and a WW2 bombing. But despite the challenges, the theater has always been revived, due in no small part to a strong theatrical audience and local training ecosystem.
Pre-pandemic, Fredericia became a Section 5 theater, given the responsibility of elevating the musical genre on a national level and tasked with focusing on developing new musicals and innovating stage technology. But alongside 2020 COVID shutdowns, Fredericia went bankrupt after productions of 'The Prince of Egypt' and 'Tarzan' led to a millions loss for the theater in 2019 (I had the privilege of attending POE to learn more about the producers’ “out of town tryout” experiment pre-West End, but that’s subject for another newsletter). As part of this new resurrection, the Fredericia Municipality has set aside 11 million kroner (approx 1.5mil USD) annually in the budget for the now-named Fredericia Musicalteater. Last year yielded successful productions of “Murder Ballad” and “Come From Away.”
Stewarding the new partnership is AHA Creations (like an “a-ha” moment"), consisting of former Fredericia chairman of the board, Anders Østergaard, and performer Martin Palme Skriver (most notably known to global fans from Eurovision 2016’s “Soldiers of Love”).
Also, Broadway’s “Here Lies Love” sets closing date, international productions being planned
Press release states, “There are plans underway for possible upcoming runs of the show in Japan and Australia.”
A glance at the production credits show co-producers with the likely rights: Yasuhiro Kawana, the first Japanese citizen to win a Tony Award in 2013 as one of the producers of "Kinky Boots" (which has played to acclaim in Japan as well), and Australia’s Global Creatures, of “Moulin Rouge” and “King Kong” fame. Since I had to abandon my King Kong Shanghai 2020 plans (RIP), I will be first in line for whatever these iterations may turn out to be.
EUROPE
As previously reported, my friends at Reykjavik City Theatre are premiering “Jagged Little Pill,” dropping the above teaser ahead of a February opening.
“Winnie the Pooh” Netherlands has a new trailer as well.
Excellent read about the current Berlin production of “Chicago”
German “Hercules” releases first single “Go the Distance”
“Avenue Q” is having a moment on my feeds with high profile productions coming up in Denmark and Spain.
Upcoming “Next to Normal” German 10 year reunion concert got me thinking, I’m still waiting to update my global N2N list with a fresh North American first class relaunch… I’ll wait.
BRAZIL
A New Brazilian Musical “OLIVER TWIST - MUSICAL” Opens in Sao Paulo by Dagnus Produções
“Something Rotten,” “Bonnie and Clyde” lead Brazil’s 6th DID Awards for Musical Theater with 13 and 12 Nominations respectively
ASIA-PACIFIC
Can’t stop thinking about these Japanese poster designs for “A Streetcar Named Desire” playing in Osaka in February, and June’s remounting of Ongakuza Musical’s "SUNDAY" based on Agatha Christie’s “Absent in the Spring.”
Sorry to whoever’s still working on the Broadway-bound white-people edition, but the National Theater of Korea’s return production of “Farewell My Concubine” combines Peking opera and Changgeuk Korean performance style into stunning visual and emotional spectacle.
Looking for emerging new works? The 10th Wuzhen Theater Festival just wrapped up, with more than 10,000 people signing up for the emerging theater artists' competition since 2013.
Two current productions of “Sister Act” exemplify two different approaches to licensing the race-specific DNA of the show: Japan’s Toho presents an all-Japanese cast (with afros and all), while Korea’s EMK launches an experimental “glocal” cast national tour.
Have opinions on this? Me too. That’s why by planning for a show’s global distribution from the start, BDNA seeks to engage our authors and challenge the industry standard to think critically when it comes to (but not limited to) issues of race in globally replicated content, prioritizing a matrix of rightsholder intent, show DNA, and rightsholder goals to shepherd decisions between art and commerce.
Ingvar! A Musical Furniture Saga (above from the 2023 Danish production at Fredericia with tagline “a musical satire filled with money and meatballs”) is an original, humorous tribute to the late founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad.
Ingvar! is written by Swiss-Swede team Erik Gedeon and Klas Abrahamsson. It premiered in Hamburg in 2009 as "Das Wunder von Schweden, eine musikalische Möbelsaga" aka “The Miracle of Sweden,” debuting in Sweden in 2010, and popping up in theaters all around the Swedish-speaking corner of the world ever since. It also had a reading at NYC’s Theatre Row as part of NORDIC STAGE 2018: A Festival of New Scandinavian Theater, a collaboration between Scandinavian American Theater Company (SATC) and The Bergman Studio & Dramaten/The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Sweden.
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