The Curious Case of Two Benjamin Buttons
And "Vaselina"'s the word
Good morning (or afternoon) world!
Welcome to the latest edition of the Broadway DNA newsletter! In pulling the latest international musical theatre IP headlines, I focus on illuminating post-premiere lifecycles for what commercial theatre creators 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, artist, or simply a musical theatre enthusiast interested in how IP grows global, this bulletin is your ticket to staying informed and getting globally inspired!
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TRELA DNERT: The Curious Case of Two Benjamin Buttons
When I previewed the global 2024 musical landscape in January, I mentioned the Korean production company EMK will premiere an original musical adaptation of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in May. Written by Gwang-Hwa Cho and Nao Lee (NYU Tisch, BMI), the work originally premiered as part of CJ Cultural Foundation’s Stage Up showcase in 2021, and an official trailer for the new production dropped on Friday.
This week, the British actor-musician adaptation of the same F. Scott Fitzgerald story by Jethro Compton and Darren Clark announced a transfer to the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre in October, following a sold-out Southwark Playhouse run, which won Best Musical Theatre Production at the Off West End Awards.
While two very different approaches to the same story, one features two of my favorite things (puppets and a female composer), so, not to make this a “Wild Party” (or “Great Gatsby”) situation, but… we know whose side I’m on.*
*There aren’t actual sides, and there’s enough artistic room in the world for both to exist as different points of view and expressions of human creativity; however, from an increasingly globally-knit licensing perspective, shows that share the same title or premise face unique challenges if they hope to penetrate markets that have existing titles with direct competition in the minds of the desired consumers. Just ask adaptations of “Phantom” or “Hamlet.”
EUROPE
👕 “Dear Evan Hansen” made its German-language premiere on Friday at Musical Frühling in Gmunden (Austria), a fast-growing musical hub founded in 2015 with a focus on German-language or Austrian premieres of internationally significant works, as well as world premiere musicals (last season’s “Letters from Ruth” won the “German Musical Prize” in four categories).
This DEH production will have its German (country) premiere at the STADTTHEATER Fürth in October 2024 as part of a continued co-production collaboration between the two theaters that started with 2022’s German language premiere of “The Woman in White.”
Gmunden’s leaders Elisabeth Sikora and Markus Olzinger were recently interviewed and noted the difficult process of acquiring the highly-coveted license and being thoroughly vetted. I’m available for consulting next time.
💪 “Hercules” musical made international premiere with Stage Entertainment in Hamburg on Sunday— The 1997 Disney movie’s stage adaptation previously played US stages in 2019 (The Public Theater’s Public Works in Central Park) and 2023 (Paper Mill Playhouse), but the German production trailer looks insanely cool and gives me hope DTG hasn’t forgotten how to make musicals. Don’t get me started on Frozen.
🪲 When the directors of two theaters from different cities meet on stage in costumes, it means that something special is happening! This is how the contract for the co-production of the Polish premiere of "Beetlejuice" was signed, which will take place at the Syrena Theater in Warsaw in September 2025 and at the Rozrywki Theater in Chorzów in May 2026.
⏰ The Theater Regensburg in southeast Germany reveals two German-language premiere musicals for their 2024/25 season: Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” and the previously announced “Come From Away.”
ASIA-PACIFIC
🩸 Anime musical "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood" embarks on national tour after successful debut at Tokyo's Imperial Theater in February— Produced by Toho and written by French musical composers Dove Attia (I wrote here about his “Molière” and “The Ten Commandments”) and Rod Janois (“1789”) with Tsuneyasu Motoyashi (anime My Hero Academia stage productions) penning the script. Critics are praising the attention to detail, particularly noting the strong sound design and use of stop motion and slow motion that match the world of "JoJo" characterized by posing.
Japanese publisher Shueisha (“Dragon Ball”) began publishing the manga by Hirohiko Araki in 1987, and now has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history.
📰 Toho to remount “Newsies” Japanese production in October, directed again by famed theatre group Takarzuka’s luminary Shuichiro Koike despite recent sexual harassment accusations— “Newsies,'' which premiered in Japan in 2021 and won the 29th Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Production, will be performed starting in October 2024 at the Nissay Theater in Tokyo.
🇰🇷 Kreative musical “Jessie’s Diary” to be staged in Shanghai— Producer Never Ending Play announced the staged reading to be performed at the Korean Cultural Center in Shanghai as part of the ceremony commemorating the 105th anniversary of the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (founded in exile based in China during the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1919).
The musical is based on the eponymous book, written as a diary by independence activists Woo-jo Yang and Sun-hwa Choi, who were fighting for independence and raising their baby Jessie during the Japanese colonial period. This marks the piece’s first overseas performance, in addition to being meaningfully in the location the original authors’ fought for independence.
SPANISH-SPEAKING WORLD
Mexico City’s "Vaselina," aka "Grease," to make U.S. Latin Spanish language debut in tour stop at Los Angeles’ YouTube Theater in June— The cast includes members of the legendary Mexican pop music group "Timbiriche," who performed the musical in '84 and '85 for more than 500 performances and recorded an album that cemented the musical in Mexican pop culture. The tour is also being prepared for Central America.
Producer Alejandro Gou also just announced a new division of Gou Producciones, “Gou Broadway Tour,” devoted to his continuation of bringing “international” (Broadway) tours to Mexico.
“A padlás” (“The Attic”)
I came across this 1988 Hungarian cyberneticist-fairytale musical with music by Gábor Presser and lyrics by Dusán Sztevanovity while researching ahead of a Central-Eastern Europe licensee trip (more on that later). The original production is in repertoire to this day at Budapest's Comedy Theatre where the work premiered, with many songs becoming part of Hungarian popular culture and making it the most successful Hungarian musical of all time.
In fact in the ‘90s, the musical had Broadway aspirations, but the authors did not agree with the English translation. But as recently as 2019, Presser told Forbes Hungary readings for an American version were taking place again.
The basic plot is the story of four forgotten spirits of usually forgotten fairytale characters who try to contact death’s Ferryman in order to cross over. They find themselves trapped in an attic where they meet friends - and a supercomputer (very “War Games” meets act 2 of Sondheim’s “Here We Are” meets “Into the Woods”).
The show recently had a non-replica production at the Andrej Bagar Theater (DAB) in Nitra, Slovakia as part of their “VéNégy Festival” that presents contemporary productions from the Visegrad Four countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). The Slovak production was met with middling reviews (“Non-transferable Nostalgia”), finding the socialist era themes of collective erasure and distrust dated.
Looking ahead, DAB’s cross-country cultural exchange programming continues this year with a “Made in Czechoslovakia” programming series, the aim of which is to showcase works from Slovakia's neighbor, making cultural exchange locally accessible. This year’s program includes Czech docu-jukebox “Špinarka” and the Slovak premiere of Broadway’s “Chicago.”
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