Monday, February 04, 2008
Spanish turn Anne Frank diary into musical
Yahoo! News: "Spanish producers have turned the life of Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who wrote a diary while hiding from Nazis, into a musical, tearing up the genre's widely held convention of light-hearted, sugar-coated tale."
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6 comments:
I mean, I'm all for new and innovative shows... but it seems like this is kind of...inappropriate...I guess if they do it in the style of Les Mis it'll be different than if it's like Hairspray, but musicals seem to take events and downplay the harsh reality, rather than showcasing it. Les Mis is a show about a really horrible event in French History, but no one ever looks at it and says "That was a really horrible thing." Everyone says, "What a beautiful show." I don't think making Anne Frank into a musical is really a compliment to the subject matter, but I guess I'll never really know until I see it. Which I won't, because it is in Spanish...
I appreciate Alvaro's efforts in trying to defy the standard convention we put upon musicals. We all know there are quite a few shows currently on Broadway which are promoting that exact image Alvaro is trying to stay clear of. So, if at least one person can notice the incredible inaccuracy and sugar-coated garbage that most modern popular musicals present, I may still have some hope in musical adaptations after all.
I think the reason why Anne Frank is not an appropriate story to be made into a musical is that it is extremely personal and realistic. all efforts i have seen to show those people's story have been to put the audience in the attic, so they could feel the hardship of being so confined and with living so closely with the same people. those realities would be completley offset if all of the characters bust out in song. in most real life situations people do not sing their feelings.
I think that this is actually a good thing. A lot of people would argue that turning the diary of Anne Frank into a musical would be a really bad idea. Though there is no rule that says that musical theatre should be a light hearted tale. in fact I think that the stregnth of music along with the story can give the piece the energy that it needs to convey its powerful message. The holocaust is a very touchy subject and should be tread upon carefully. However, I feel that if done properly, this piece could be the type of thing to spring American musical theatre out of the children's movie stage adaptations and back into deeper, more serious theatre.
I think this might indicate that we have finally come to the point of striving to much for change. I understand the need to branch out and defy the normal boundaries of musical topics, but this might be pushing it. I see why Anne’s cousin would be very upset by this, and that in itself should be some sort of indicator to the director/production team. However, as Chapel pointed out, the chance that I will ever experience this performance is very slim.
Yeah . . . i think this will be very similar to the musical "The Color Purple" which in my opinion, didn't convey the message that it should of. Musicals have their time and place, but with some issues and subjects they just don't seem to fit. Some issues and stories are just too serious or touchy for the characters of the production to sing about. And with this story it doesn't fit at all, i don't think that music and singing will enhance the story at all.
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