Post by jo on Oct 6, 2016 17:26:53 GMT -5
nypost.com/2016/10/06/theater-owners-are-vying-for-wicked-composers-newest-musical/
Hope Hugh is really interested in considering the production!
I have always hoped that Hugh would star in a revival of KISS ME KATE, even if we know he usually favors new work.
I have a recording of Michael Ball singing a song or two of Papageno from THE MAGIC FLUTE ( by Mozart), with a British opera singer ( who usually crosses over to musical theatre) and one can feel the humor of the libretto.
It sounds like a big and unusual theatrical production! But then again Phantom of the Opera surprised everyone and is probably the top-earning stage musical ever?
Jo
Theater owners are vying for ‘Wicked’ composer’s new musical
By Michael Riedel
October 6, 2016 | 5:22pm
Stephen Schwartz's new musical 'Schikaneder' could make the move to Broadway.
Here’s a tip for Broadway’s theater owners: Get yourselves to Vienna to see the new musical by “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz.
My Viennese spies say it’s sensational.
It’s called “Schikaneder,” and while the title doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, one source’s description is enticing: “It’s ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ meets ‘Amadeus’ with a score as lush and melodic as Stephen’s ‘The Baker’s Wife.’ This a major show.”
So what’s a Schikaneder?
He was Emanuel Schikaneder, an 18th-century German impresario, actor and builder of the fabled Theater an der Wien. He wrote the libretto to Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and originated the role of Papageno.
He was also a roué who cheated on his wife, Eleonore, one of the leading actresses of her day. He had bastard children running all over Vienna and died, at 61, in abject poverty.
It’s a big, juicy role tailor-made for a major star such as, well, Hugh Jackman.
Jackman’s not in the Vienna production, but a source tells me that director Trevor Nunn has him in mind for a Broadway or a London production.
Mark Seibert is playing the role in Vienna. While a source says he’s “perfectly fine, sort of like an ’80s Andrew Lloyd Webber leading man,” you don’t come to Broadway with a Seibert when you can get a Jackman. Female leads Milica Jovanovic and Katie Hall are “terrific” and expected to stay with the show.
Nunn directed Jackman in the National Theatre’s revival of “Oklahoma!” in 1998, and the two have often talked about working together again. Jackman’s also worked with Schwartz on a musical about Houdini that never came together.
I hear Jackman may be headed to Vienna to check out “Schikaneder” for himself.
The Austrian government subsidized the show, which features an orchestra and a cast numbering more than 30 each. Anthony Ward’s sets left the opening-night audience gasping.
“The curtain goes up, and you see a huge arch and a dozen chandeliers,” a source says. “Then the chandeliers go up, and the arch rises to reveal the back and mechanics of an 18th-century theater. And then the theater, which is the size of the stage, slowly turns around, and you’re in the splendor of Theater an der Wien. It’s a theater within a theater — absolutely astonishing.”
“It’s ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ meets ‘Amadeus’ with a score as lush and melodic as Stephen’s ‘The Baker’s Wife.’ This a major show”
Schwartz, I’m told, skillfully blends his own music with snatches of “The Magic Flute.” The interplay between Schikaneder and Eleonore reminded the opening-night audience of the tempestuous relationship between the husband-and-wife actors of Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me, Kate.”
Mozart doesn’t appear in the show. He’s referred to here and there, just as Dorothy is in “Wicked.”
No expense was spared on opening night. Locals showed up in top hats and tails, sparkling wine flowed and coaches took the 2,000 first-nighters to a sit-down dinner at the Rathaus, Vienna’s city hall.
Spotted in the crowd were representatives from Cameron Mackintosh’s office and the Mirvishes, who own most of the theaters in Toronto.
This is going to be a hell of an expensive production in New York or London. But Schwartz has a pretty good track record. “Wicked” has sold $4 billion worth of tickets all over the world.
Get on that plane, Shuberts, Nederlanders and Jujamcyns!
By Michael Riedel
October 6, 2016 | 5:22pm
Stephen Schwartz's new musical 'Schikaneder' could make the move to Broadway.
Here’s a tip for Broadway’s theater owners: Get yourselves to Vienna to see the new musical by “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz.
My Viennese spies say it’s sensational.
It’s called “Schikaneder,” and while the title doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, one source’s description is enticing: “It’s ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ meets ‘Amadeus’ with a score as lush and melodic as Stephen’s ‘The Baker’s Wife.’ This a major show.”
So what’s a Schikaneder?
He was Emanuel Schikaneder, an 18th-century German impresario, actor and builder of the fabled Theater an der Wien. He wrote the libretto to Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and originated the role of Papageno.
He was also a roué who cheated on his wife, Eleonore, one of the leading actresses of her day. He had bastard children running all over Vienna and died, at 61, in abject poverty.
It’s a big, juicy role tailor-made for a major star such as, well, Hugh Jackman.
Jackman’s not in the Vienna production, but a source tells me that director Trevor Nunn has him in mind for a Broadway or a London production.
Mark Seibert is playing the role in Vienna. While a source says he’s “perfectly fine, sort of like an ’80s Andrew Lloyd Webber leading man,” you don’t come to Broadway with a Seibert when you can get a Jackman. Female leads Milica Jovanovic and Katie Hall are “terrific” and expected to stay with the show.
Nunn directed Jackman in the National Theatre’s revival of “Oklahoma!” in 1998, and the two have often talked about working together again. Jackman’s also worked with Schwartz on a musical about Houdini that never came together.
I hear Jackman may be headed to Vienna to check out “Schikaneder” for himself.
The Austrian government subsidized the show, which features an orchestra and a cast numbering more than 30 each. Anthony Ward’s sets left the opening-night audience gasping.
“The curtain goes up, and you see a huge arch and a dozen chandeliers,” a source says. “Then the chandeliers go up, and the arch rises to reveal the back and mechanics of an 18th-century theater. And then the theater, which is the size of the stage, slowly turns around, and you’re in the splendor of Theater an der Wien. It’s a theater within a theater — absolutely astonishing.”
“It’s ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ meets ‘Amadeus’ with a score as lush and melodic as Stephen’s ‘The Baker’s Wife.’ This a major show”
Schwartz, I’m told, skillfully blends his own music with snatches of “The Magic Flute.” The interplay between Schikaneder and Eleonore reminded the opening-night audience of the tempestuous relationship between the husband-and-wife actors of Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me, Kate.”
Mozart doesn’t appear in the show. He’s referred to here and there, just as Dorothy is in “Wicked.”
No expense was spared on opening night. Locals showed up in top hats and tails, sparkling wine flowed and coaches took the 2,000 first-nighters to a sit-down dinner at the Rathaus, Vienna’s city hall.
Spotted in the crowd were representatives from Cameron Mackintosh’s office and the Mirvishes, who own most of the theaters in Toronto.
This is going to be a hell of an expensive production in New York or London. But Schwartz has a pretty good track record. “Wicked” has sold $4 billion worth of tickets all over the world.
Get on that plane, Shuberts, Nederlanders and Jujamcyns!
Hope Hugh is really interested in considering the production!
I have always hoped that Hugh would star in a revival of KISS ME KATE, even if we know he usually favors new work.
I have a recording of Michael Ball singing a song or two of Papageno from THE MAGIC FLUTE ( by Mozart), with a British opera singer ( who usually crosses over to musical theatre) and one can feel the humor of the libretto.
It sounds like a big and unusual theatrical production! But then again Phantom of the Opera surprised everyone and is probably the top-earning stage musical ever?
Jo
) is evocative of The Baker's Wife also by Schwartz. There's only one song that I could say I love listening to from Schwartz musical portfolio and it is from the Baker's Wife -- called MEADOWLARK.
