Some Of The Names May Have Been Changed To Protest Das Wicked
Some Of The Names May Have Been Changed To Protect Das WickedThe original that started it all may be temporarily sidelined thanks to a little kerfuffle in the Big Apple.
But this evening -- approximately 4,000 miles and just a little more than four years away from its Broadway opening -- Wicked takes yet another major step toward global domination as its third international incarnation opens in Stuttgart, Germany.
And while familiar characters like Elphaba, Glinda and Fiyero will be on hand, albeit speaking German, some character names have been slightly altered, no doubt to fit the world's most guttural, back-of-the-throat language.
Wicked - Die Hexen Von Oz (or "The Witches of Oz") stars Willemijn Verkaik as Elphaba, Lucy Scherer as Glinda, Mark Seibert as Fiyero and Nicole Radeschnig as Nessarose. Featured among the character names that have been changed in the German language musical are Carlo Lauber as Der Zauberer von Oz ("The Wizard of Oz"), Angelika Wedekind as Madam Akaber (Madame Morrible), Stefan Stara as Moq ("Boq") and Michael Günther as Dr. Dillamonth ("Dr. Dillamond").
To get a taste of this Wicked - Die Hexen Von Oz, check out the video to hear "Defying Gravity" as sung in German. Verkaik definitely has one amazing set of pipes to be reckoned with:
Currently, aside from the temporarily closed Wicked on Broadway, there are two sitdown productions in the United States (Chicago and Los Angeles), one North American touring company (currently playing in Hartford, CT), the London West End version, a Tokyo production, and now this one in Stuttgart. Next July, the Australian version opens in Melbourne.
One week from tomorrow, I'll be far from the lights of Broadway as I journey to Stuttgart, taking in this latest translation. Even though I'm a bit rusty on my German, I have a feeling I'll be able to understand what's happening quite easily. You can bet I'll be reporting shortly thereafter, too.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.
Related Stories:
Wicked World (March 19, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Germany, Musical, Opening Night, Wicked, Wicked Die Hexen Von Oz
posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Thursday, November 15, 2007
4 Comments:
I know you'll have a wonderful time, and I'm sure you won't have any trouble following along!
By the way, I've started reading the much-different novel. While I'm only about a hundred pages into it, it's interesting to see what was discarded for the musical and what was kept.
Esther, The more you dig into the novel, the more you'll see that the two are very different.
Boq was changed to Moq because Bock means "billy-goat" in German. Not exactly a nice name to call someone.
Thanks Anonymous - given the character, Boq may not have been too far off the mark.
Zauberer translates to "magician" instead of wizard.
Akaber translates to, well, akaber - could that be a play on words like "Morrible" plays off of "Horrible"?
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