Frühling Für HitlerAt long last,
Mel Brooks is getting the last laugh as his beloved film-cum-stage musical
The Producers has now opened in Berlin.
The New York Times'
Michael Kimmelman answers his own questions:
The big question might really be, Can Germans finally give themselves over to laughing at Jews, gay people and just about everybody and anybody else whom Mr. Brooks skewers, turning the tables on (Adolph) Hitler’s own hate list?
Yes, yes, yes, as that other fictional Bloom, married to a different Leopold, more or less once put it.
As someone of German stock, I know how stoic many Germans can be, and having traveled to Berlin countless times over the last 20 years, I appreciate how positively unforgiving they are over Hitler and the
Holocaust. So, more than 60 years after those unspeakable crimes against humanity, it's great to see that the Germans are now able to laugh derisively at one of history's most evil men.
I'd say that's real progress.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Germany, Mel Brooks, The Producers
Steve am Broadway (SOB)So today, I was doing a routine check of all the crazy stats I come across via Statcounter. It's always a little amusing to learn how various people find
Steve On Broadway, be it through search terms or a link from another site. I'm sure other bloggers might be similarly amused.
Little did I know that
Google (which owns
Blogger) translates blogs to other languages. Who knew?
In my discovery, I learned that Steve On Broadway translates to
Steve am Broadway (SOB) in German! Of course, "SOB" is completely lost in translation.
What bemused me even more was seeing how some of my important sidebar links to my favorite theatre bloggers translated. Below is the actual way each appears on my site, followed by how each has been translated by Google, and then the translation provided back to me by
FreeTranslation.com, an essential site to use if you ever wish to get a quick and easy translation:
Theatre Bloggers SOB knows and loves / Theater Bloggers SOB kennt und liebt ("Theater of blogger SOB knows and loves")
Adventures In The Endless Pursuit Of Entertainment /
Adventures in the Pursuit of Endless Entertainment (sorry Sarah, I guess they just liked to flip the words, but the result is interesting, and true)
Broadway & Me /
Broadway & Me (guess they just couldn't translate this)
Casual Heap /
Casual Heap (same here)
Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals /
Alles, was ich weiß, dass ich gelernt, aus Musicals ("All what I know, that I learned, out of musicals")
Gratuitous Violins /
Kostenlose Geigen ("Free violins")
Just Shows To Go You /
Just zeigt, gehen Sie zu ("Just shows, go you to")
‘kül That Sounds Cool /
"Das klingt kül Cool ("That sounds kül coolly")
Man In Chair /
Der Mensch in der Stuhl ("The person in the chair")
Modern Fabulousity /
Moderne Fabulousity ("Modern Fabulousity")
The Lunar Gemini /
Die Lunar Gemini ("The Lunar Gemini")
Theatre Aficionado At Large /
Theater Aficionado at Large (sorry TAAL, but you're the same)
The Theatergoer /
Die Theatergoer ("The Theatregoer")
Things You'll Learn To Love About Me /
Dinge, die Sie werden lernen, zu lieben Über mich ("Hire, will learn that you, to love over me")
Third Row, Mezzanine /
Dritte Zeile, Mezzanine ("Third line, mezzanine")
West End Whingers /
West End Whingers (same ol' Whingers!)
I think my favorite is der mensch in der stuhl, mostly because you can guess what it is, yet it ends up sounded downright funny. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of all of this is that when you click on each link, up comes a complete German translation for each, even though each blogger's original skin is still there.
Enjoy!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Blogs, Germany, Special Messages
Something Wicked This Way Comes...In The MailIt's not unusual for American collectors of original cast recordings to buy London versions of their favorite shows. But have you ever purchased a cast recording in another language?
If you're a regular reader, you know by now how much I enjoy -- OK,
love -- the Broadway musical
Wicked. I saw the original production on the Great White Way just two days after it opened and have since seen it at the
Gershwin Theatre at least another three times. I've seen its sitdown incarnation in
Chicago another four or five times (with another viewing coming there in April), as well as the North American
tour in both Chicago (prior to the city's sitdown) and Minneapolis.
Last year, I even went so far as to travel to
London,
Stuttgart and
Tokyo to see the first three international stagings of the show. And I already have my tickets to see
Wicked when it finally touches down in
Melbourne, Australia in July.
I've already worn out two of my original cast CDs and am now on my third. So when I learned that the German cast would come out with their own recording, how could I resist? A couple months ago, I ordered my copy from the German-language version of
Amazon, and once I had translated everything from German into English (courtesy of
this site -- the same one I used to maneuver through the German ticketing site to get my front-row seats for
Wicked - Die Hexen Von Oz), I was all set.
Over the weekend, I began to wonder if I'd ever actually receive the CD. But then when I arrived home last evening, I had a real thrill. There it was in its plain brown
Amazon.de wrapping.
Without missing a beat, I immediately put the disc on, feeling a bit like a little kid at Christmas. When I listened to the absolutely breathtaking vocals from its two stars,
Willemijn Verkaik (Elphaba) and
Lucy Scherer (Galinda), I found myself soaring yet again. To see what I mean, click on the
site and tell me if you're not impressed when listening to "Heißgeliebt" ("Popular") or "Frei und schwerelos" ("Defying Gravity").
What do I care if I don't exactly remember the German I learned in high school? With this CD, I just might learn it all over again.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:Wicked - Die Hexen Von Oz (The SOB Revisit) (December 2, 2007)
Some Of The Names May Have Been Changed To Protest Das Wicked (November 15, 2007)
Labels: Australia, Broadway, Germany, Japan, London, Musical, Original Cast Recording, Wicked, Wicked Die Hexen Von Oz
Wicked - Die Hexen Von Oz (The SOB Revisit) - Palladium Theater, Stuttgart, Germany**** (out of ****)"Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?"
So begins Glinda's explanation near the beginning of
Wicked on why evil occurs.
Last week, I journeyed all the way to Stuttgart, Germany to hear that same answer provided in the German language version of the world's biggest, new musical hit of the past five years.
Now, I don't profess to remembering much of the two years of German I learned during my high school years. But having seen the English language version of
Wicked so many times that I practically know it by heart, I could still easily understand what was transpiring on the Stuttgart stage.
And what I understood was downright chilling and transforming, starting with my pondering of that line of Glinda's and then considering a host of others in
Wicked - Die Hexen Von Oz ("The Witches of Oz") all while
in the land that as recently as 63 years ago was ruled with an iron fist by
Adolph Hitler -- the man
Time magazine described in
last week's cover story on "What Makes Us Good/Evil" as "the Nazi dictator (who) instigated World War II, engineered the Holocaust and still mystifies scholars studying the human capacity for savagery."
During each of my earlier viewings of the original English language version, I was always a bit amused at the musical's ingenious tweaking of the Bush Administration, whether picking on the president's propensity for garbled syntax or alluding to his finding an enemy in
Saddam Hussein.
I've always thought in this regard, the tuner was way ahead of its time. In those heady days shortly after the war in Iraq began, few other pop cultural touchstones dared question the Administration or its actions without risking public wrath. Yet there was
Wicked,
all the way back
in 2003, offering its critique ever so subtly to great effect.
But when seeing the German version in Stuttgart, I found myself associating the show's artfully drawn elements in a much more uncomfortable, yet obvious new application. My thoughts were instead turned to that darkest personification of evil, Adolph Hitler, who pitted neighbor against neighbor and instilled fear all while diabolically labeling Germany's Jewish people as the scapegoats for most, if not all, of the nation's hardships.
My paradigm shift for the way I viewed this show came during the scene in
Wicked when Dr. Dillamond -- the talking goat of a professor -- is teaching his students, "Food grew scarce, people grew hungrier and angrier. And the question became 'Whom can we blame?' Can anyone tell me what is meant by the term 'Scapegoat'?"
"My God," I was thinking. "This is
exactly what happened here in Germany..."
As I was sitting there in my front row seat at Stuttgart's Palladium Theater, the allegories to Nazi Germany were suddenly striking me like thundering lightning bolts between the eyes.
But that's apparently as it should be. I learned upon my return home that
Gregory Maguire, who wrote the 1995 novel upon which
Wicked is loosely based, had
said in an interview:
I was living in London in the early 1990's during the start of the Gulf War. I was interested to see how my own blood temperature chilled at reading a headline in the usually cautious British newspaper, The Times of London: Sadaam Hussein: The New Hitler? I caught myself ready to have a fully-formed political opinion about the Gulf War and the necessity of action against Sadaam Hussein on the basis of how that headline made me feel. The use of the word Hitler -- what a word! What it evokes!
When a few months later several young schoolboys kidnapped and killed a toddler, the British press paid much attention to the nature of the crime. I became interested in the nature of evil, and whether one really could be born bad. I considered briefly writing a novel about Hitler, but discarded the notion due to my general discomfort with the reality of those times. But when I realized that nobody had ever written about the second most evil character in our collective American subconscious, the Wicked Witch of the West, I thought I had experienced a small moment of inspiration.
With my own epiphany on Maguire's deeply-rooted meaning (when so little else of the book resembles the stage show), right there in the heart of Bavarian Germany, I experienced the rare kind of chills I get when something theatrical cuts to the quick of my soul.
This
Wicked - Die Hexen Von Oz makes for an enormously electrifying evening of theatre, thanks in no small part to those allusions to Germany's dark past. Just as the truth for an American audience is inherently tied to our actions in Iraq, so, too, must the truth for its German audiences be what occurred during those savage years starting in 1933 when Hitler seized power as chancellor. It's as
Wicked's Wizard proclaims, "The truth is not a thing of fact or reason -- the truth is just what everyone agrees on."
Fortunately, if the prolonged standing ovation by its audience -- along with three curtain calls -- is any indication, this German language version of the musical also entertains extraordinarily. It is an exceedingly faithful and excellent translation of the original.
Oh sure, there were minor nuances I caught. There was the frequent use of the word "hexen" in lieu of "wicked." There was the decision to skip minor winking nods to the film like the lines, "lemons and melons and pears" in tandem with "Oh, my!" -- I guess that humor simply could not translate. There were the slightly different character names -- Moq instead of Boq and Dr. Dillamonth rather than Dr. Dillamond, along with the latter "maaaaa"-ing rather than "baaaaa"-ing.
But the rest of the show made
Joe Mantello's trademark direction, eclectic choreography by
Wayne Cilento and glorious designs by
Eugene Lee (sets),
Susan Hilferty (costume),
Kenneth Posner (lighting) and
Tony Meola (sound) all seem shiny and new, feeling fresh as ever.
Most importantly, it has a remarkable cast whose sheer talent and flawless performances translate into one spine-tingling moment after another.
With a voice that makes "Defying Gravity" seem easy and an 11 o'clock cackle that would make
Margaret Hamilton proud,
Willemijn Verkaik is a forceful presence as Elphaba.
Lucy Scherer not only imbues her Galinda with all the freewheeling giddiness one would expect, but she floats to the pinnacle of vocal heights with ease as Glinda.
In the supporting roles,
Mark Seibert makes for a dashing Fiyero,
Nicole Radeschnig is appropriately needy as Nessarose,
Carlo Lauber offers deceptively simple charm as Der Zauberer von Oz ("The Wizard of Oz"),
Angelika Wedekind is marvelously menacing as Madam Akaber (Madame Morrible),
Stefan Stara is perfectly nerdy as Moq ("Boq") and
Michael Günther is a great goat as Dr. Dillamonth.
But ultimately, it's the fact that by seeing
Wicked - Die Hexen Von Oz in Germany, I had a fresh opportunity for "looking at things another way." To paraphrase a line from Glinda, that's what makes this show "so nice."
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Some Of The Names May Have Been Changed To Protest Das Wicked (November 15, 2007)
Wicked World (March 19, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Die Hexen Von Oz, Germany, Musical, The SOB Review, The SOB Revisit, Wicked, Wicked Die Hexen Von Oz
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
Wicked World
While I had been predicting an expansion into the lucrative Australian market -- and
that apparently is now a certainty for 2008 -- little did I realize that the production would first be ready to branch out into non-English speaking countries. In fact, the team behind
Wicked has now announced plans to expand with new productions in both Japan and Germany.
In Deutschland, look for the German-language Wicked: Die Hexen Von Oz (rough translation: "The Witches of Oz") to land at Stuttgart's Palladium Theatre on November 15.
All of which makes me continue wondering when Universal Studios, the film studio bankrolling this theatrical juggernaut, will finally announce firm plans for a silver screen version. If Wicked succeeds in both Tokyo and Stuttgart, I'm hazarding a guess that the announcement will come by the beginning of next year. Any other guesses?
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for Wicked Broadway tickets.Click here for Wicked Chicago tickets.Click here for Wicked London tickets.Click here for Wicked Los Angeles tickets.Click here for Wicked U.S. Tour ticket information.Related Stories:For Good: Wicked Wins LA Critical Praise (March 1, 2007)
Hollywood Becomes Wicked (February 27, 2007)
Were London Critics Mourning West End Wicked? (September 28, 2006)
West End Wicked Opens Tonight (September 27, 2006)
Wicked Witch of the West End Takes Flight Tonight (September 7, 2006)
Jaaku or Neikan? Wicked Set for Japanese Translation (July 24, 2006)
Five Times More Wicked (July 17, 2006)
Wicked's West End Witches Update (May 17, 2006)
Worldwide Wicked Casting News (May 5, 2006)
Encore: Spotlight Week Ending April 30, 2006 (April 30, 2006)
Labels: Broadway, Chicago, First Word On New Show, Germany, Japan, London, Los Angeles, Musical, Touring Production, Universal Studios, Wicked
