Profile for letyourfreakflagwave

broadwaysfguy said: "I do wish they would change the ending like they did on the book with wicked, so they escape somehow and have a happily ever after (much pore disney-like)"

They look really great, I can't wait to see more!

Could somebody describe in more detail what the set design looks like? I can't find any pictures online yet and it will probably still be a couple of days until production stills and video footage will be released.

EDIT: I just found this curtain call pic on Instagram. That looks really pretty, but I am still curious as to how they use it. Do they work with projections? :)

"I think people overlook that this is a very good show of its kind."

 It really is. I saw it in Stuttgart three years ago and in its original version, it's a very high quality show. Both the book and the direction were pretty good the way they were in Germany so I hope they won't try to make too many changes to the material. 

Some songs might benefit from different orchestrations (which weren't bad in the original version, but might not really work everywhere outside of the German-speaking theatre world). I also hope the translation will capture the spirit of the show and that they won't try to "americanize" the show too much in its concept because most of it is already good the way it is. They tried that with Dance of the Vampires and we all know where that went. I still believe Dance might have been taken fairly well if they had left it in its original European concept. 

Visually, Rebecca is a massive feast. Here are many photos from the Stuttgart production which give you a good impression of the set, which looks spectacular in the flesh and is one of the greatest sets I have ever seen in a theatre. (Just click on musicals and then on Rebecca.) I heard that they hired a different costume designer for Broadway, but the set designer is still the same. Apparently, the stairs won't ascend from the floor in the Broadway set version for budget or venue reasons, but if the rest of the set design and technics remains then it will certainly be fantastic to look at:

"I don't know the type of voice would work best for Mrs. Danvers.  However, if it's not strictly operatic [...]"

I wouldn't consider it operatic. Here's a video of the title song from the original Viennese production with Susan Rigvava-Dumas as Mrs. Danvers, to give you an idea of the music and how this role is written vocally. 

The story around the show's way to Broadway is super intriguing, but amidst all the scandal, some people tend to overlook the show as such and should Rebecca actually ever open on Broadway, I hope people won't approach it with the preconceived idea that the show is bound to fail and can see beyond the scandal and judge the show for what it really is.  

"Kunze translating a Musical again is indeed great news as I always adored his translations and Elisabeth is one of my favorite Musicals of all time. But his Wicked translation - in my opinion - fell short."

 I agree that Wicked is not Kunze's best work. I don't know whose choice it was to change some of the names and I am usually not a big fan of names being changed either, but in the case of Wicked, I can see why they did it. 

"Or is this new production an opera?"

 No, it is a musical. I wish they had not changed the title - the working title was "Schikaneder", but this week they announced it has officially been changed to "Emanuel and Eleonore - The Great Love Behind the Magic Flute", which sounds quite cheesy.

For me, the problem with the Lara/Yurii love story was not about the stage time, but rather about the narration. Just as I said, I haven't seen the movie, but I do think even 20-30 minutes screentime can be enough to sufficiently tell the process of how two people fall in love and how their feelings develop.

They actually made an international trailer for this production. The songs are still in German, but everything else is aimed at an international audience:

A lot of high quality production photos can be found here. You have to click on musicals on the left and then DER BESUCH DER ALTEN DAME (The Visit). I love the way the set is designed and I really regret not seeing it while it was still running because I could have, ugh.

"I watched the stream of the 92Y interview and I'm definitely looking at the design aspects a little differently now after hearing Des talk about why they made some of the choices they did. I don't think a lot of the intended metaphors are coming across like they'd hoped but it at least makes more sense now."

 I really, really hope Sydney Lucas will win. It's my biggest Tony wish of the season.

Beautifully observed, Charley and Weaselprince.

This is such a rich show and I feel like a lot more thought went into the crafting of score and libretto than what is perceived at first sight or listen. I admire Kron and Tesori's work so much.

They probably re-recorded everything including Alison's brothers as well.

I agree that it's really to accurately represent Fun Home by only performing a single number. I personally would love to see "Ring of Keys" being performed at the Tonys but I don't know whether they will actually go with that song. 

"A Musical" seems like the obvious choice for Something Rotten! but just as it has been pointed out, the song will suffer from being shortened.

I always find it really interesting to see which songs are performed at the Tony Awards. 

Which songs do you think should best be performed for this year's range of shows? Do the chosen songs depend on the nominations (e.g. if Judy Kuhn was nominated as featured for Fun Home, would it be more likely that Fun Home was represented by a song which features Judy?).