Broadway musicals with foreign languages

[qazdannywsx]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 4:56pm

How common is it to have lyrics/dialogue in a show in English, in a different language? How do audiences usually deal with not necessarily understanding every word that is said?
I'm wondering mainly because of the WSS revival, where people were complaining about the Spanish. But there was The Light in the Piazza, that had very extensive Italian songs/dialogue, and as far as I understand no one had a problem with that. In The Heights has quite a few lyrics in Spanish, that never bothered me...
How much are poeple willing to tolerate in shows that are mainstream broadway?

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 5:31pm

In French:

Dites-moi from South Pacific
Chanson from The Baker's Wife (also translated)
La La La from No Strings (charming song, also translated)
Bal Petit Bal from New Faces of '52 (wonderfully sung by Eartha Kitt, also translated)
St. Pierre from The Happy Time

In Dutch:

The Bugle from Here's Love



Updated On: 7/14/13 at 05:31 PM

[smallworld]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 5:35pm

There are parts of Once that are in Czech.

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 5:51pm

In The Light in the Piazza, there were some songs/dialogue that you could get the gist of what they were saying through context, expression, gestures, etc. It also helped to immerse you in the same situation the Johnsons found themselves in, trying to communicate in a foreign country, not quite understanding either.

More importantly, it illustrated how a difference in languages could easily mask Clara's "condition", making it seem an opportune situation for the mother to drop Clara into...a place where she might have a shot at happiness/love where they mightn't realize there was something wrong with her.

For this show, it had a specific purpose that, I think, worked. I saw the show a few times with people who are not sophisticated theatre goers. Not a one of them had a problem with it and all understood its place in the show.

So I guess, to answer your question, audiences will tolerate as much as works and makes sense in a particular show.

[NoName3]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 5:52pm

South Pacific also has a brief choral reprise of Bali Hai sung in French.

Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers, which has been on Broadway more than once over the years, has a long opening sequence partly sung in Italian reflecting its Venetian setting.

Updated On: 7/14/13 at 05:52 PM

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 6:01pm

The difference between Light in the Piazza and West Side Story is that the writers of Piazza were very careful to make sure that the portions spoken in Italian would still be very clear to the audience, whereas in West Side Story, the translated portions were intended to be sung/spoken in English, so the same caution was not taken with constructing those scenes. Also, in Piazza, the use of foreign language had the great dramatic effect of having the audience feel disconnected from the Italians, allowing us to see Florence the same way Clara and Margaret do. The intention of West Side Story was to do the opposite--to make the Sharks more empathetic--but it backfired, in my opinion, and made them more distanced. West Side Story has always been more in the Jets' favor, but the reason for that is that we spend more time with the Jets, who get the first few scenes and a couple of great songs. Arthur Laurents's idea might have worked better had the majority of the audience been fluent in Spanish, though.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 6:07pm

There's a verse or two in "Married" from Cabaret that is sung in German, and a few lines, mostly spoken by the conductor at the beginning and end of the show are also in German.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 6:37pm

Both RAGS and RAGTIME use a melange of European tongues and particularly Yiddish to introduce the immigrant throngs as they arrive at Ellis Island.

FIORELLO has "The Name's Laguardia", first sung in English and then in Italian, and Yiddish as Fiorello canvases for votes on the Lower East Side. The Eckarts famously designed pinwheel framess carrying the street signage that would rotate from one language to the next.

[musikman]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 9:05pm

There was also that totally random Italian aria/song that showed up near the beginning of "In My Life."

[canmark]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 9:34pm

Growltiger's Last Stand in CATS has a snippet of pastiche Italian opera (In una tepida notte d'estate, allorche la natura...).

[justoldbill]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 9:51pm

Lancelot's madrigal at the top of Act 2 in CAMELOT, sung in French, then in English.

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 10:25pm

The Matilda kids sound like they're singing in a foreign language.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 10:43pm

Storybook in The Scarlet Pimpernel has French lyrics

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 10:48pm

Part of There She Goes from Fame is not in English

[justoldbill]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 11:04pm

In I REMEMBER MAMA, Mama sings a lullaby in Norwegian.
("I never miss a Liv Ullmann musical!" - Bette Midler)

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 11:16pm

"The Independence Day Hora" and part of "The Wedding" from Milk and Honey are in Hebrew.

And let's not forget "Bonjour (The Language Song)" from The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which tells us how to say hello in multiple languages.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 11:18pm

Eartha Kitt with Robert Clary in The New Faces of 1952
bal petit bal

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 7/14/13 at 11:38pm

Wilkommen in Cabaret

[qazdannywsx]

Posted: 7/15/13 at 3:26am

AwesomeDanny: I actually thought that fact I couldn't understand the sharks completely, made the whole gang fighting more justified. Here are these two groups with different cultures, and they can barely understand each other. No wonder they hate one another. Plus it made America make a lot more sense. And when Gladhand tries to speak to them in Spanish at the dance, and he talks to them like they're stupid, and HE doesn't even know enough Spanish to communicate between the two groups... I loved the whole idea, but I get that people didn't...

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/15/13 at 11:06am

There's that really insufferable song "Non Capisco" in DO I HEAR A WALTZ that scatters Italian phrases through the lyrics with their English translations as a language lesson for the maid who's oblivious to an affair the main characters are trying to have. Totally embarrassing attempt of Sondheim's to milk humor out of language misunderstandings. Ugh.

[lachri5]

Posted: 7/15/13 at 12:03pm

There's a song sung in Chinese in Thoroughly Modern Millie. I didn't have the chance to see this show live, and am curious how people reacted to that.

Updated On: 7/15/13 at 12:03 PM

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 7/15/13 at 12:46pm

The Thoroughly Modern Milly - The chinese song uses an overhead sign board for the english translation. It also translates the english into chinese characters and everything spoken in chinese is also translated overhead.

Posted: 7/15/13 at 12:48pm

E#very song Patti LuPone does she sings in Greek.

Posted: 7/15/13 at 12:48pm

E#very song Patti LuPone does she sings in Greek.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 7/15/13 at 1:20pm

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Evita, which has lyrics in Latin and Spanish.