Cameron Mackintosh saying ...

[lorenzana]

Posted: 9/4/12 at 8:02am

Hello,

I read on a french newspaper than talking about french musicals, Cameron Mackintosh said that it was an aberration. But I can't find where he said that, and what he meant by aberration ( crappy, impossibility to put on a show due to the french market ...) ?

Do you know ?

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 9/4/12 at 8:13am

Non.

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/4/12 at 8:49am

"Au début des années 1990, le producteur britannique Cameron Mackintosh (Cats, Les Misérables) affirmait : "La notion de comédie musicale à la française est une aberration."

This is cited in a 2009 article in L'Express. In the context of that article, it would seem that he was saying at that time that there was not much of a market for musicals in France. The author of the article was saying that, on the contrary, now there was.

[DeNada]

Posted: 9/4/12 at 8:51am

The quote is from 1990 when Les Mis first opened in France. What he said was "La notion de comédie musicale à la française est une aberration." What I believe this means is "the idea of musical theatre is completely foreign to the French".

Until recent years the French really haven't "done" MT. Les Mis itself was originally one of those arena spectacular type things, like Romeo et Juliette, Le Roi Soleil etc. which have always been popular in France. When Les Mis first played at the Mogador in 1990 it wasn't a huge success if I remember rightly, and it's only recently that Stage Entertainment have tried to make inroads into staging stuff there with Cabaret, Lion King etc.

So he wasn't saying French MT was bad - he was saying that the French didn't really understand the concept at the time.

[My Oh My]

Posted: 9/4/12 at 9:01am

I read an interview he gave shortly after the 1991 French production of Les Miserables closed in the Spring of '92, after having opened at the Theatre Mogodor in Paris that last October. He was obviously upset, having lost a lot of money on that mounting, of what at the time seemed like a sure bet. The show had been a wild success in every country. It didn't matter if the acclaimed Broadway/London production and staging were used or not, the show sold-out and audiences the world over loved it...

...except the French.

It's not so much they didn't like it; in fact, it was met with excellent reviews and an enthusiastic local audience reception but sales fizzled out soon after and the production struggled. Of all the so-called "mega-musicals," Les Mis is the least expensive at only 4.5 million (original production) to mount. Regardless, it didn't make back its investment and it closed early, leaving Mackintosh reeling from the money he lost after making so much worldwide.

I do not recall him using "aberration" in describing France as a destination for musicals but I wouldn't blame him if he did as, to date, that is the only country where the show has lost a significant amount of money. It could be the story is so well known there, it was initially celebrated due to its international success and for simply being a national treasure in its original novel, but people obviously did not bother sitting through it and attendance suffered. Take that with a grain of salt as I don't have stats or other objective criteria and only using France's known aversion to musical theatre, although I believe it's changing and musicals have found success there since.

I know Sweeney Todd was recently staged there, in a production that looked awesome judging by photos. Show Boat has also recently been staged in France, although I'm not sure if any of those were performed in French. The new, craptastic 25th ann. reduction of a production of Les Mis (DREAM THE DREAM!!!!) played Paris for a few weeks and I did not hear of Mackintosh tipping over with hand over his chest so I guess it made some money. The new version costs about 2/3 of the cost of the original (and it shows) yet travels in 10 semis, whereas the original traveled in 8.

I've seen both and I don't get how the 25th ann. abortion could possibly take up more truck space since the original is a LOT more lavish and complex, not to mention larger in scale and far, far more technically advanced despite its age. I guess movie scrims and projectors and age-old scenery change techniques requiring that big-ass wall of shutters to conceal set changes just takes up that much more space. Awww, innovation these days. *eyeroll*

Don't be upset with uncle Mack for allegedly calling France an "aberration", Lorenzana, my friend. He had already said when the idea of adapting Les Mis was first brought to his attention, the first thing he thought was "Hmmm. 'Les Miserables,' a French musical; sounds like a contradiction in terms." I had never heard the use of "contradiction in terms" when I first heard him say that as a kid and understood it to mean an oxymoron, or something. Unlike today, the Mack of yesteryear was reasonable in feeling butthurt over the failure of his French Les Mis. Nothing he does these days is reasonable. Ah, well. Dream the effing dream, I guess.

Hope this halped!

[jo]

Posted: 9/4/12 at 9:10am

The original musical of Les Miserables was staged at the Palais des Sports in Paris in 1980 and was supposed to have been seen by approx half a million people in a span of 3 months. It closed early because their contract with the arena expired.

The Mogador Les Miserables was the French version of the Mackintosh/Nunn reimagined and Anglicized version which first opened at the Barbican in London in 1985. I was able to catch it in 1992 at Theatre Mogador in Paris. It has its own cast recording, in contrast to the original French concept album which was released at the time of the staging at Palais des Sports, if I am not mistaken.

[My Oh My]

Posted: 9/4/12 at 9:13am

Oh yes. Forgot to mention that the original 1980 French production was a huge success in France. That, during a time where musicals were barely known in France, was remarkable.

Updated On: 9/4/12 at 09:13 AM

[lorenzana]

Posted: 9/4/12 at 10:44am

Thanks It does help a lot ! and no, calling french musicals an aberration does not touch my personal feeling, as I for the most part agree with that ! So I just wanted to know in which context Uncle Mack said it !

In France, we tend to categorize everything and lots of people ( not everyone, thank you) think that Culture and Entertainment are two separate things. This is one of the reason it is hard for musicals to enter the french market !