REBECCA: THE MUSICAL will have English language production in London- Page 2

[Lot666]

Posted: 9/5/23 at 9:03am

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "The early report says that the visuals are a total letdown, albeit not surprising considering the space in which the show is performed..."

Sadly, that's what I was expecting. If this was running in NY, I'd have no problem flying up for it, but the slog to London is just too long and costly for a watered down production.

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/5/23 at 9:36am

This is exactly what pretty much anyone who’s ever set foot in The Charing Cross expected so my expectations aren’t tampered by these reports, they’re pretty much spot on to what I expected. 

[dave1606]

Posted: 9/6/23 at 3:37pm

I saw this on Monday night. I had planned a whole London trip around this show and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I definitely did not expect the megamusical that this was in Germany, knowing how small this theater was. 

The real reason to see this is Kara Lane as Mrs Danvers. She is delicious in the part and just having a lot of fun. I am so mad we were robbed of Carolee Carmello doing this for the failed Broadway run because she would have been amazing. Kara is excellent and delivers each reprise of the title song (i think there are SIX) with delicious intensity. 

The cast is overall very good and give credit and well sung performances. Sadly the physical production isn't much, there's a lot of panels moving and they are noisy and clunky. This reminded me a lot of the Goodbye Girl/Sugar productions at Theatrerow. It works for the space, but again, don't give you the megamusical staging that this once had. 

Overall the score sounded excellent and I really hope we get a cast recording. Frankly the show itself isn't great, and I am doubtful this goes anywhere else after this. 

[Lot666]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 2:06pm

Photos: First Look at the English Language Premiere of REBECCA

[Listener]

Posted: 9/16/23 at 11:33pm

I know nothing about the plot and want to remain unspoiled...so thank you for respecting that..but I have heard the 2 English demos for the title song and was wondering if there is a new translation for this London version of Rebecca.

Are they just using one of the English demo versions, or did they come up with new lyrics?

If anyone could post them, that would be cool.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 9/18/23 at 11:42am

Press Night reviews expected later today, me thinks. teehee.

Updated On: 9/18/23 at 11:42 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/18/23 at 11:47am

I've been to see this twice the past few days. It sure is...something. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/18/23 at 12:33pm

I lowkey love the title song and really bummed we didn't get the full mega musical - although I remember it going into the Broadhurst, so clearly now THAT huge of a show, right?

[Fan123]

Posted: 8/28/24 at 5:25am

Resurrecting this thread out of curiosity... Does anybody happen to know if there are any other English-language productions of this show in the pipeline? The London production wasn't greeted with raves, but it did seemingly prove that non-replica, non-lavish productions of this show can be approved, which I thought might have made the show a more accessible / interesting option to a few of the smaller theatre companies out there. According to https://www.vbw-international.at/home/rebecca at least, licensing is available for the English language version.

(On a related note: does Europe's VBW license its shows for community and/or school productions? Even if only within certain countries?)

Updated On: 8/28/24 at 05:25 AM

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/28/24 at 8:51am

Isn’t that the same situation as English productions of DOTV/TDV? It’s theoretically available but they only seem willing to approve top tier versions, so… nothing.

[Fan123]

Posted: 8/28/24 at 12:45pm

Maybe so. But by all reports, the London production was decidedly not top-tier by any measure, production values or otherwise. Was it an anomaly that won't be repeated, or might they have changed their tune about what kinds of production will get approved for this show? Who knows.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/28/24 at 1:16pm

If they're going to finally license the English version it would have been nice to get a reference recording.

[DBAK]

Posted: 8/28/24 at 2:48pm

I had tickets to see this last September and our performance was canceled due to cast illness. I love the music, but from what I heard of the translation into English, it's like they ran the German lyrics through Google translation and called it a day. The lyrics sounded abysmal from the two songs they released to YouTube. Still, I would have loved to have seen it. I hear Kara Lane was great as Danvers. I haven't seen so much as a song list so far.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/29/24 at 12:33pm

DBAK said: "I love the music, but from what I heard of the translation into English, it's like they ran the German lyrics through Google translation and called it a day. The lyrics sounded abysmal from the two songs they released to YouTube."

That's fairly common to Michael Kunze's English lyrics, unfortunately. (In fact, anyone who heard the earlier demos for Rebecca would actually not be terribly mistaken in saying that what they heard in the West End was kind of a downgrade.)

If I had to guess, the quality of his English lyrics played no small role in Jim Steinman (and other uncredited hands, including Don Black and Barry Keating) feeling like he could monkey around with DOTV so much (which in turn let Michael Crawford feel like he could have his way with it).

Updated On: 8/29/24 at 12:33 PM

[DiscoCrows]

Posted: 8/29/24 at 12:40pm

Does anyone happen know which GM office/team was attached to the ill-fated Broadway production back in the day? It was something that crossed my mind recently but couldn’t seem to find anything in any original press releases.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/30/24 at 10:08am

I don't believe it was ever announced, DiscoCrows. I hit the Wayback Machine with a stick to see if a full creative team ever hit the website, and no GM office is mentioned.

[DiscoCrows]

Posted: 8/30/24 at 2:43pm

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "I don't believe it was ever announced, DiscoCrows. I hit the Wayback Machine with a stick to see if a full creative team ever hit the website, and no GM office is mentioned."

Gotcha! Thanks for trying for me :)

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 8/31/24 at 6:43pm

Looks like Aurora Spiderwoman was noticing this discussion, and they shared a couple of clips on their Youtube channel!