Shows you have seen in foreign languages

Los Miserables in Madrid (Spanish)
Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder in Munich (German)

What about you guys?

Updated On: 1/5/15 at 12:27 AM

I saw a bootleg of "Das Phantom der Oper" starring Uwe Kröger, if that counts.

It was pretty funny.

---

"Angels in America" in Dutch.

---

I saw:

Bronx Bombers in Fanagalo
Soul Doctor in Esperanto
Bonnie and Clyde done by Navajo Code Talkers
And
Holler If Ya Hear Me done entirely in mime (does that count as a language?)


I'm really beginning to think this is all an experiment and Fantod is doing a 10th grade Social Studies paper on how obscure he can make these questions before people just stop responding altogether.

Jo, I read that, while the Boublil-Schoenberg French version of Les Miz did well in France, the French were not too enamored of the version you saw (a re-translation into French of the English-language version). Apparently, French people did not believe that it was true to French culture.

Audrey

---

No ruder than someone like you who lacks the maturity to simply say you didn't care for something and has to call things ugly, horrendous etc. You've got a lot of growing up to do, kid.

So you want me, when I think something is ugly or horrendous, to say "oh, my opinions don't matter because I'm so young and if you disagree with me, you're probably right, but I just had a differing opinion from somebody else, but I'm probably wrong about my opinion because I'm immature and stupid". Ok. Got it. I didn't realize that this was a place where only some peoples' opinions had value, and that I wasn't allowed to personally find something ugly or horrendous.

Audrey,

The original French production was commercially successful, having been seen by almost half a million over a short run of over a few months time. The staging was different, though, because it was more like a series of tableaux. The Mackintosh production was not all that different in terms of the musical score - except for some changes in the songs and who sang the songs (such as On My Own was originally L'Air de la Misere and sang by Fantine), new songs ( such as Bring Him Home was originated by Colm Wilkinson and Empty Chairs which was originated by Michael Ball in the London production), more emphasis on Gavroche ( whose songs were eventually truncated in the British version, etc.

But many of the melodies were essentially the same ( except for the new songs and some editing of some of the songs) and Boublil and Schonberg were joined by Herbert Kretzmer.

Also, Valjean was a baritone, as originally composed for the 1980 French production) instead of a tenor.

But I don't know why the Mogador production would be shunned by the French audiences. In the same way, the film adaptation was also not a major hit in France, unlike the UK where it ran massive box office numbers.

Jo

Updated On: 1/5/15 at 04:24 AM

Several. "Elisabeth" in Vienna, which was of course, its original language. Also "Tanz Der Vampire" in Berlin which was such a better show than what was at the Minskoff.

I saw a fantastic "Cabaret" at Theater Des Westens in Berlin in 1993 that was done all in German except for the Cabaret songs - "Mein Herr", "Cabaret", "Money" but with the book songs all in German. (And "If You Could See Her", for some reason - I remember it as "Seht Ihr Sie Mit Meinem Augen".) "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" in German is pretty intense, and this production used the movie device of starting the song with a child singing solo.

I also saw a semi-pro "Sweet Charity" on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg where the dialogue was all in German but the songs were in English. It made for a very funny foreign ad lib from the Charity - it was a very elderly audience and they made a lot of noise and dropped a lot of things on the floor throughout the show. During the "Where Am I Going" Reprise, Charity sang the line "Looking inside me, what do I -" and at that moment somebody dropped a hard plastic glass that noisily rolled down the entire length of the auditorium, and she paused for a moment and sang "….hear?" which I thought was quite clever for someone singing in a foreign language.

I bet Man of La Mancha was great in Spanish. Care to share any details of that production?

Oh, that's a bummer. I would eventually like to see the show in Spanish done well, as Don Quixote is so much better in Spanish.

Updated On: 1/5/15 at 12:08 PM

I saw Les Mis in Prague, done in Czech, and Chicago in Copenhagen, in Danish, both in 2007. Chicago was a replica production of the revival, Les Mis was a non-replica production they've been doing on and off for years. It was the same Valjean as the one who sang during the 10th Anniversary Concert finale.

Grease, Singing in the Rain and Seven Wives for Seven Brothers in Italian. Grease was the best one as far as translations and staging.

---