WOMEN ON THE VERGE coming to the West End... — Page 3

Sher is the best person for the job. He totally understands the show now. To hand it to someone starting from scratch would be disaster. To be honest, I think Sher struggled more with all the technical crap in the show. That pulled him away from the emotional arch. I think he can nail it this time.

---

"Irritating taxi driver"?!!! I thought Danny Burstein as the omniscient cabbie was one of the highlights of the show. I hope they don't pare down that role too much and are able to cast an actor as likable and talented. I didn't share in the negativity toward the show, even given its flaws; I saw it twice and loved it both times. (Granted, the second time more; it had gotten much better after opening). Loved LuPone, Benanti, Stokes, even Guarini and the much-maligned Scott. I still play the fantastic OCR at least once a week. All best to the reworked London production; wish I could see it.

Seriously not one Latino actor? Wtf.

Okay, shall we go through this again. Spain is not a LATINO country. It is a Latin country but it is a white country (at least as white as Italy and Greece are). If you worry about Spain's downtrodden expats getting past over for work by white people, it's immigrants are NOT Hispanic or Latino brown.

I understand Spain's white European roots. But Sher seems to be casting stark white actors in the roles. I think it would preferred if they at least cast actors with roots from Spanish speaking countries. The broadway company had mostly Latino ensemble members and understudies, and it worked nicely with the flavor and passion of Yazbek's music.

Updated On: 9/12/14 at 04:48 PM

Sounds fine but I can't say I agree that it sounds any more Latin than It did on Broadway. I don't think authenticity is exactly their goal here.

Willemijn Verkaik is also in that Cast as Paulina und Anne Skellern is Chandela.

I´m really curious how Tamsin will cope with the singing part.
I find it strange that they didn´t chose a musical actress for that role but somebody who apparently never sang professionally.

I have to say I am LIVING for this new recording of "Madrid", and I hope this leads to a full cast recording of the West End production.

I will always have a soft spot for this score, as it's one of those shows where beautiful music is saddled within a cumbersome production.

---

Sounds fine but I can't say I agree that it sounds any more Latin than It did on Broadway. I don't think authenticity is exactly their goal here.

It's probably more authentic than you think. Modern pop music in Spain often doesn't sound stereotypically "Latin" beyond the lyrics being sung in Spanish. If you ever get a chance, listen to Mecano, the biggest pop group in Spain's history (Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar is the jukebox musical consisting of their music). They peaked in the 80s when Women on the Verge was originally released and it wasn't until later they started to infuse Latin elements (flamenco, bolero, paso doble, rumba, etc.) into their music, which Women on the Verge already does. Even Spain's biggest international hit pop song, Eres Tu, does not have that "Latin" feel at all. Sure, they could beef up the Latin flavor in the orchestrations, but it really isn't necessary to add "authenticity". To me, the locale was clear enough in the original production.

---

The posters for this on the Underground are unusually large.

I agree, that's not their goal.I believe this actor is of Portuguese descent, but he certainly sounds more authentic than Burstein, IMO.

Danny Burstein, who is half Costa Rican and is, therefore, the only principal from the Broadway cast who is actually Hispanic, something you've been bemoaning a lack of?

---

The 1980s Madrid context remains, but the accents, thankfully, are gone. “We’re not trying to pretend they’re Spanish,” says Sher. “It remains a ‘period piece’ – we’ll be having answering machines and phone booths – [but] it’s less literally faithful than it was in the original production. It’s more about the women themselves than about their hair and their clothes. It won’t be so Joan Collins on a bad day ….”

he film features a number of car chases – which, Sher groans, are an absolute nightmare onstage. In New York, they went all-out with a full-size working model of a cab revving around; this time, they’re using two chairs. And some clapping.


http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/bringing-almodovars-women-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown-to-the-west-end-9890650.html

I want to hear "Model Behavior"!