That was absolutely mind-blowing to see such scandal in the musical theatre industry. The cast of characters involved in this scandal were as intriguing as the characters in Rebecca. Another amazing episode uncovering the behind the scenes stories of the industry.
I remember reading the Vanitu Fair article. I was absolutely mesmerised by the sheer shit heap these people had found themselves in. Plus the image of a burning staircase disintegrating on a Broadway stage would put it up there with Phantom’s chandelier
SO glad I stumbled across your channel, You have some exceptional content! I'm a musical theatre Major from Newfoundland and I was fortunate enough to be at that production of Come from Away in the Hockey rink. An unusual venue but the energy in the room was electric.
Honestly, the 90s Austrian musical canon is far too different from Broadway to be profitable with a New York audience. Plus, the original lyrics of these shows are always extremely poetic, as German as a language is, and almost impossible to properly translate into English without clunkiness. Hampton's translations for Rebecca were definitely a significant improvement over Kunze's original translations, but I still found them lacking and far from the quality that a Broadway transfer deserves. I just think the whole production was the wrong show at the wrong time with a misguided team and producers. Unfortunately, as the second attempt at an Austrian import after "Dance of the Vampires" (I put that in air quotes because the Broadway version was the furthest thing possible from the original version), I think Rebecca sealed the nail in the coffin for any European imports, bar the UK of course. I'd love to see the genius original Vienna production of Elisabeth transfer, but it is by far the most abstract and conceptual of the Levay & Kunze canon, and the original director Harry Kupfer passed sometime last year. Plus, the huge abstract hydraulic/mechanical set is far too large for a Broadway theatre. The largest Broadway theatres probably have the onstage space for it, but not the backstage or below-stage space. And that's not even mentioning the large orchestra required; at a time when Broadway orchestras are shrinking by an alarming rate, potential producers would definitely opt for reduced orchestrations, and that just wouldn't do it. Trust me, the touring production's (which ran on and off from 2008 to 2016, however not produced by the same folks as the original Vienna production) orchestrations are pathetic, and I wouldn't want to see that on Broadway. It's all very sad.
Do you think there is a chance it could make it to UK instead? You make a lot of good points about the current state of Broadway and why it wouldn't seem practical. I was just wondering about the chances of West End, considering that Elisabeth and the other German shows do seem to be heavily influenced by British megamusicals in terms of its size, spectacle, and hyper-emotive storytelling.
yoyoeldas it’s funny you say that, because I personally find that American productions of originally British shows are always far stronger than their British counterparts. Honestly, I don’t think Elisabeth would work in the UK either - it’s too dark and abstract for audiences. I’d love to see how it would do at say, the Met or something like that, where it could be done in its original language and in its original abstract staging. Its energy is very much modern European opera, the original director or course being a world renowned opera director, so I honestly think a large opera company using a cast of theatre actors could be very promising.
I see your point, but the Broadway production had quite an advance in ticket sales before scandal chaos broke loose, so clearly there is, or at least was, an audience for it in the US. I think the bigger thing is the Gothic musical just isn't a thing anymore...if it ever actually was truly a thing. Some were decently successful, but there's certainly no financial market in the US for anything but cutesy, sub par material these days.
It's funny that all these German based musicals have been well received in other regions as adaptations, yet they weren't able to break through the English language regions. I have seen many musicals produced originally in Wien and the quality has always been excellent with brilliant musical actors (but required some German knowledge to truly appreciate the lyrics).
Thank you for this succinct recap of the REBECCA scandal. I have watched clips of foreign productions and it is a shame that it did not get to be on Broadway. The behind the scenes financial mess will probably prevent it ever getting to the Great White Way. I can almost imagine Audra MacDonald or Patti Lupone as Mrs Danvers ; both could bring the house down (pun intended) singing the song "Rebecca" .
This was an interesting watch. I'm a big fan of the German production (There ARE fans of German theatre in the US. We're a small but mighty group) and I was very much looking forward to Rebecca's Broadway production, so much so I even went to the Equity call as a non-Equity performer. I didn't get seen (they decided not to see non-Equity so they sent the 20 or so performers in the hall) but I couldn't miss the chance to just go. I was heartbroken to hear the fate and confused watching it all spiral down. It's a shame too. It's a fantastic show (as long as they get the translations right). Thanks for making this. Also thanks for the Lestat moment in the opening. I'm the one (maybe the only one) who remembers it fondly and I keep the memory of it close to my heart as it inspired me to continue as a performer. 💜💜💜
same story here!! I didn't go to the open call, I was too young at the time. But ive always been in love with Kunze's work, and hope this all doesnt forever discourage the VBW from bringing shows over :)
Consider me subscribed! This is the best video I've seen about this, as a fan of the original musical I've heard much about the Broadway attempt but there are things in this video I didn't know and the insight of Michael Rubinoff is priceless. Amazing video, you deserve so many more subs!!!
Having seen this musical production in Vienna and Germany I can say that the Broadway missed an impressive piece of art with a great story and music. Goosebumps were guaranteed. Well, it's all about money, not about quality. Too sad that dumb plots seem to reign the business.
The sad thing about this is, Rebecca could have been an introduction into Austrian/German musical theatre for a general Broadway audience, a group of musicals that are severely underrated and honestly are better than a lot of what is on Broadway today. Rebecca, unlike shows such as Elisabeth, Tanz der Vampire, and Schikaneder, had the most potential to work when adapted into English since the story was based off a book by a British author and you could easily take inspiration from lines written in the book and it also had a successful film adaptation in the form of the Hitchcock film. However, it just wasn’t meant to be. The closest you can get to an official English translation are the lyrics you end up writing in your head, seeing as the 2003 demos were terrible, but that can be a good thing. Since it’s not on Broadway and your vision of Rebecca in English isn’t tied down to a New York production, how it would’ve been like is left to the imagination. However I’ll always mourn for what could have been, because what could’ve been the next Phantom, would have been amazing ❤️.
I could not agree with you more. Though I would love for Elisabeth to be translated into English, Rebecca had more potential like you said. Now I can only hope it continues to be played in Germany and Austria and I can go and see it sometime.
You said it beautifully. Seeing this scandal just makes me so angry for the whole mess and disappointment they inflicted on the performers and fans. But who knows? You think Rebecca will eventually be performed for English speaking audiences? It could come back to Broadway but then there's also West End.
I know this was such a small snippet of your intro but I saw Spider-Man on a school field trip, never been to NYC before, obviously never seen a Broadway show before. We were guaranteed a show as a part of the trip but it could be any from the short list depending on ticket availability. I was so annoyed at the time that we ended up seeing Spider-Man out of all of them, and thought it was so bizarre but didn’t really have context for what a Broadway show was “supposed” to be. In hindsight I kind of love that I can tell people I saw that train wreck😂😂 I also see why they were able to get tickets for it now😂 I got to see Beetlejuice in 2019 which was literally a dream come true so all is forgiven in my Broadway show journey so far🙌
Great video. Always loved the story of Rebecca. We may have moved on from the Phantom/Les Miz type of extravaganzas tho. On a side note, I saw Carrie the Musical in Stratford-Upon- Avon in 1988 and thought is had possiblitiess. I still have the glossy program from it.
This is the second RUclips video I’ve seen this week that references the musical Elisabeth The first one wasn’t really where you’d expect someone to be talking about a German musical from the 90’s, or more specifically the costuming from a German musical from the 90’s It’s also popular in Japan and one of the the character designers for a Gundam series of all things was a big fun of the costumes and used them as inspiration for the character’s outfits in that series they were working on (I don’t remember which there are like a million Gundam things)
An English language version of Rebecca: The Musical played at the Charing Cross theatre in London for two months in 2023. The production was considerably less lavish than the one proposed for Broadway, and it received mixed reviews. Having watched the German production, my advice is to read the book, watch the Hitchcock film and forget about the musical altogether.
With respect to the commenters who praise the show in Vienna, I watched the 2nd Act here (w/English subtitles) and the whole conception seems conventional, pop power ballads and a faithful staging of the movie. It needed a total rethink so that the audience doesn't compare the leads to the incomparable Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson, or to Hitch's interpretation of the novel, which seems like a dream of the 2nd Mrs. DeWinter.
The story got some coverage in the New York Times at the time. I remember following it as best I could because I was really interested in what a musical adaptation of Rebecca could be like.
The producer is obviously a sleazebag (he's currently serving time for downloading child porn). I always google people I'm going to work with - the Times reporter did a simple online search and found the backer was non-existent.
Let me sit on that. I remember watching that all unfold on Broadway in real time and it was crazy. Would be fun to find a way to talk about it, but I'm not super into the uber dramatic/hostile Broadway stories. 'Rebecca' was fun to work on, but hopefully I can create more content that celebrates Broadway rather than stirs the pot of how dysfunctional it can be. xxx
@@StagedRight Totally agree and even right now with the recent Jagged Little Pill controversy too. So many stories but I gotta say, these are amazing breaking everything down. Love this channel. You're all fantastic!!!
The show has enough problems of its own. It gives by far too much room to Mrs. Danvers (in Vienna she was played by the acclaimed Pia Douwes, who had first given life to the role of Elisabeth). If you read the book, you realize that Hitchcock took the liberty to turn it into a murder mystery / gothic tale, when it's actually a love story and a coming-of-age story. The why and where and how of Rebecca's death are not important, the turning point is for the protagonist - whose actual name we never get to know - when she finally takes a stand and says "I'm Mrs. de Winter". The fire in the final scene is also only hinted at in the novel and nowhere as dramatic, there is only an epilogue (written years later) which can be interpreted in different ways. As much as I like the Hitchcock movie: it distorts the truth. But at least it's smart enough to leave the two protagonists center stage and not to focus on Mrs. Danvers the way the musical does. The musical feels like you're waiting all of the time for Rebecca to finally appear, which she never does.
Honestly, while I do hope to see Rebecca staged in English at some point, I hope it gets staged in the West End and NOT Broadway. Because the VBW clearly is cursed when it coes to transfers to the US. First they had Tanz der Vampire completely butchered by the ego of its lead star, Michael Crawford, and then they had the production of Rebecca turn into a crime mystery itself. "Rebecca: the Musical" is one of the best shows ever written. And it's a shame Americans didn't get to experience it yet, being instead fed crap like Hamilton or Wicked.
Hey, Hamilton is actually a decent and good musical. I really like it and I appreciate it. I agree that Rebecca and non-English musicals should get chances to be on Broadway but don't shit on good American musicals that people love and appreciate. It makes you look just as bad.
Do an episode on Bernadette Peters... I know how big she is, i know people LOOOOOOVE her, but i just dont get it at alllll hahahhaa cant stand her singing a single song, not even Elaine Stritch's limited voice annoyes me that much...
That was absolutely mind-blowing to see such scandal in the musical theatre industry. The cast of characters involved in this scandal were as intriguing as the characters in Rebecca. Another amazing episode uncovering the behind the scenes stories of the industry.
Fascinating. It makes you wonder how ANY show gets to Broadway. Mel Brooke's The Producers was spot on.
I remember reading the Vanitu Fair article. I was absolutely mesmerised by the sheer shit heap these people had found themselves in. Plus the image of a burning staircase disintegrating on a Broadway stage would put it up there with Phantom’s chandelier
It’s been announced Rebecca is going to run in London. I hope they cast someone as amazing as Pia as Danvers.
SO glad I stumbled across your channel, You have some exceptional content! I'm a musical theatre Major from Newfoundland and I was fortunate enough to be at that production of Come from Away in the Hockey rink. An unusual venue but the energy in the room was electric.
Honestly, the 90s Austrian musical canon is far too different from Broadway to be profitable with a New York audience. Plus, the original lyrics of these shows are always extremely poetic, as German as a language is, and almost impossible to properly translate into English without clunkiness. Hampton's translations for Rebecca were definitely a significant improvement over Kunze's original translations, but I still found them lacking and far from the quality that a Broadway transfer deserves. I just think the whole production was the wrong show at the wrong time with a misguided team and producers. Unfortunately, as the second attempt at an Austrian import after "Dance of the Vampires" (I put that in air quotes because the Broadway version was the furthest thing possible from the original version), I think Rebecca sealed the nail in the coffin for any European imports, bar the UK of course. I'd love to see the genius original Vienna production of Elisabeth transfer, but it is by far the most abstract and conceptual of the Levay & Kunze canon, and the original director Harry Kupfer passed sometime last year. Plus, the huge abstract hydraulic/mechanical set is far too large for a Broadway theatre. The largest Broadway theatres probably have the onstage space for it, but not the backstage or below-stage space. And that's not even mentioning the large orchestra required; at a time when Broadway orchestras are shrinking by an alarming rate, potential producers would definitely opt for reduced orchestrations, and that just wouldn't do it. Trust me, the touring production's (which ran on and off from 2008 to 2016, however not produced by the same folks as the original Vienna production) orchestrations are pathetic, and I wouldn't want to see that on Broadway. It's all very sad.
Do you think there is a chance it could make it to UK instead? You make a lot of good points about the current state of Broadway and why it wouldn't seem practical. I was just wondering about the chances of West End, considering that Elisabeth and the other German shows do seem to be heavily influenced by British megamusicals in terms of its size, spectacle, and hyper-emotive storytelling.
yoyoeldas it’s funny you say that, because I personally find that American productions of originally British shows are always far stronger than their British counterparts. Honestly, I don’t think Elisabeth would work in the UK either - it’s too dark and abstract for audiences. I’d love to see how it would do at say, the Met or something like that, where it could be done in its original language and in its original abstract staging. Its energy is very much modern European opera, the original director or course being a world renowned opera director, so I honestly think a large opera company using a cast of theatre actors could be very promising.
Oh how I wish Elisabeth could have premiered on broadway during Pia Douwes' performance peak. That would've been such a marvel to behold!
I see your point, but the Broadway production had quite an advance in ticket sales before scandal chaos broke loose, so clearly there is, or at least was, an audience for it in the US. I think the bigger thing is the Gothic musical just isn't a thing anymore...if it ever actually was truly a thing. Some were decently successful, but there's certainly no financial market in the US for anything but cutesy, sub par material these days.
It's funny that all these German based musicals have been well received in other regions as adaptations, yet they weren't able to break through the English language regions. I have seen many musicals produced originally in Wien and the quality has always been excellent with brilliant musical actors (but required some German knowledge to truly appreciate the lyrics).
Thank you for this succinct recap of the REBECCA scandal. I have watched clips of foreign productions and it is a shame that it did not get to be on Broadway. The behind the scenes financial mess will probably prevent it ever getting to the Great White Way. I can almost imagine Audra MacDonald or Patti Lupone as Mrs Danvers ; both could bring the house down (pun intended) singing the song "Rebecca" .
4:06
“… in germany and austria.”
*shows the hungarian production of mozart! das musical.*
Thanks! I wondered about that.
This was an interesting watch. I'm a big fan of the German production (There ARE fans of German theatre in the US. We're a small but mighty group) and I was very much looking forward to Rebecca's Broadway production, so much so I even went to the Equity call as a non-Equity performer. I didn't get seen (they decided not to see non-Equity so they sent the 20 or so performers in the hall) but I couldn't miss the chance to just go. I was heartbroken to hear the fate and confused watching it all spiral down. It's a shame too. It's a fantastic show (as long as they get the translations right). Thanks for making this. Also thanks for the Lestat moment in the opening. I'm the one (maybe the only one) who remembers it fondly and I keep the memory of it close to my heart as it inspired me to continue as a performer. 💜💜💜
same story here!! I didn't go to the open call, I was too young at the time. But ive always been in love with Kunze's work, and hope this all doesnt forever discourage the VBW from bringing shows over :)
WOW! I did not know about this! What a wild story.
This was a WILD ride. It was so loosely on my radar; I had definitely not heard all the details.
Great job as always Kevin. So very thorough, and it was great that you had Michael on.
Now you HAVE to cover Dance of the Vampires/Tanz der Vampires XD
PIA DOUWES!!!!
Die Kaiserin des Musicals 👑🎶❤️
Ahhh another great video! So glad BTM recommended your channel!
Consider me subscribed! This is the best video I've seen about this, as a fan of the original musical I've heard much about the Broadway attempt but there are things in this video I didn't know and the insight of Michael Rubinoff is priceless. Amazing video, you deserve so many more subs!!!
Having seen this musical production in Vienna and Germany I can say that the Broadway missed an impressive piece of art with a great story and music. Goosebumps were guaranteed. Well, it's all about money, not about quality. Too sad that dumb plots seem to reign the business.
The sad thing about this is, Rebecca could have been an introduction into Austrian/German musical theatre for a general Broadway audience, a group of musicals that are severely underrated and honestly are better than a lot of what is on Broadway today. Rebecca, unlike shows such as Elisabeth, Tanz der Vampire, and Schikaneder, had the most potential to work when adapted into English since the story was based off a book by a British author and you could easily take inspiration from lines written in the book and it also had a successful film adaptation in the form of the Hitchcock film. However, it just wasn’t meant to be. The closest you can get to an official English translation are the lyrics you end up writing in your head, seeing as the 2003 demos were terrible, but that can be a good thing. Since it’s not on Broadway and your vision of Rebecca in English isn’t tied down to a New York production, how it would’ve been like is left to the imagination. However I’ll always mourn for what could have been, because what could’ve been the next Phantom, would have been amazing ❤️.
I could not agree with you more. Though I would love for Elisabeth to be translated into English, Rebecca had more potential like you said. Now I can only hope it continues to be played in Germany and Austria and I can go and see it sometime.
@@annemarietimmers779 I hear that it’s supposed to play in Magdeburg in 2022, hopefully you’ll see it then ❤️
You said it beautifully.
Seeing this scandal just makes me so angry for the whole mess and disappointment they inflicted on the performers and fans.
But who knows? You think Rebecca will eventually be performed for English speaking audiences? It could come back to Broadway but then there's also West End.
I know this was such a small snippet of your intro but I saw Spider-Man on a school field trip, never been to NYC before, obviously never seen a Broadway show before. We were guaranteed a show as a part of the trip but it could be any from the short list depending on ticket availability. I was so annoyed at the time that we ended up seeing Spider-Man out of all of them, and thought it was so bizarre but didn’t really have context for what a Broadway show was “supposed” to be. In hindsight I kind of love that I can tell people I saw that train wreck😂😂 I also see why they were able to get tickets for it now😂 I got to see Beetlejuice in 2019 which was literally a dream come true so all is forgiven in my Broadway show journey so far🙌
Wow I had never heard about this!! Also this is amazing channel! You’re definitely gonna blow up soon! ❤️
Another gem I so love watching and listening to these
Great video. Always loved the story of Rebecca. We may have moved on from the Phantom/Les Miz type of extravaganzas tho. On a side note, I saw Carrie the Musical in Stratford-Upon- Avon in 1988 and thought is had possiblitiess. I still have the glossy program from it.
WOWWWWWWWWW
How come I never heard of this??
I think we need a musical about the making of this musical!!!
I knew nothing about this Rebeca drama but I enjoyed watching the video and learning about this Broadway legal drama 😜
This is the second RUclips video I’ve seen this week that references the musical Elisabeth
The first one wasn’t really where you’d expect someone to be talking about a German musical from the 90’s, or more specifically the costuming from a German musical from the 90’s
It’s also popular in Japan and one of the the character designers for a Gundam series of all things was a big fun of the costumes and used them as inspiration for the character’s outfits in that series they were working on (I don’t remember which there are like a million Gundam things)
I had no idea that "Rebecca" was once made into a musical ! I would have loved to have seen it.
It's playing now in Vienna.
This video was better than the Netflix series.
An English language version of Rebecca: The Musical played at the Charing Cross theatre in London for two months in 2023. The production was considerably less lavish than the one proposed for Broadway, and it received mixed reviews. Having watched the German production, my advice is to read the book, watch the Hitchcock film and forget about the musical altogether.
It never even got a Broadway cast soundtrack
With respect to the commenters who praise the show in Vienna, I watched the 2nd Act here (w/English subtitles) and the whole conception seems conventional, pop power ballads and a faithful staging of the movie. It needed a total rethink so that the audience doesn't compare the leads to the incomparable Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson, or to Hitch's interpretation of the novel, which seems like a dream of the 2nd Mrs. DeWinter.
"Only 1 in 4 shows on Broadway make a profit" ?? Why ? What's the point in even thinking of staging one?
Had the producers not blindly trusted Mark Hotton (spel?), Rebecca would have gone forward. I would have loved to see it with Sierra and Tam
It's kind of like the plot of the Producers.... except not funny.
The story got some coverage in the New York Times at the time. I remember following it as best I could because I was really interested in what a musical adaptation of Rebecca could be like.
Now, YOU HAVE TO DO DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES
Joan Fontaine (“tayn”). Not to be confused with Fontanne as in Lynn Fontanne, dance partner of Alfred Lunt.
Pro tip: do a background check on the people you're planning to do work with *before* you work with them!
The producer is obviously a sleazebag (he's currently serving time for downloading child porn). I always google people I'm going to work with - the Times reporter did a simple online search and found the backer was non-existent.
I like the idea of a Mrs Danfire
It's the same story and character, but Robin Williams is Mrs Danvers.
A producer with guts would cast a drag queen as Mrs. Danvers.
"Sprecher found himself in his own legal trouble"
Oh no 😕
"The kind I don't want to talk about on this channel"
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😲🤮
Can you do one on the Boy George musical TABOO?!!!!!
Let me sit on that. I remember watching that all unfold on Broadway in real time and it was crazy. Would be fun to find a way to talk about it, but I'm not super into the uber dramatic/hostile Broadway stories. 'Rebecca' was fun to work on, but hopefully I can create more content that celebrates Broadway rather than stirs the pot of how dysfunctional it can be. xxx
@@StagedRight Totally agree and even right now with the recent Jagged Little Pill controversy too. So many stories but I gotta say, these are amazing breaking everything down. Love this channel. You're all fantastic!!!
@@broadwaymike92 There'll be some drama in the next one. Trust me.
The show has enough problems of its own. It gives by far too much room to Mrs. Danvers (in Vienna she was played by the acclaimed Pia Douwes, who had first given life to the role of Elisabeth). If you read the book, you realize that Hitchcock took the liberty to turn it into a murder mystery / gothic tale, when it's actually a love story and a coming-of-age story. The why and where and how of Rebecca's death are not important, the turning point is for the protagonist - whose actual name we never get to know - when she finally takes a stand and says "I'm Mrs. de Winter". The fire in the final scene is also only hinted at in the novel and nowhere as dramatic, there is only an epilogue (written years later) which can be interpreted in different ways.
As much as I like the Hitchcock movie: it distorts the truth. But at least it's smart enough to leave the two protagonists center stage and not to focus on Mrs. Danvers the way the musical does. The musical feels like you're waiting all of the time for Rebecca to finally appear, which she never does.
Wait Hotten did all this fraud for $60k? I mean fraud is never good, but if you're going to do it, at least do it more than that...
Good point. If I'm going to shoplift, it will be at Tiffany's, not Family Dollar.
Honestly, while I do hope to see Rebecca staged in English at some point, I hope it gets staged in the West End and NOT Broadway. Because the VBW clearly is cursed when it coes to transfers to the US. First they had Tanz der Vampire completely butchered by the ego of its lead star, Michael Crawford, and then they had the production of Rebecca turn into a crime mystery itself.
"Rebecca: the Musical" is one of the best shows ever written. And it's a shame Americans didn't get to experience it yet, being instead fed crap like Hamilton or Wicked.
Hey, Hamilton is actually a decent and good musical. I really like it and I appreciate it.
I agree that Rebecca and non-English musicals should get chances to be on Broadway but don't shit on good American musicals that people love and appreciate. It makes you look just as bad.
Do an episode on Bernadette Peters... I know how big she is, i know people LOOOOOOVE her, but i just dont get it at alllll hahahhaa cant stand her singing a single song, not even Elaine Stritch's limited voice annoyes me that much...
Do an episode on her brother....