...born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad

Jewsical: Some years ago I penned what I assumed was an unproducable musical version of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. I called it Elders! After reading this timesonline article about a soon-to-open West End Holocaust musical, though, (it is not, you’ll be relieved to know, called Ovens!) I’m thinking seriously of shopping it around:

A few questions: can an unknown new musical with no big stars be a hit? Can an unknown new musical with no big stars be a hit as the West End in London copes with the recession? And, perhaps most importantly, can an unknown new musical – set in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 – with no big stars be a hit as the West End copes with the recession?

This is the challenge that the team behind Imagine This has embraced. In a small Southwark rehearsal studio the ensemble is going through an intense sequence set near the ghetto walls. Old furniture is piled up at the side of the room. About 20 blue plastic pistols litter the floor. The smell of sweat fills the air. If perspiration sold tickets Imagine This would be booking beyond the next Olympics. But, all things considered, they have a mountain to climb.

For the people behind the show this is clearly a labour of love. The director, Tim Sheader, is currently the artistic director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. After helming Gigi this is anything but a walk in the park, but he does not feel that the subject is particularly controversial.

“In terms of subject matter it starts from where Cabaret left off. We don’t go into Auschwitz, but we start with the incarceration. Cabaret was provocative and new when it opened, but since then there have been plenty of movies that have covered this area – Schindler’s List, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful – so we are following in the footsteps of commercial work.”

Stage, however, is very different from screen, as Liam Steel, the choreographer, acknowledges: “Theatre doesn’t have the luxury of film. We have to work really hard covering a very long time-span very quickly and still hit the gut. The very first song, The Last Day of Summer, starts with freedom in 1939 and ends in imprisonment in 1942.”

The action draws on Jewish history with the bulk of it taking place in a play-within-the-play. The ghetto inmates decide to act out the 2,000-year-old story of the siege of Masada, when 936 rebels committed mass suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. The resonances do not need to be spelt out. Meanwhile, a resistance fighter is hiding from the Nazis and a young woman falls for him. Can love bloom with tragedy looming?

Imagine This was due to be staged on Broadway in 2005 but a financial hiccup intervened. It had a brief run in Plymouth last year, when backers were impressed enough to finance this West End opening. Sheader is excited at the prospect of a meaty show. “I’m sick to death of seeing another rehash: Take That, Rod Stewart. Hen night theatre has its purpose but there is more to musicals than having a laugh.”

The team all cite Sweeney Todd and Les Misérables to argue that dark subject matter and massive success are not mutually exclusive. They may have a point. In Spain earlier this year an Anne Frank musical was a hit, while American Psycho: The Musical is Broadway-bound. But regardless of subject matter, Imagine This has its work cut out. When cash is tight theatregoers may opt for escapism. And there is no real bill-topper. The biggest name is Peter Polycarpou, who starred in Phantom of the Opera and can certainly belt out a tune, but who lacks a Michael Ball/Crawford fanbase.

Sheader is determined: “It’s a gamble, but it has to work on the strength and integrity of the piece. It is a celebration of the human spirit. I’d find it far more difficult to sit here and convince you that The Producers would be a hit,” he argues. “That kind of pastiche and irony is tougher, this is honest and on the nose.” But can being on the nose put bums on seats?..

Must. Resist. Temptation. To turn that delightfully skewed metaphor—“Can Being on The Nose Put Bums on Seats?”—into a “cheeky” show stopper.

Update: And now, a number from Elders! (Note: the penultimate verse is new):

Posted by: scaramouche at 14:30 | link | comments (1)

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