07 January 2008

Anne Frank – The Musical

It’s just not a story that I would ever have expected to get this sort of treatment but Anne Frank’s Diary has been turned into a musical which opens in Madrid next month. The Anne Frank Foundation, which guards the rights to the diary has given its support. "This production respects the message of tolerance, within the tragedy, that we want to keep alive. Being in Spanish, it can also help to take the message of Anne Frank to Latin America."

Rafael Alvero, who developed the musical project, said it was the culmination of a decade's efforts to gain the confidence of the foundation. He said the show would be inspirational, comparing Frank's life story to a tragic opera. "When I first came here they [the foundation] had this doubt, about how somebody can do a musical of a story like this," said Alvero. "The thing we want to do is ... through the music, to understand the story better," he said.

Isabella Castillo, a 13-year-old born in Cuba who has been chosen for the lead role.

Personally, the idea of turning the Anne Frank diary seems strange, but why not? It will certainly be no “Springtime for Hitler” or the Anne Frank Foundation would never have given it support. Whether the musical is any good or not is of course a totally different matter.

7 comments:

beakerkin said...

Musicals sometimes have a tragic element in them notably Phantom or Les Mis.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm now if Mel Brooks were to produce it???? Hey you mentioned Springtime For Hitler ;)

Seriously I think it could work as the other commentator mentions above, many musical have tragic elements to them.

jams o donnell said...

You are both quite right, many musicals do have a tragic basis.

beakerkin said...

Jams

I am glad this is not being produced in the UK. If it were there would be the hateful crew that sees Zionist conspiracy in any artistic depiction of the Holocaust.

jams o donnell said...

THere may be a few who would crap on but a production of this kind is unlikely to have trouble from them

The Contentious Centrist said...

I don't like the idea. I blogged about it here:

http://contentious-centrist.blogspot.com/2008/01/anne-frank-again-i-wrote-here-just.html

jams o donnell said...

It's not that I don;t have reservations about tackling such a subject centrist, but I don't see any fundametal objection. I have every no doubt that the writers are trying to portray the subject in a sensitive manner. For me the question is whether they can achieve that aim or not.