UK: A new musical set around the time of the Holocaust sparks controversy in London

Record ID: 739273

  • Title: UK: A new musical set around the time of the Holocaust sparks controversy in London
  • Date: 22nd November 2008
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRODUCER BETH TRACHTENBERG, SAYING: "What I found so fantastic about it is they were able to hold on to their humanity and they (the Jews portrayed in the musical) were able to live and they were able to love and they were able to fight against the forces of evil, to use a very hackneyed term, but that's what it was and as a result of where they were and how they were living, they became heroes and they became an inspiration to me and I believe that in today's world we still continue to do the same things to people whether it'd be in places like Rwanda, Darfur or Bosnia years ago that there is a lesson to be learned from that, that someday we need to wake up and be judging each other as people and not as labels." ACTORS PETER POLYCARPOU AND SARAH INGRAM BEING INTERVIEWED CLOSE OF INGRAM / CLOSE OF POLYCARPOU'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SARAH INGRAM, WHO PLAYS 'SARAH', SAYING: "Everybody's (cast and crew) culture is relevant actually and the bottom line to this story is ordinary people in an extraordinary situation asked to make unimaginable choices and that transcends culture, nationality, religion, everything."
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2008 12:00
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  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVACQJH3GCRKAC1L0YI4N3GF8PA3
  • Story Text: A musical about Jews persecuted by the Nazis, 'Imagine This' and its touchy subject matter is set to open in London on Wednesday, (November 19).
    'Imagine This' is the controversial new musical premiering in London on Wednesday (November 19) and set in the Poland in 1942.
    The musical tells the story of a group of actors who stage plays to inspire hope and optimism within the community. However, with rumours of the Final Solution causing fear and panic within the neighbourhood and ultimately the production, their play merges with the reality they are trying to escape.
    It's in these circumstances that love emerges, with the tagline of the musical 'Love grows in the most unexpected places'.
    The ghetto inmates put on a production of the 2000-year-old story of the siege of Masada, when 936 rebels committed mass suicide rather than being captured by the Romans.
    'Imagine This' was already shown to audiences in Plymouth and won over investors enough to bring a larger-scale production to London.
    Before being lured back into show business with her first musical, producer Beth Trachtenberg was in Paris as the executive producer of the daily half-hour soap opera 'Riviera' and previously worked on licensing the French rights to game shows 'The Wheel of Fortune' and 'Jeopardy'.
    However, she made a clear distinction that 'Imagine This' isn't what people expect it to be.

    "This is not a Holocaust musical. This is a musical about people, a musical about people in difficult circumstances. It's been very interesting the three authors lyricist, composer, and book writer and myself are Jewish, no one else in the production is and that has created a real creative tension and creative excitement that has kept all of us very honest, very respectful of the material we're dealing with," she told Reuters Television.
    She added that the issues and hardships facing the characters in the musical still resonate in some parts of the world.

    "What I found so fantastic about it is they were able to hold on to their humanity and they (the Jews portrayed in the musical) were able to live and they were able to love and they were able to fight against the forces of evil, to use a very hackneyed term, but that's what it was and as a result of where they were and how they were living, they became heroes and they became an inspiration to me and I believe that in today's world we still continue to do the same things to people whether it'd be in places like Rwanda, Darfur or Bosnia years ago that there is a lesson to be learned from that, that someday we need to wake up and be judging each other as people and not as labels," she said.
    A veteran of theatre for 30 years, Peter Polycarpou was one of the original cast members in the first Les Miserables production and has played the 'Phantom' in 'Phantom of the Opera'. He plays Jewish actor 'Daniel' in the production, the lead character.
    Polycarpou said while the subject matter is a controversial one, he cited several musicals in the past to deal with similar dark settings.

    "It's in the way the treatment of the story of Vietnam is told in Miss Saigon, it's the way the story of students dying in a barricade is told in Les Miserables, it's the integrity of the people in the work. People can get very proprietary about what happened at that time. No one has a monopoly on what should and shouldn't be done in terms of art. There should be no taboos from that point of view. But if the integrity is right, if the treatment is right then there's no reason why you can't portray in a truthful and honest way what went on and have people empathise with what happened in that ghastly situation," he said.
    Sarah Ingram plays his sister 'Sarah', also an actress in the musical, and criticises those people who are quick to judge the production without setting foot in the theatre.

    "I would say they haven't seen it, they haven't heard it. It's very easy to jump on that bandwagon. It is a controversial subject as setting a story in Rwanda would be a controversial subject but it's still the bottom line, it's still a story about people," she said.
    Critics have been quick to point out the difficulty of opening a new production with the current financial crisis and the subject matter could keep weary audience members away.
    Broadway productions such as Xanadu were an indication of the current squeeze affecting New York theatre with worries of London following in its footsteps.

    "I've got a long list of concerns but certainly the top two are the financial climate not just here in the UK but all over the world. And the second is that I know that if audiences come to the show that they will walk out never forgetting what they have seen, that they will walk out with the story in their heads and they will be inspired to think and feel and they will be inspired by the music once they have heard it," said Trachtenberg.
    'Imagine This' is open now at the New London Theatre in Covent Garden.
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