ReVisions Musicals in Post- Globalization: the Case of “Ever-Growing” Musicals from Vienna via Japan
Rina Tanaka
Published on: Mar 14, 2017 License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0) ReVisions Musicals in Post-Globalization: the Case of “Ever-Growing” Musicals from Vienna via Japan
1. Introduction
The end of the globalization era meant the beginning of new methods, regardless of regional predominance. Today, a new style of performances is coming from non-English- speaking countries even in the genre of musical, which is originally from English- speaking countries. However, it has been overlooked due to the commercial or even mass productive nature of musicals (McMillin 2006, pp. 28-29), which has been a dominant pattern in musicals for decades[1].
How have musicals been changing in the post-globalization era? This paper analyzes the interactions established between Vienna and Japan by musicals since the 1990s as a possible illustration of the post-global theater. It consists of the following four parts. Section 1 presents two key concepts of this paper, “post-global” and “interweaving cultures in performances” as well as the current situation regarding musicals. Section 2 deals with the short history of musicals in Vienna in the post-war era until the launch of the first successful “Wiener [Viennese]” musical Elisabeth. As Vienna started taking its musical productions to the world, Japan was the first importer of Elisabeth. Section 3 considers two adaptations of Elisabeth in Japan as examples, indicating the reactions of other countries as well as Vienna, including the “re-import” phenomenon.
After the great popularity of the Wiener musicals in Japan and the successive adaptations in the world, a new type of co-production developed in Japan. Section 4 describes a musical Marī Antowanetto [Marie Antoinette] since 2006 as an example of this co-production. The final section outlines the main conclusions and identifies the phenomenon of the interactions that started in Vienna and later developed between Vienna and Japan as an illustration of performances in the post-globalization era[2].
1-1. Theoretical consideration
1-1-1. Post-globalization In general, the post-global era today arose “out of a shared story about the failure of the master narrative of globalization” (Sussman & Groves 2012, p. 13). Post- globalization is characterized as the confluence of multiple out-of-control flows, which are neither “inside” nor “outside” language, as in complex ways it both definitively is and is not language (id., p. 25). And when it comes to deal with the transitional or incompatible nature of post-globalization, “critique” is proposed as a tool to monitor flows[3] (ibid.). In short, post-globalization is identified with a junction of multiple localities as well as globalities, requiring a monitor reflecting on it.
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1-1-2. Interweaving cultures in performance On the other hand, regarding theater studies, a new type of performances came out of the end of colonialism in the 1960s. Distinguished from the terms “intercultural performance” or “intercultural theatre”, Fischer-Lichte called this new phenomenon “interweaving cultures in performances” (Fischer-Lichte 2010, p. 4). As “intercultural” performances mean a combination of texts, acting styles, stages, or scenic devices from different cultures, especially the fusion between Western and non-Western cultural components, processes of “interweaving” or exchange between cultures have been going on at least since the onset of modernity and, as a result, cultures permanently undergo change and transition (id., pp. 14-15). Each locality must be reflected in each process of interweaving. This type of performances finally produces “something new which is neither one nor the other but both at the same time” (id., p. 12).
Fischer-Lichte explained these performances bring the audience a “liminal experience” or in-betweenness[4], embracing “fascination as well as alienation, enchantment as well as reflection” (ibid.). As Sussman and Groves pointed out, the importance of critique to deal with the conflux of local and global narratives emerged in post- globalization, and so performances interweaving different local contexts transfer the spectators into a liminality and challenge them to reflect on this state. The similarity of these two theories is the alternation to reflect on different local narratives not integrated but gathered on the same stage.
1-1-3. Musicals in the (post-)global era: Reconsideration of mass productions? The perspective, in which musicals must be representative of globalization, also requires reflection. The British newspaper The Guardian published an article in 2010 which criticized the conventional style of musicals. In the article, the authoritative musical productions from New York’s Broadway and the London’s West End were described as an “one-way cultural exchange com[ing] down to the quality of homegrown product”, according to the adapting principle to imitate the “original” production by the exporter (also see Section 3-3). It ends with the following question:
Should we really be clapping the ubiquity of a homogenised theatre culture across the planet, where your musical adventure, from Seoul to São Paulo, can take on the same uniformity as your cup of Starbucks coffee? (The Guardian 2010)
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Musical productions from Broadway and later from the West End are regarded as the mainstream ever since the genre was established and developed. It could be said that the monopoly by these two districts in Anglo-Saxon countries played a role in scattering the master narrative by shipping all the same products to various regions. As indicated in the article, such a one-sided export is already questioned even in the musical metropolis London.
2. The third wave of musicals from Vienna
While the monopoly by two districts in Anglo-Saxon countries is being questioned, a new wave of musical productions has come from a non-English speaking country. Musicals by the Austrian musical production company, United Stages Vienna (Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, hereafter “VBW”) have been gradually recognized on a global scale since their first export of Elisabeth to Japan in 1996. Today, VBW productions have been performed in 16 languages[5] in 22 countries[6] (VBW 2016). This section takes a glance at the brief history of musicals in Vienna in the post-war era and considers how expectations of a musical production from Vienna were created.
2-1. Before the Wiener musicals started The first encounter between musicals[7] and Vienna occurred in the post-war era. Musicals were brought to allied-occupied Vienna by Marcel Prawy who came back to his hometown as a cultural officer of the United States Army in 1946 (Bartosch 1997, p. 457). After the Broadway musical Kiss me Kate[8] had been performed in the Volksoper Wien in 1956, musical hits were steadily imported to Vienna from the musical metropolises and performed at the Volksoper and later at the Theater an der Wien (hereafter “TadW”) since 1963 (Pelz 1995, p. 25).
In spite of their successes in sales and in tourism[9], musicals could not easily gain positive impression. For example, the Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss described Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (1965, Volksoper) as “ausländisch [foreign]”. Musicals were experienced as a culture of the occupation forces or one of the expressions of American propaganda by the people in Vienna in the post-war era (Steinberg 2003, p. 170). Even after productions have started being imported from the West End to Vienna since the 1970s – and considering the great sensation of mega musicals since the 1980s[10] – musicals were frequently mentioned as typical American such as “wie Campbell-Soup sollen alle Musicals [...] weltweit zuverlässig wiederholbar sein [like Campbell’s soup, every musical should be steadily representable all over the world]” (Goehler 2001, p. 104) or “Broadwayklonen [Broadway clones]” (Gruber 2010, p. 149).
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However, musicals were needed at any cost especially for a theater suffering financial problems. The TadW, one of the central theaters for musicals in Vienna until 2006[11], recovered by using the genre and municipal assistance. Musicals boosted the occupancy rates to 99.60% in 1983 (Pelz 1995, p. 84). Yet the TadW could not run musicals without municipal assistance which accounted for 50-60 % of the running costs (id., p. 91). The percentage of public assistance in the running cost of musicals in Vienna was considerably higher than that in the other countries.[12]
Such circumstances created a complicated expectancy for any musical production from Vienna. That is, a musical not only had to meet the international (=Anglo-Saxon) musical standards and therefore be able to be exported to the global market, but also had to sustain Viennese culture, which had been destroyed by the war, and secure the further financial assistance for the theater.
2-2. Turning point: Elisabeth (1992) According to the expectations of a musical production from Vienna, the history of international Wiener musicals began with the musical Elisabeth, which was the first VBW production successfully exported to the world[13].
Elisabeth, a musical about the Empress Elisabeth in Austria, started being performed in 1992. For this “thoroughly European theme”[14], specialists who have experience in Europe were gathered from various fields. The production team was a combination of the Austrian author Michael Kunze, who was working as a lyricist in German pop music as well as a translator for musicals imported from Broadway and the West End, and the Hungarian composer Sylvester Levay, who was working in Hollywood at that time. The stage director was Harry Kupfer, the chief director of the Komische Oper Berlin[15].
Elisabeth was designed as an “Austrian musical”[16], which can not only “tell what is abyssal in the history and mentality of this nation than its mind and identification” but also multiple theatrical forms “can bring the audience from the story line” (VBW 1992). On one hand, it came out as an intermedial[17] production. That is, the performance represented Austrian and European literature as well as modern history. The medieval European motif of “Totentanz [Dance of death]” was used for the first song “Alle tanzten mit dem Tod [All of them danced with death]”. The song titled “Die fröhliche Apokalypse [The merry apocalypse]” originally came from the Austrian author Hermann Broch (Scene 10, Act 1). The demonstration in the late 19th century developed into “the vision of a fascistic march” (Kunze & Levay 1996, p. 70) in Scene
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10, Act 2. In addition, the storyteller Luigi Lucheni, the dead assassin of the empress, make sarcastic comments about these motifs in the performance.
On the other hand, the main story was almost “the monster-kitsch” (Süddeutsche Zeitung 1992). While following and betraying the images of historical figures in the films[18] and the other musical theater[19], Elisabeth is separate from them by the character Death, who represents Elisabeth’s longing for death[20] as well as the fall of the Habsburg Empire. There was a love story between “a very modern woman” (Blickpunkt 2013, p. 4) Elisabeth and “an-androgynous-pop-star-like” (Kunze & Levay 1996, p. 11) Death in the center, while the downfall of the Empire was proceeded and presented as “a sinking ship” in the end (Scene 10, Act 2).
Furthermore, the site-specificity was underlined through the performances. While many scenes on stage took place in Vienna, such as Hofburg (Act 1, Scene 3) or the Schönbrunn Palace (Act 1, Scene 7), some tourist information about the real exhibitions of Sissi[21] was on the playbill (VBW 1997).
Elisabeth was designed with local contexts, possibly to extend the narrative beyond the conventional frame of musicals. The locality wrapped by the global entertaining standards enabled each type of audience to interpret Elisabeth, depending on the contexts each audience has, and therefore it has experienced local and international successes: it was performed until 1998 in Vienna and also has been exported outside of Vienna.
3. Adaptations: Elisabeth in Japan
Japan was the first destination for the VBW to export their productions. This section addresses first two adaptations of Elisabeth in Japan and considers how they impacted the other regional versions as well as the “original” Viennese version.
3-1. The Takarazuka version (1996-) Four years after of the premier in Vienna, the first adaptation, Erizabēto [Elisabeth] with the subtitle Ai to Shi no Rondo [Rondo of Love and Death] was staged at the Takarazuka Grand Theater in Japan. This production was made by the Takarazuka Revue Company, which is featured by the all-female revue theater troupe and female audiences which amount to more than 90% of the whole (Brau 1990, p. 80).
Erizabēto was directed by Shūichirō Koike in order to fit to the style of the Takarazuka performances as well as the lack of European contexts in Japan[22]. First, the
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protagonist was changed from the Empress Elisabeth to Death due to the Takarazuka’s star system[23]. Second, the historical element was considerably reduced or modified while the romantic element was emphasized with additional song numbers and choreography. Even a new love song “Ai to Shi no Rondo [Rondo of love and death]” was written by the original composer Levay for this version.
In addition, the ending was changed. In the Viennese version, Death and Lucheni, who is in the process of hanging himself, gaze at each other on stage just before the black- out. On the other hand, in the first Takarazuka version in 1996, Elisabeth and Death are gliding up together on the clouds of dry ice.
In short, the Takarazuka version transformed into a revue- and operetta- styled[24]costume play, in other words, one of the Takarazuka’s specialties (Brau 1990, p. 79; Suzuki 2012, p. 71). This version experienced great success in Japan, and has been performed eight times with modification for each star actress in each performance.
3-2. The Tōhō version (2000-) While the Takarazuka version became a blockbuster, the second production Erizabēto[Elisabeth] was staged in 2000 by the Tōhō Company[25], one of the largest Japanese entertainment companies. The director was Shūichirō Koike, who had taken part in the Takarazuka version. He reconstructed Elisabeth, combining parts of the Takarazuka and the Viennese versions with new numerous elements.
While the Tōhō version was drastically romantic and opulent in line with the Takarazuka version[26], new elements have been gradually introduced since the first performance in 2000. This has made the Tōhō version more and more distinctive. For example, the Hakenkreuz and the Nazi uniform were used for the scene of a national socialistic demonstration together with a special type of vocalization based on the style of Japanese far-right propaganda. In contrast, the actors and actresses in Schutzstaffel’s uniforms protest in the form of chanting (Sprechchor) in the Viennese version. Since 2015, the play-within-a-play structure is also emphasized. The Tōhō version has been performed nine times, and been modified three times (Tōhō 2016).
3-3. The impact of the Japanese versions Such considerable alternations of Elisabeth from the “original” and their success – people who watched Elisabeth in Japan accounted for 38% of all spectators in the world from 1992 to 2012 (VBW 2012) – influenced successive adaptations as well as
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the “original” Viennese version. The way the Japanese localization became a model for successive productions.
After the Japanese productions, each regional theater has been allowed by the VBW to have their own adaptation(s). This enables the VBW productions to be distinguished from conventional Anglo-Saxon musicals, especially the so-called “mega musicals” since the 1980s[27]. Peter Back-Vega, the chief dramaturg of the VBW, explained a difference of export processes between American and Viennese musical productions.
We do not have this strict pass-on of the production as in the United States. The productions should be able to adapt themselves to the circumstances of each performing place. [That is why] there are regional directors and costumes.[28]
Mega musicals demand a strict adherence to the original (for example, directing plan and stage design), whereas to a large extent the VBW lets the productions be adapted to the individual culture(s) such as the mentality, the audience, the uniqueness of the actor or the actress by the local theaters[29].
This exporting process enables the original team (the author and the composer) to accumulate multiple cultural experiences from the interactions with each regional team (the director, the costume, etc.). Moreover, every regional team can participate in the whole adaption process and take a lead to build their own version(s) by modifying or adding scenes and songs (VBW 2003, 2012). For example, in the adaption process of Takarazuka’s Elisabeth, Kunze and Levay discussed with the Japanese director Koike and changed the structure based on Koike’s requests[30]. The licenser VBW concerns whether each regional production has the “essentials” to maintain the quality of each production[31].
Such collective experiences enable the production to develop further. That is, some parts of the regional productions have been re-imported to other productions. For instance, the song “Ai to Shi no Rondo” originally presented in the 1996 Takarazuka version was exported to Hungary in the same year, and finally to Vienna in 2012 with the name of “Rondo”.
It is possible to state that Elisabeth and other VBW’s productions could be “ever- growing” in a global network, that is, by interactions between different regional theaters including the one in Vienna, centering around the author and the composer.
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4. A new wave of co-productive musicals
4-1. Marī Antowanetto [Marie Antoinette] (2006-) The interactive way of creation above not only has been found in productions from Vienna but also in other co-productions of musicals in the last decade: A series of Tōhō musical productions started with Marī Antowanetto [Marie Antoinette].
Marī Antowanetto, a musical about the Queen of France who was the daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa and was executed in the French Revolution, was originally made and performed by Tōhō in 2006. However, the production was not entirely an original Japanese production. It was written by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay, the dual hit makers of past VBW productions, and based on a Japanese novel, Ouhi Marī Antowanetto [Queen Marie Antoinette] by Shūsaku Endō. Furthermore, it was directed by Tamiya Kuriyama, a Japanese straight play director. Thus, Marī Antowanetto had multiple origins in the first production.
4-2. Impact/Expansion Marī Antowanetto was initially performed twice in Japan (2006, 2007) and has been exported to four theaters in three countries as Marie Antoinette: to the Musical Theater Bremen (2009) and the open-air theater in Tecklenburg (2012) in Germany, to the Charlotte Theater in Korea (2014) and to the Budapest Operetta and Musical Theater in Hungary (2016).
As with Elisabeth and other VBW productions, each region has its own version in their language. Except for the Bremen’s version, in which the director Kuriyama worked with the original writers (Kunze and Levay) and the regional team for two years[32], a local creative team such as a regional director as well as costume and stage designers takes a vital part in their version. Furthermore, the sequence of the songs and their singers as well as the scenes can be changed.
It enables each regional theater to pursue possibilities to a much larger extent. For example, the number of characters were sometimes reduced, even if these characters play the essential part of the drama in the Japanese production[33]. Comparing prologues of each version, the Japanese and Bremen’s versions start with the song number “Illusionen [Illusions]”[34] sung by an alchemist Giuseppe Balsamo alias Cagliostro and emphasize the frame structure of the performance. In the Korean version, the same song becomes the song number by Marie’s lover Axel von Fersen in order to focus on Marie and her romantic relationship[35]. On contrary, it was sung by
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a rebel Duke of Orléans in the Budapest’s version which portraits political games including the manipulation of mass media. To sum up, the more flexibility is allowed for the adaptations of Marie Antoinette than any other previous adaptation of the VBW productions, so that the more intense localization can be achieved. The nature of the multiple narratives in the first production as well as the lack of an administrator[36]are considered to foster the localization processes.
Subsequent to Marie Antoinette, Redī Besu [Lady Bess] (2014) and Ouke no Monshō [Crest of the Royal Family] (2016) were produced in Tokyo. These works have been attracted the attention of VBW as well as German musical magazines[37].
5. Conclusion
When globalization began to be questioned, the Wiener musicals rose in one of the non- dominant regions. The first successful production by VBW, Elisabeth, focused on pursuing its own narrative but also following the successes of Anglo-Saxon musicals. Once it was exported, it has been re-written in the local contexts of each importing country with the cooperation of the original team and the regional team. Japan played a leading role to localize productions with two adaptations, the Takarazuka and the Tōhō versions. The elements added in Japan have been exported to the adaptations in the other countries and finally to the Viennese version. Such interactions not only keep the productions developing but also promotes the co-production initiated in Japan.
At this point, it is possibly to claim that the concept of musicals based on one single locality has already disappeared. Instead, the productions gain collective experiences of different local narratives. If the Vienneseness might remain in each VBW production, it is always interpreted and even adapted to different cultural contexts and therefore it is no longer solely the Viennese. When it comes to the co- production, Marie Antoinette had already equipped the multiple narratives before it was exported.
According to Fischer-Lichte, “interweaving” cultures in performances enable the audience to experience the liminality, or what is “neither one nor the other but both at the same time” (Fischer-Lichte 2010, p. 12). Such a “liminal experience” can enhance reflection by the audience. As Sussman and Groves explained “the requirement of critique” as a feature of post-globalization, the in-betweenness in performances could offer both local and global aspects. If the genre musical has not only the mass productive nature but also the adjustability to the local and contemporary audience (Schmidt-Joos 1965, p. 13; Sonderhoff &Weck 1986, p. 6), it could be said that the
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liminal experience would also function in musicals. As the new wave of “ever-growing” musicals develops through interactions among different cultures, musicals are no longer representative of globalization but indicate a new dimension of the place or the in-betweenness as representative of post-global theaters.
Otherwise, the Wiener musicals might regain the lost Vienneseness through post- globalization. In this sense, the Vienneseness is “the sensitive co-existence of cosmopolitanism and sensuality, humor and passion, synthesis and contradiction, Judaism and the ‘real Vienna’” (Steinberg 2003, p. 176), which was destroyed by the world wars. As the Jewish composer Kurt Weill influenced the development of musicals in the United States (McMillin 2006, p. 19), musicals already highlight their Jewish nature as well as a contradiction between American and European cultures. In fact, the people in Vienna have experienced this since their first encounter with musicals triggered by Gershwin or Prawy, both of whom had Jewish backgrounds[38].
As Vienna is not a cosmopolitan city by nature but a city where people take cosmopolitan ideas seriously (Steinberg 2003, p. 169), the Wiener musicals have a post- global nature – or, perhaps Vienna has exploited the potential of musicals – by the interactions with their importers for each regional version. It deserves continued and increased attention, whether we could regard this as a rediscovery of cosmopolitanism or post-globalization, or if it is possible that this style of musical will become a new trend instead of the conventional musicals.
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[1] As a new type of musicals emerges through interactions between different cultures, the lack of studies based on multi-lingual sources also makes it unnoticed. The previous studies have been written in German and Japanese except for two English articles by Arens (2006) and Mageanu (2015).
[2] This paper is based on the presentation, “Post-Globalization in the Genre Musical:
A Case of ‘Ever-Growing’ Musicals from Vienna via Japan” given at the Cultural Typhoon in Europe (University of Vienna, 24 September, 2016).
[3] According to Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in the course of their “Capitalism and Schizophrenia” diptych (Sussman & Groves 2012, p. 25).
[4] Referred to Homi Bhabha’s concept of “third space” (Bhabha 1994).
[5] Czech, Dutch/Flemish, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, and Swedish.
[6] Austria, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Serbia, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovakia, Serbia, and the United States.
[7] In German-speaking countries, the concept of “musicals” is considered as “basically two-act plays of popular musical theater established in New York” (Schmidt-Joos 1965, p. 15). This definition has been applied in many studies on musicals performed and/or produced in German-speaking countries (Gruber 2010; Pelz 1995; Rommel 2007; Sonderhoff & Weck 1986; et.).
[8] Before the premier in Vienna, Kiss me Kate had been performed in Frankfurt am Main in November 1955 as the first musical in Germany.
[9] Musicals have been used to increase traffic in theater in Vienna. For example, the TadW has offered events not only for locals but also for tourists visiting Vienna since 1962 (Lang 2001, p. 103). Later, musicals were cooperated with the municipal tourism (Pelz 1995, pp. 91-92; Schmittner 2005).
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[10] See also Section 3-3.
[11] In 2006, the TadW declared a new concept of “the new opera house” without any musical performance (Die Zeit 2006).
[12] In comparison with Austrian productions, musicals require huge cost due to the complicated stage designs and therefore are produced in Broadway only when they have enough prospect of breaking even by the long run or multimedia expansion. On the other hand, German productions are operated with municipal assistance, whose percentage accounted for less than one third of the whole running costs (Pelz 1995, pp. 21-22, 91).
[13] Four homegrown musical productions were launched from the TadW in the 1960s and 70s, but they were only performed in the German-speaking countries (Lang 2001, pp. 113-132). Freudiana was the first musical production clearly aiming at the international market, though it was a flop (Tanaka 2016).
[14] According to the statement of the author Michael Kunze (Blickpunkt 2013, p. 4).
[15] It was intended to ennoble the status of musicals in Vienna through Elisabeth with Kupfer’s participation (VBW 1992; Weck 2010, p. 299).
[16] How to name the musicals from Vienna has not yet been decided: “Austrian Musical[s]” (VBW 1992, 1997); “a German-language musical from Vienna” (VBW 2003); “Viennese musicals” (VBW 2016)”.
[17] In this paper, “intermedial” is referred to the Fischer-Lichte’s theatrical method, by that one performance is associated with the previous work(s) in other types of media (Fischer-Lichte 2009, pp. 209-219).
[18] A film series, Sissi (1955), Sissi – Die junge Kaiserin (1956) and Sissi – Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957), directed by Ernst Marischka.
[19] A Singspiel Sissy (1932, TadW) composed by Fritz Kreisler and written by Ernst and Hubert Marischka.
[20] This concept was based on the latest research by Brigitte Hamann at that time.
[21] A traveling exhibition Schönheit für die Ewigkeit (beauty for eternity) in Hermesvilla, Hofburg and the Schönbrunn Palace from the February 4th 1998 to February 16th 1999.
15 ReVisions Musicals in Post-Globalization: the Case of “Ever-Growing” Musicals from Vienna via Japan
[22] According to Koike’s statements (Asahi 2016, p. 43).
[23] In every Takarazuka play, a top star actress who has trained for male roles plays the male protagonist (Brau 1990, p. 86).
[24] According to the interview with Peter Back-Vega conducted by Martina Gruber (Gruber 2010, p. 318).
[25] The Tōhō is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Tōhō Group, which also owes Takarazuka (Brau 1990, p. 82).
[26] Not only the theatrical elements but also actresses from Takarazuka makes the Tōhō version distinctive. For example, two principal characters, Elisabeth and Archduchess Sophie, were performed by ex-Takarazuka actresses in the first production in 2000 (Tōhō 2000).
[27] As for mega musicals, please also see Burston (1998, p. 205).
[28] According to the interview with Back-Vega (Gruber 2010, p. 318).
[29] Referred to Back-Vega’s statement (VBW 2003; 2012); Asahi 2007.
[30] According to Koike’s statements (Asahi 2016, pp. 42-44; Tōhō 2015). As Takarazuka productions have to follow many codes, a drastic adaptation was required.
[31] According to the interview with Back-Vega (Gruber 2010, p. 318).
[32] Kuriyama discussed about changes for the production in Bremen with Kunze and the actors/actresses (According to his statement in the interview conducted by Shinobu Takano (Takano online)).
[33] In the Korean and Hungarian versions, three main characters, Giuseppe Balsamo alias Cagliostro, Agnés Duchamps, and Pierre A. Caron de Beaumarchais were deleted.
[34] The song was added in 2007.
[35] The Chosiun indicates the background that more than 90% of the audiences visiting theaters are females in their twenties and thirties (The Chosun 2014).
[36] Unlikely to VBW, Tōhō did not play the administrator of Marie Antoinette in the successive adaptations.
16 ReVisions Musicals in Post-Globalization: the Case of “Ever-Growing” Musicals from Vienna via Japan
[37] In 2016, articles about Ouke no Monshō were published in the September issue of the German musical magazine Blickpunkt Musical (pp. 72-74) and in the October Issue of Musicals (pp. 84-85), just after its premiere in August.
[38] The Jewish background of musicals is connected to the impression of the genre in the post-war era in Vienna (Steinberg 2003).
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