ABROAD/WAY BULLETPOINTS FOR SEPT. 17, 2O24
Madrid gets a new theater, China loves European musicals, Latin music stars make Broadway moves, and more
Welcome to the latest edition of ABROAD/WAY BULLETPOINTS, my regular roundup of theater headlines from around the world. New to Jaques? Check out this handy explainer.
European megaproducer Stage Entertainment will open a new theater in Madrid in the second half of 2026, renovating a 447-seat venue in Tierno Galván Park into a 1,500-seat house suitable for Broadway-scale musicals. The move marks the latest expansion in Madrid’s booming theater industry, which in the last decade has grown to become one of the biggest markets in the world for Broadway-style musical theater. Stage already owns and operates two theaters on Madrid’s Gran Via—one where the The Lion King has been running for 13+ years and another that’s now home to Aladdin—and with the new theater, Stage houses will be able to accommodate a total of 1.5 million theatergoers in Madrid per year, according to an announcement from the Amsterdam-based company.
Get a closer look at the Madrid market, including data details and insights from the industry’s major players, in this SPOTLIGHT STORY from May:
Speaking of Spain, not all musicals there are in Spanish: El Periódico has a feature on Ànima, the new Catalan-language musical that premieres at Barcelona’s Teatre Nacional de Catalunya later this month. The story, inspired by the grandmother of one of the show’s creators, centers on a woman who strives to establish a career in animation in Hollywood in the 1930s. “Ànima is a tribute to the world of cinema, to that factory of Hollywood dreams and to the invisible women who made it possible,” writes Marta Cervera (via Google Translate). Elements of the plot are based on real events, and the score features a lot of swing with individual songs varying in style depending on the character. Also covered in the musical: how popcorn became the go-to snack of the movies.
A Chinese concert tour of the German-language musical Elisabeth reveals a regional affinity for Austrian, French and other European musicals, according to writer Kun Zhang in China Daily. “The melodies, theatrical structure and the philosophical significance all evoke strong resonance with people in China,” says Yuanhong Fei, the general manager of the Shanghai Culture Square venue. Elisabeth in Concert marks the second Chinese run for the Austrian musical, and its current tour will be followed by a tour of the German-language musical Rebecca. As the story in China Daily notes: “Fei also believes that the success of German and French musicals has provided China’s own musical industry greater insight. ‘They have each developed their own style and aesthetics, deeply rooted in their own musical and cultural heritage. I think in China, we are also exploring a creative path of our own, which has to feature our own artistic genes. That’s what we have learned from German and French musicals,’ Fei says.”
A couple of Latin music names are making moves on Broadway, as Colombian music star Sebastián Yatra steps into the role of Billy Flynn in the Broadway production Chicago later this year (Nov. 25-Dec. 22, 2024) while one half of the Grammy-winning duo Jesse & Joy, Joy Huerta, makes her Broadway debut as a composer with the New York run of Real Women Have Curves that starts in 2025. Both shows are produced by Fran and Barry Weissler and their company NAMCO.
Who says playwrights have to go to Hollywood to make money? A scribe behind Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy for You and a handful of Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes adaptations (among other titles), American playwright Ken Ludwig has made enough with his globally popular plays that he donated £1 million (~$1.3 million) to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to preserve the home of Shakespeare’s daughter. It’s the largest private donation in the history of the trust, according to writer Dalya Alberge in the Guardian. Ludwig’s been a lifelong devotee to Shakespeare and his work. “I thought, if there’s any time I can make a difference about the things I care about, this is it. So I just said: ‘I’ll do it,’” he tells Alberge, adding, “It’s what’s needed right now to keep the place upright.”
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe may be over, but another Scottish theater institution is turning heads with the appointment of the Tony and Emmy winning actor Alan Cumming as the new artistic director of the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. For those unfamiliar with the Pitlochry Festival Theatre—which is most of us outside of Scotland—it’s “Scotland’s largest building-based producing theatre,” according to the BBC, which notes that Cumming has “promised to invite the ‘world's best theatre acts’ to perform there.” The institution operates over a yearlong schedule with six plays in repertory, drawing more than 100,000 visitors annually. BBC Scotland’s Arts Correspondent Pauline McClean offers her take on the news: “Cumming has real star power. He can bring profile to a theatre which is often overlooked, in a part of Scotland which is sometimes forgotten … but his task in this job will be to champion other people’s work as well as his own.”
Speaking of Scotland, my Edinburgh Festival Fringe story has turned out to be pretty popular! ICYMI:
In Seoul, the Korean actor Se-ha Ahn “has been embroiled in allegations of being a perpetrator of school violence, prompting the musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder to announce casting changes amid the mounting negative public sentiment toward the performer,” according to a story in the Korea Times. Show Note, the Korean producer of the Tony-winning musical, has replaced Ahn “until the related matters are fully clarified,” the story says. “The school bullying allegations against Ahn surfaced online … after a social media post accused Ahn of being a member of a notorious gang in high school and that he threatened the poster.”
The actor Joachim Benoit has played Zazu in the Hamburg production of The Lion King (Der König der Löwen) since it opened in 2001, and recently celebrated his 8,500th performance in role. In an interview in the German-language publication Gala, Benoit discusses his history with the role, the show’s enduring appeal, and how the production has changed over the years, particularly in his character’s signature comedy sequences. “[B]ecause I was the first actor to take on the role in a non-English version … [I] was able to shape it,” he says (via Google Translate). “Some things, especially comedy, don’t work in direct translation. The team recognized that I have a knack for improvisation and comedy, and I was able to bring in my own ideas. I shaped the German version of Zazu significantly.”
NEW SPOTLIGHT STORIES INCOMING
Lots of fun stuff on deck for Jaques Year 2! In October, SPOTLIGHT STORIES will return and paid subscriptions will resume for both monthly and annual subscribers.
For the moment, however, those SPOTLIGHT STORIES (like this popular deep-dive into all the ways that Disney, the world’s biggest and busiest theater producer, is shifting the model and making international more important than ever) are still on hiatus, so paid subscriptions remain paused. That means that billing cycles are currently frozen for monthly and annual subscribers.
In the meantime, these ABROAD/WAY BULLETPOINTS will continue to land in your inbox every other week. See you in a fortnight.
Another great round-up of theater news from around the world — thank you Gordon!