FOUND IN TRANSLATION

Musical theater translators, working in five languages across three continents, reveal their trials, tricks and tools of the trade

Atelier de Cultura’s 2023 non-replica production of Wicked in São Paolo, with Brazilian Portuguese translations by Victor Mülethaler. Photo: João Caldas Fo.

When Stephen Sondheim called his first book about writing lyrics Finishing the Hat, it was a direct reference to one of his own songs in Sunday in the Park With George. But it also referred, of course, to the subject of that song: the complicated, arduous, occasionally thrilling, often agonizing process of making a work of art — be it a song lyric, a book scene, or a pointillist depiction of a hat.

It’s an entirely different but equally complicated, arduous, occasionally thrilling, and often agonizing process to take those carefully constructed English-language lyrics and hammer the same meaning, comedy, rhythms and rhymes into an entirely different language.

“Translation is a real craft,” says Simone Linhof, the Creative Producer at Stage Entertainment who oversees the company’s German-language musical theater translations. “And an invisible craft, because of course the best ones are the ones where you don’t feel like you hear a translation.”

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Not only do translators have to solve all the puzzles presented by the musical itself, they also have to explain their creative process to the original rights holders — the authors, or their agents or licensors — in a heavily footnoted “back translation” that tries to convey all the linguistically specific puns, subtext and cultural nuance they’re drawing on.

The more I heard about the challenges of translation, the more I wanted to know. So I spoke with Linhof and five of the world’s premiere theater translators for what amounts to a master class on the art and craft of translation.

In this SPOTLIGHT STORY, I’ll highlight:

• the inspiration and perspiration behind reimagining the world’s biggest global theater hits for local languages;

• the toughest nuts these translators have had to crack;

• when it makes sense to stick with the original English;

• how rights holders weigh in; and

• why Ursula the sea witch sings like a drag queen in Brazilian Portuguese.

Let’s get started on that hat.

MEET OUR PANELISTS

SOOVIN KIM
A South Korean writer with a background in film and TV directing, Kim’s Korean translations include Sweeney Todd, Matilda, Spamalot, Beetlejuice, Newsies, and Aladdin. She’s also at work on original material for new projects including Mac x Beth, Frank Wildhorn’s musical based on Macbeth.

SIMONE LINHOF
Based in Hamburg, Stage Entertainment’s Creative Producer oversees Stage’s German-language translations for shows including Hercules, Hamilton, & Juliet, Tina, Frozen, and The Lion King.

VICTOR MÜHLETHALER
A Brazilian writer and director now based in L.A., Mühlethaler’s translations in Brazilian Portuguese include Wicked, The Little Mermaid, Hairspray, Matilda, Billy Elliot, and Sunset Boulevard.

ZENÓN RECALDE
Recalde is a former performer turned writer-director who is currently the resident director of Madrid’s long-running production of The Lion King. Among his Spanish translations are High School Musical, Anastasia, School of Rock, The Play That Goes Wrong, and the upcoming Murder for Two, which he’ll also direct.

KEVIN SCHROEDER
A former dancer and actor who got his start in Hamburg, Schroeder now translates musicals into German while also penning his own original works for the theater. Among the titles he’s translated are Disney’s new Hercules, Hamilton, Frozen, Shrek, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and Chicago.

NAO SUZUKI
A former actor, Suzuki is a Japanese interpreter who’s worked with visiting theater artists including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alan Menken, Baz Luhrmann, John Tiffany, and Wildhorn. She’s also done Japanese-language translations for performance scripts and supertitles, and contributed to early-draft, rough translations and back translations.

HOW THEY DO WHAT THEY DO