How do the show Themes translate elsewhere?

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Fishcake
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How do the show Themes translate elsewhere?

Post by Fishcake »

I was just wondering, how does the show translate in countries around the world? It seems a very 'English' show with British themes. People from all over the world obviously love the show, just wondered if everyone gets it if you know what I mean.
kport
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Re: How do the show Themes translate elsewhere?

Post by kport »

Fishcake wrote:I was just wondering, how does the show translate in countries around the world? It seems a very 'English' show with British themes. People from all over the world obviously love the show, just wondered if everyone gets it if you know what I mean.
I think that I can safely state that the themes translated well on the American tour. It was enlightening to observe well dressed, clearly comfortable theatre patrons read the boards explaining the background to the miner's strike - a world far removed from theirs.

Then again, Americans tend to approve of 'things British'. Which is a fine thing!

In many parts of America, the term 'socialism' causes great angst; yet I never heard anyone express such feelings when Mrs Wilkinson told the Ballet Girls - 'Marching forward to socialism!'.

Having said that, I think the film and the musical would not have met such a willing audience had they been produced nearer the date of the strike: say, 1987, when Thatcher and Reagan were still in office, and unions and socialism had been replaced by an era of rapacious greed and 'Loadsamoney' that even Labour embraced.

This....this is Blair's 2014 Christmas card. He created 'New Labour' that entirely dominated the 1990s. A decade that abandoned trade unions and the working man (and woman).

http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/i/newscms/2 ... ead319.jpg

Does it speak of a man comfortable with his legacy?

No. It speaks absolute volumes about the man and the times.........................Only a period like that could give rise to 'New Labour' - a purported Left that entirely jettisoned the unions and the working person. It took the events of 1984 to their (un)natural conclusions. The year 2000 was the year when people began to wake up to the decade that had just finished. It was ripe for Lee Hall's story, and Stephen Daldry's film. The events of 2008 simply brought everyone into the same equation. Hence, BETM rang true to many - if not most - American patrons. Even those with money.

Had he been a real person today, I predict that Jackie Elliot would have entirely abandoned Labour, and would be a stonking supporter of UKIP.

I digress.........

Back to your question: this story translates anywhere, because it is that of a lad trying to be what he wants to be against the odds. And that, at the end of the day, is the story of everyone....................the theme goes right back to Dickens, Twain and Horatio Alger Jr. Politics are merely the backdrop to a universal - and an eternal - story.

And George W and Barbara Bush enjoyed seeing it ..... and meeting the cast .... twice. Tony Blair....not so much. Perhaps he should make the effort. He might smile more naturally.
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ERinVA
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Re: How do the show Themes translate elsewhere?

Post by ERinVA »

"Elsewhere," however, is not just America... 8-)

If you look at all the places besides the UK and the US that BETM has played, is playing, or is slated to play, I would think it's pretty obvious that there is something about the story that translates from culture to culture and location to location, and that is not in the dialect or the details of the UK miners' strike, but in the heart of what it means to be a kid trying to overcome trying circumstances in order to realize his dream.
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kport
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Re: How do the show Themes translate elsewhere?

Post by kport »

ERinVA wrote:"Elsewhere," however, is not just America... 8-)

If you look at all the places besides the UK and the US that BETM has played, is playing, or is slated to play, I would think it's pretty obvious that there is something about the story that translates from culture to culture and location to location, and that is not in the dialect or the details of the UK miners' strike, but in the heart of what it means to be a kid trying to overcome trying circumstances in order to realize his dream.
Did not my highlighted penultimate paragraph not make that point? If not; my apologies.
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ERinVA
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Re: How do the show Themes translate elsewhere?

Post by ERinVA »

It's true that the authors you mentioned deal with universal themes that can be related to BETM. But since Dickens is British, and Twain and Algier are American, and your final paragraph deals with an American President and a British Prime Minister, that's why I had the impression that you were focused on just those two countries.
Ellen



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Re: How do the show Themes translate elsewhere?

Post by Steamboy »

I'm reminded of hearing about how Japanese audiences loved 'Fiddler on the Roof', but couldn't understand why Americans liked the show...

The saying that I think sums it up best is that we best find the universal in the specific, rather than trying to find the specific in the universal. BETM is very specific in its setting and action, so the audience can focus on how Billy's story might be similar to their own, even if they didn't start dancing while growing up in a mid-80's coal town. If it had been a watered-down, non-specific, bland 'anywhere, anytime' setting, an audience would spend more time thinking about how their lives differ from his, instead of thinking about how they might have dreamed their own dreams.

It helps that the show doesn't just focus on Billy's journey. While he's following the tried-and-true rise/setback/return arc, Jackie is undergoing his own transformation, and we also have the counterpoint declining arc of the miner's strike. All three are interesting stories, and all three have their own courses affected in some part by the other two. Great music and wonderful choreography doesn't hurt, either!
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