Rebecca (musical) - Productions

Productions

Vienna

Rebecca had its world premiere at the Raimund Theater in Vienna, in German, in September 2006, "where it played to sold-out houses totaling more than three years". It was directed by Zambello and choreographed by Denni L. Sayers, with production design by Davison, with costumes by Birgit Hutter and lighting by Andrew Voller. The cast starred Wietske van Tongeren as "Ich" ("I"), Uwe Kröger as Maxim and Susan Rigvava-Dumas as Mrs. Danvers.

Variety magazine considered the Vienna production a "dream of a show", adding:

Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay deliver a work every bit as compelling as their hit Elisabeth, the most successful German-language musical of all time, while Francesca Zambello's dazzling, cinematic production offers storytelling at its best, clearly defining the whirlpool of emotions experienced by the three tortured principal characters. ... Kunze's deft lyrics take us deep into the psyches of the never-named heroine (simply called "I"); moody, mercurial Maxim de Winter; obsessive Mrs. Danvers; and even the late Rebecca herself. Levay knows how to write tunes that jam in your head; he delivers the goods with Mrs. Danvers' haunting "Rebecca" and the anthem "The Power of a Woman in Love". ... Designer Peter J. Davison stunningly captures the atmosphere, from heady summer nights on the Riviera to the oppressive decay of Manderley.

Wietske Van Tongeren has all the endearing pipsqueak qualities to make the nameless heroine endearing, expertly conveying the slow transformation from little brown mouse to confident, strong woman. Her performance is marred only by her screechy pop vocal production. ... Kroger has built a substantial career on his pretty-boy looks. As Maxim, they work against him: He seems too young, too fey, too lightweight for such a haunted, world-weary character. His singing, while impassioned, is merely adequate, but he rises to the challenge of confessing his hatred for Rebecca in "No Smile Was Ever as Cold". ... Mrs. Danvers gets the best music, and in Susan Rigvava-Dumas has found a perfect interpreter. ... With a rich mezzo-soprano as her weapon, she embodies evil born of passion and jealousy in a multi-layered turn.

Reviewing the Vienna production on a night when an understudy was playing the protagonist "I", the critic of The Times, Benedict Nightingale, praised the fidelity of the plot to du Maurier's original and rated the staging "up to the most lavish West End visual standards. ... Only the shipwreck that leads to the discovery of Rebecca's body disappoints – and only a gallumphingly Wodehousean golfing number (Wir Sind Britisch) needs excising." Nightingale judged the ending of the musical "forgivably ... a bit more upbeat than the novel's." He found the dancing dull and the music "seldom harsh or imaginative enough" despite "a terrific central song, a soaring, grieving tribute" to Rebecca by "Susan Rigvava Dumas's mesmeric Danvers." He said of Kröger's Max, "though white-hot at moments of crisis, hasn't quite the mix of brooding inwardness and outer sang froid the character needs."

Japan and Europe

Rebecca was then produced at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo, opening on April 6, 2008.

The musical was performed in Helsinki, Finland, at the Helsingin kaupunginteatteri from August 28, 2008 to May 9, 2009. Rebecca played in Budapest, Hungary, on 18 and 19 March 2010. Productions have also played in Stuttgart, Germany; St. Gallen, Switzerland; and Bucharest, Romania.

2009 West End readings

In 2009, Ben Sprecher co-produced two English-language readings of Rebecca, hoping to mount a London West End production. The first London workshop in May 2009 featured Lisa O'Hare as "I", Julian Ovenden as Maxim and Anna Francolini. In October 2009, a second reading featured Sierra Boggess as "I", Brent Barrett as Maxim and Susan Rigvava Dumas as Mrs. Danvers. The English-language book was written by Christopher Hampton in collaboration with Kunze.

U.S. reading and cancelled Broadway production

A reading took place on March 18, 2011 in New York, directed by Michael Blakemore and Francesca Zambello. The cast featured Boggess as "I", Hugh Panaro as Maxim, Carolee Carmello as Mrs. Danvers and James Stacy Barbour as Jack Favell. A Broadway production of the musical was announced twice during 2012, to be co-directed by Blakemore and Zambello. However, the producers cancelled both times after financing for the production fell through, even though there were $1 million in advance ticket sales. In October 2012, The New York Times reported that four of the "investors" in the proposed Broadway production never existed. Following criminal investigations by the FBI and federal prosecutors in Manhattan, the middleman who fabricated the fictitious investors, and received $60,000 in fees, was arrested and charged with fraud. In January 2013, producer Ben Sprecher told an interviewer that he hopes to mount the show on Broadway later in 2013.