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OneWingedBird

Beloved of Ra
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Mods feel free to merge if there's a thread on this already (i'm sure i've seen it but it isn't searching up)

I'm reminded a little of an apocryphal tale i heard about a stage adaptation of the Anne Frank story where the lead actress was so bloody awful that when the nazi's came to visit, an audience menber shouted out "she's in the attic"

This could be bad, even by my standards of bad taste... which go pretty low.

Anne Frank given musical makeover

A controversial new musical telling the life story of Anne Frank opens in Madrid later this month.

The producers call it an educational and sensitive portrayal of Anne's two years in hiding from the Nazis during World War II.

But her only living relative says showbusiness is profiting from the Holocaust.

Anne's cousin Buddy Elias, now 82, has called her a "fun-loving girl with a tremendous imagination".

Watching Anne Frank: A Song to Life, I soon found myself wondering whether the teenage heroine's sense of fun would extend to this much-hyped and occasionally kitsch new show.

Would Anne enjoy seeing herself standing on a revolving stage under neon lights and twinkling stars, with eyes closed and arms outstretched, Titanic-style, while belting out a power ballad about flying like a seagull to freedom?

And would she relish a bizarre fantasy sequence, in which her character peeks in, Cinderella-like, on a gala ball of menacing Nazis in carnival masks?

Ambitious touches

My bet is that this show will be a huge box office draw in Spain.

The audience lapped up the eclectic mix of musical styles - from Latin rhythms to Jewish folk melodies and the guitar rock beloved of Spaniards in the 1980s.

The cast of Anne Frank: A Song to Life perform
The show puts the famous story to music

There are ambitious artistic touches, notably a projected animation of mountains and valleys, which appears behind Anne during a duet with her boyfriend Peter.

The producers have steered completely clear of dance routines, and chosen not to portray the concentration camp where Anne died of typhoid in the early months of 1945.

What will sell this show is its 13-year-old Cuban-born star Isabella Castillo, who shows great maturity and energy in the title role, portraying Anne Frank as sensitive and imaginative, but also as an essentially normal teenage girl.

She gawps at boys, rows with her mother and whispers excitedly to her sister about getting her first period.

The diary, which went on to become a historical treasure and sell 40 million copies, was often referred to by Anne as "Kitty". Here, Kitty is given a human face, in the form of an on-stage alter-ego played Basque actress Patricia Arizmendi.

Meanest thug

As a production device, it helps - we witness Anne's private hopes and fears, rants and desires. But again, if Anne Frank were to see this production, she might reasonably ask: "Who dressed Kitty?"

The human diary first appears in a red chiffon dress with a fat sequinned belt and big hair - much like Wonder Woman going to a black-tie event. In the second act, Kitty loses the plot altogether, appearing to confuse herself with Audrey Hepburn.

And then there are the Nazis. Imagine the loudest, meanest, jackbooted thug that you have ever seen in a war film, and then have him sing in a belligerent baritone as he enters from stage-left amid cascades of dry ice and moody blue lighting.

Anne Frank
Anne Frank died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945

It seems a little over-the-top, that is until another Nazi appears together with a German Shepherd.

The thespian canine showed immense composure as, during the Franks' betrayal and arrest, the Kommandant shouted and the strobe-lights flickered fiercely.

The dog eventually started whimpering, as if he instinctively knew he was on the wrong side. As he exited with his handler, the Spanish audience applauded.

Ahead of the production, Buddy Elias, who refused to come to Madrid to see it, said: "Anne and millions of Jews died during the Holocaust - her story wasn't made for a lovely evening at the theatre."

But to the Madrid crowd that stood and applauded this performance, that's exactly what it was.

They loved this production, and so too will many others. But Buddy, who told me he feared the show would be "too kitsch," should probably follow his instincts and stay at home.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7259554.stm
 
It sounds too dreadful for words.

(Says she who hated Anne Frank as a child,)
 
I can see it now. The big production number "She's in the attic!" with dancing Nazis.
 
And we all thought that "Springtime for Hitler" was a joke!
 
Anome_ said:
I can see it now. The big production number "She's in the attic!" with dancing Nazis.

Oh, thank goodness it's not just me. I had exactly the same thought, with the same song, to the tune of "We're in the money".

I'm not sure if it's us who'll be going to hell or the people who made the musical.
 
That said, there was a Neutral Milk Hotel concept album about Anne Frank which is cracking.
 
Not a musical but rather inappropriate.

A company has withdrawn an “Anne Frank Halloween costume” after complaints from prominent figures in the Jewish community.

HalloweenCostumes.com said it apologised for any offence caused.

Other outlets are selling the same product, which includes a dress, a beret, a shoulder bag and a “destination tag”, but market it as a “child World War Two evacuee costume”.

Pictures of the “Anne Frank” costume circulated on social media, and were met with anger by representatives of UK Jewish charities.

.JPG


“Why would anyone want to ‘dress up’ as Anne Frank, a young girl murdered by the Nazis, for Halloween,” said Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET). ...

https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/company-says-sorry-over-anne-frank-costume-for-halloween-1.446022
 
I’ve long described anything catastrophically shit as “About as much use as Anne Frank’s drum kit.”

Yes, l probably am going to Hell.

maximus otter
 
Not a musical but rather inappropriate.

A company has withdrawn an “Anne Frank Halloween costume” after complaints from prominent figures in the Jewish community.

HalloweenCostumes.com said it apologised for any offence caused.

Other outlets are selling the same product, which includes a dress, a beret, a shoulder bag and a “destination tag”, but market it as a “child World War Two evacuee costume”.

Pictures of the “Anne Frank” costume circulated on social media, and were met with anger by representatives of UK Jewish charities.

.JPG


“Why would anyone want to ‘dress up’ as Anne Frank, a young girl murdered by the Nazis, for Halloween,” said Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET). ...

https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/company-says-sorry-over-anne-frank-costume-for-halloween-1.446022

Surely shome mishtake. An Anne Frank costume wouldn't feature a 'destination tag', it'd have a yellow star, while the 'child World War Two evacuee costume' description is spot-on.
 
Anne Frank in the news again.

Italian police say they have opened an investigation after Lazio supporters posted stickers of Holocaust victim Anne Frank wearing the jersey of rivals Roma alongside anti-Semitic slogans.

The material was found in an area of Rome's Olympic Stadium occupied by hard-core Lazio fans known as "ultras".

Italian President Sergio Mattarella has called the case "alarming".

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41735534#
 
Some Anne frank secrets emerge.

Two new pages from Anne Frank's diary have been published, containing a handful of dirty jokes and her thoughts on sex.

The young Jewish teen's diary, written in hiding from the Nazis, became world-famous when published after her death and at the end of the war.

The hidden pages had been covered with gummed brown paper - apparently to hide her risqué writing from her family.

New imaging techniques have finally allowed researchers to read them.

The entries were written on 28 September 1942, not long after the 13-year-old Anne went into hiding.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44133453
 
As we know, teenagers think about sex and general smut a lot! For a kid of that age to write about sex is natural. I've always suspected there was more to the Diary than what we shown, as she'd obviously been honest about everything else.

As a teenager we were given Anne Frank to read alongside Priska, or, The Story of a Finnish Girl by Merja Otava. Priska is about the same age. The idea was to compare the two girls' emotional development.

Frank discusses falling in love with her fellow teenage fugitive and Priska describes similar events, mentioning that when she and a female classmate had to share a bed she suggested they feel each other's breasts to prove their friendship. The other girl refuses but they are still friends. All very, er, frank. As diaries are supposed to be.
 
... an apocryphal tale I heard about a stage adaptation of the Anne Frank story, where the lead actress was so bloody awful that when the Nazis came to visit, an audience member shouted out "she's in the attic"

Without Googling (which is just lazy of me, since this was posted 15 years ago, but hey, I've only just seen this thread), I seem to recall that the actress in question was Pia Zadora.

It's very hard not to find dark humour in almost any tragedy, and there's that tiny part of my brain which, even now, is trying to think up song titles for Anne Frank the musical...
 
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