Following 12 hugely successful foreign language productions,
critically acclaimed musical ‘Rebecca’ by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay
is to get its English language premiere in a new production
at London’s Charing Cross Theatre
in an English translation by Christopher Hampton
The hugely successful musical production by the Austrian musical producer VBW (Vereinigte Bühnen Wien) based on Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 novel ‘Rebecca’ that has captivated more than 2 million people worldwide in 12 countries and 10 languages is to get its English language premiere in a new production at London’s Charing Cross Theatre.
‘Rebecca’, by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay, two of the most successful German-language musical theatre composers, had its world premiere at the VBW-theatre Raimund Theater in Vienna, Austria, in September 2006, where it went on to play to sold-out houses in three seasons, and where it is currently enjoying a successful revival.
Rebecca will run at Charing Cross Theatre from 4 September – 18 November, 2023.
Rebecca, with an orchestra of 18, will be directed by Alejandro Bonatto (director of the critically acclaimed production of Donizetti’s ‘Rita’ and the upcoming production of Francis Poulanc and Jean Cocteau’s ‘The Human Voice’ at Charing Cross Theatre later this month).
It has a new English translation by Christopher Hampton (two-time Tony Award winner Best Score & Best Book for ‘Sunset Boulevard’ and Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ & ‘The Father’) and Michael Kunze.
Cast to be announced.
Michael Kunze
(Original Book and Lyrics & English Lyrics)
Michael Kunze is a lyricist and librettist of the musical theatre. His hit shows ‘Elisabeth’, ‘Dance of the Vampires’, ‘Mozart!’, ‘Marie Antoinette’, and ‘Rebecca’ have reached an audience of more than 22 million people worldwide. Box office gross of his works has passed the one billion mark. As a lyricist he has created more than 200 chart songs and was honoured with a Grammy and numerous other international awards. He also created successful TV formats and wrote several non-fiction books on legal history.
Michael was born in Prague and grew up in Munich, where he studied law, history and philosophy. During the 1970s he became one of Germany’s top songwriters and a producer of international hits. At the top of his success Michael left the record business to work for the musical theatre. Initially, he created the German adaptations of international shows such as ‘Evita’, ‘Cats’, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, Disney’s ‘The Lion King’, ‘Mamma Mia!’, ‘Wicked’, and many more.
He has been developing original musicals since the 1990s. Already with his first work ‘Elisabeth’ (music & orchestrations: Sylvester Levay), he advanced to become the internationally most performed German-language playwright. His subsequent works ‘Tanz Der Vampire’ (music: Jim Steinman), ‘Mozart!’, ‘Rebecca’, ‘Lady Bess’ and ‘Marie Antoinette’ (all set to music by Sylvester Levay) also became international successes. He is considered the creator of a new genre of musical theatre, the DramaMusical. As the first German-speaking librettist one of his shows reached Broadway (‘Dance of the Vampires’). His pop oratorios ‘The Ten Commandments’ and ‘Luther’ (music: Dieter Falk), both featuring 2,000 performers, toured through Germany and sold out huge arenas. Michael Kunze’s and Sylvester Levay’s latest work, ‘Beethoven’s Secret’, tells the story of Beethoven’s immortal love with a score based on Beethoven’s original music.
His musicals have been and are being performed in Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Budapest, Moscow, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. In addition to musical librettos he has written plays, political cabaret texts and an opera libretto about the Hungarian saviour of Jews, Raoul Wallenberg (‘Raoul’. Music by Gershon Kingsley). In addition, Michael Kunze is the author of treatises and books of legal history. The Göttingen Academy of Sciences honoured him for his scientific achievements with the Brothers Grimm Medal. Currently he is working on a non-fiction book on legal history, titled ‘The Invisible Law’.
Michael Kunze is a member of the US Dramatists Guild, Inc.
Sylvester Levay
(Music, Orchestrations and Choir Arrangements)
Sylvester Levay was born in Maria Theresiopolis (Subotica) and is of Hungarian descent. His mother was a music teacher and his father was a journalist and novelist. Sylvester studied composition, piano, and clarinet. At the age of fifteen he won his first composition competition. He left his hometown in 1962 to become a professional musician. He toured through Europe for ten years as a member of different orchestras, until he settled in Munich 1972.
Working as a keyboard player, arranger, composer and a conductor in recording studios, he met Michael Kunze in the mid-seventies. Together they wrote and produced world hits like ‘Fly Robin Fly’, ‘Get up and Boogie’- Silver Convention, ‘Lady Bump’ – Penny McLean and various other records. For ‘Fly Robin Fly’, Levay and Kunze received a Grammy Award.
Between 1977 and 1980 he wrote and produced songs for Elton John, Donna Summer, Herbie Mann and Sister Sledge. Sylvester composed, orchestrated and conducted all his works by himself. He plays different instruments such as piano, organ, saxophone, clarinet, and flute.
In the 1980’s Sylvester lived in Los Angeles where he worked as a film composer for Hollywood studios. He collaborated with Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, George Lucas, Sylvester Stallone, Whoopie Goldberg, Peter O´Toole and Steven Spielberg. He composed music for Films such as ‘Cobra’ with – Sylvester Stallone, ‘Hot Shots’ – with Charlie Sheen, ’Burglar’ – with Whoopie Goldberg, ‘Touch and Go’ – with Michael Keaton, ‘Creator’ – with Peter O’ Toole, ‘Flashdance’ – with Jennifer Beals, and many more. During that time Sylvester has created the music for more than 100 American feature and television movies. He is a member of the National Academy of Recording Art & Sciences (NARAS) and the Academy of Television Art & Sciences (ATAS). He also held lectures on film composition at the American Universities UCLA and USC.
Starting from the 90’s Sylvester Levay dedicated himself to the world of musical theatre. Together with Michael Kunze he created the musical ‘Witches, Witches’ in 1991. In 1992 they presented their second musical production ‘Elisabeth’ in the Viennese Theater an der Wien. ‘Elisabeth’ has been performed ever since in countries such as Japan, South Korea, The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, China, Lithuania and Czech Republic. The show has become the most successful German-language musical of all time. In 2022, Takarazuka Revue Company has been celebrating the 26th Anniversary of ‘Elisabeth’.
Kunze & Levay’s third musical, ‘Mozart!’, premiered in 1999. With the drama-musical ‘Rebecca’ Sylvester continued the successful collaboration with Michael Kunze. It opened in Vienna in 2006. Their work ‘Marie Antoinette’ had its world premiere in November 2007 in Tokyo/Japan; a German production opened in early 2009. Michael and Sylvester’s latest show, ‘Lady Bess’, opened in April 2014 in Tokyo, and in St. Gallen – Switzerland in February 2022.
Sylvester Levay has composed the music in collaboration with the Japanese Writer – Director Koichi Ogita, for the musical ;Crest of the Royal Family’, based on the successful Manga story which had have its world premiere in Toho’s Imperial Theater in Tokyo in August 2016. The latest work of Kunze/Levay is the musical ‘Beethoven’.
Sylvester’s wife, Monika, is a well-known historian about the Austrian Empress ‘Elisabeth’, and she is also a successful horse breeder. They live in the countryside near Munich and in Vienna. Daughter Alice has successfully assisted her father in the productions of ‘Marie Antoinette’ in Bremen, Tecklenburg/Germany and Seoul/South Korea. She was also involved in Toho’s production ‘Crest of the Royal Family’.Son Sylvester junior is engaged in film productions in Austria and Germany.
Christopher Hampton
(English Book Adaptation & English Lyrics)
Christopher Hampton wrote his first play, ‘When Dis You Last See My Mother?’ at the age of 18. Since then, his plays have included ‘The Philanthropist’, ‘Savages’, ‘Tales from Hollywood’, ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’, ‘White Chameleon’, ‘The Talking Cure’, ‘Appomattox’, ‘All About Eve’, ‘A German Life’, ‘Visit From An Unknown Woman’. He has written the libretti for three Philip Glass operas and co-written three musicals including ‘Sunset Boulevard’. He has translated plays by Ibsen, Molière, von Horváth, Chekhov, Yasmina Reza (including ‘Art’ and ‘God of Carnage’), Daniel Kehlmann (‘The Mentor’, ‘Christmas Eve’) and Florian Zeller (‘The Son’, ‘The Father’, ‘The Mother’, ‘The Truth’, ‘The Lie’ ‘The Height of The Storm’ and ‘The Forest’). His plays, musicals and translations have so far garnered four Tony Awards, three Olivier Awards, five Evening Standard Awards and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. Hampton’s many screenplays include ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, ‘Total Eclipse’, ‘The Quiet American’, ‘Atonement’, ‘Chéri’ and ‘A Dangerous Method’. He both wrote and directed ‘Carrington’, ‘The Secret Agent’ and ‘Imagining Argentina’. His television work includes adaptations of ‘The History Man’, ‘Hôtel Du Lac’, ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ and ‘The Singapore Grip’. Prizes for his film and television work include two Oscars, three BAFTAs, a Writers’ Guild of America Award, the Prix Italia, a Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Hollywood Screenwriter of the Year, and The Collateral Award at the Venice Film Festival for Best Literary Adaptation. In 2021 his screenplay of ‘The Father’, co-written with Florian Zeller won a BAFTA and Oscar for Best Screenplay.
Alejandro Bonatto
(Director)
Born in Argentina, Alejandro started his music studies at the National Conservatoire as a pianist at an early age. He later pursued studies in composition and, in 2003, completed a degree in Opera Direction with an honours diploma for best student performance. He was subsequently selected by Goethe Institute Berlin and Deutsche Oper for a scholarship in Germany. In 2014 he earned a Master’s Degree at Kingston University.
Based in London since 2006, Alejandro was Assistant Director and Associate Director for Graham Vick from 2006 to 2012. He has collaborated with other directors including Gilbert Deflo and Elijah Mojhinsky as a well as directing his own productions. Alejandro has worked at major European opera houses including Teatro Real, Madrid; Royal Opera House, London; Sao Carlos, Lisbon; Opera Bastille, Paris; Teatro Reggio, Torino; Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; Greek National Opera and many opera festivals. He won the Teatro Colon, Opera de Camara Competition in 2008 for a concept for ‘La voix Humaine’.
As a composer he created the soundtrack for feature films (‘El silencio de los objetos’ 2015; ‘Behind the Mask’ 2017; 7 Minutes 2020), as well as incidental music for theatre and contemporary dance pieces.
His chamber opera, ’La casa de Max’, won a mention at the international contest TRINAC and subsequently was staged and directed by himself in Berlin in 2022.
Steven M. Levy for Charing Cross Theatre
Productions Limited presents
The UK premiere of
REBECCA
A musical by Michael Kunze & Sylvester Levay
Based on the Novel by Daphne du Maurier
Original Book and Lyrics: Michael Kunze
Music and Orchestrations: Sylvester Levay
English Book Adaptation by Christopher Hampton
English Lyrics by Christopher Hampton
and Michael Kunze
Directed by Alejandro Bonatto
Charing Cross Theatre
The Arches
Villiers Street
London WC2N 6NL
www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk
Box office: 08444 930650
The box office is open from 2 hours before curtain time
on performance days for personal callers
4 September to 18 November, 2023
Performances:
Tuesday – Saturday at 7.30pm
Wednesday at 2.30pm
Saturday & Sunday at 3.00pm
no performances Tuesday 5 September & Tuesday 12 September
no Wednesday matinees on 6 October & 12 October
Tickets from £25.00
Upgrade your ticket to include a glass of bubbly and a programme for just £7.50
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Original Production by Vereinigte Bühnen Wien
Worldwide Stage Rights: VBW International GmbH, Linke Wienzeile 6, 1060 Vienna, Austria
[email protected] / www.vbw-international.at
