Cristina Hodgson
SPANISH Film Star Antonio Banderas is taking part in the production of a Spanish-language version of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s hit musical ‘The Phantom of the Opera.’
Lloyd Webber and Banderas teamed up a while ago with the aim of producing theater, musicals and live entertainment shows for Spanish-speaking markets via their new company ‘Amigos Para Siempre’ (friends forever).
Auditions for the Spanish cast are currently taking place in the Teatro Pavón in Madrid, and were attended yesterday, Tuesday March 21, by Banderas himself who said that the musical will be a ‘new show, not a reduction of the original work.’
“There is a more gothic part than in the original, although the entire musical is respected, it is more versatile,” Banderas added, explaining that in Madrid and in some Latin American countries the theaters are not as big as in London or Broadway in New York .
The Spanish version of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by the British Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe, is expected to premiere on October 4, at the UMusic Hotel Teatro Albéniz in Madrid.
In addition to The Phantom of the Opera, Spanish-language versions of Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, Starlight Express, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cinderella, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and School of Rock are planned.
Amigos Para Siempre, or ‘friends forever,’ takes its name from Webber’s song for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics, which Sarah Brightman and José Carreras performed at the closing ceremony.
READ MORE:
- Spain’s Antonio Banderas seeks to launch musical in English about Malaga-born artist Pablo Picasso
- SHOWSTOPPER: Antonio Banderas and Lloyd Webber to promote musical theatre in Spanish
