“Kinky Boots”, “School of Rock”, “Rent”, “American Idiot”, “Forever Young”, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”, “Fiddler on the Roof”, “Smiley” and the list goes on. What do all these musicals have in common? They were starred by Germán Tripel, master of the raspy voice, tamer of challenges that demand vocal power, rocker grit and pop ease. He knows how to be victorious because the man survived being “Gut” from Mambrú and that is no small thing.
They say that Germán, Flor Otero and their daughter Nina are our “Royal Family of Argentine Musicals” and I could not deny such a statement even though Tripa is also a great comedian, host and batonero. Check it once again with “Gutenberg” a musical as fun as it is unforgettable. A play made on Broadway that shakes Paseo La Plaza every Tuesday with its perfect mix of corrosive humor and lethal irony.
News: Let’s start with the name, is your name Germán Alfredo? From your expression I think I got into a complicated topic, don’t worry, my middle name is Dina
German “Tripa” Tripel: But the difference is that Dina is cute! (laughs) My name is Alfredo by middle name and I should ask my parents why. I don’t understand that tradition, all the genealogical branches of my family have one or more Alfredos, “Why so much evil?” Silvio Soldán would say (laughs) Alfredo is an ugly name, that is, with love to all the Alfredos, but it is an old name, there are no Alfredos anymore.
News: We’ve just started and this interview already seems like a scene from “Gutenberg”, the hilarious musical he is making with Santiago Otero Ramos. As Susana Roccasalvo would say, sell the show!
Tripel: Yes, we are doing “Gutenberg”, a Broadway musical, with Santiago Otero Ramos, who is my brother-in-law, partner, friend and musician, on Tuesdays at the Sala Picasso on Paseo de la Plaza. It is a work that goes very well with these times because it urgently needs a budget… like everything in Argentina. These poor guys are looking for a producer to make a musical about Gutenberg, the creator of the printing press, and let’s just say it doesn’t sound exciting or very sellable, right? (laughs) It’s one of those musicals that I like, irreverent. And on top of that, at the right time, without money and shameless…
News: Have you ever had to try to convince producers to do a project that doesn’t look like it will be a hit?
Tripel: Better yet, who doesn’t? And that’s what happens to these people, the poor guys find a work about a German printer very interesting. Seriously speaking, I believe that today there is a reality, self-management is almost more present than production, it seems to me that these characters come a little to expose that and how difficult it is to attract producers to make a musical. There is something that is seen in the play that is meant as a joke but it is serious, sometimes you say: “I have a fantastic idea” and the producers say no, but then they make a production called “Four Tails and a Funeral” (laughs).
News: Is it true that you went to a German school and sang in the choir as a child?
Tripel: Yes it’s true. Furthermore, my mother worked at Kinderheim, which was like a children’s home, and I sang in the choir because I accompanied her to work, then I continued singing in primary and secondary school, but never professionally until Mambrú. I graduated from school 28 years ago and I never spoke German again! I remember very little of the language, I was always more of an English person, that’s when I dedicated myself to studying it.
News: Did knowing English help you face so many international musicals?
Tripel: Yes, English was beautiful to me, in fact, when we went to Broadway to study with Go Broadway, I felt great because I thought: “Oh, I’m a real Yankee” (laughs), until I realized that I thought I was a champion, but for them I spoke bad English, I was an Argento outlining words in English.
News: He mentions that he went to study on Broadway, something that the young actors in the musical see as an aspiration. Do you feel that going abroad validates you?
Tripel: Look, there are excellent teachers and professionals here, but we have that mentality, see? If you work outside and you only do a little bit well, it seems that when you come back you are God. People say, “Oh, how well he sings!” Yes, I already sang here, hey! He doesn’t sing better because he left and now he’s back. There is a bit of ignoring what we have next to us, national cinema, national artists, national music…
News: I remembered that musical that was ironically called “We Can’t Do It Here”, you built an enviable career, but you opted for musical theater when it was not as popular as it is today, was it difficult?
Tripel: Yes, years ago it seemed that the musical was always the ugly cousin. Also, I think there was a kind of competition like the one that existed between pop and rock, that thing that happened when we were kids about whether you were from Queen or Kiss. The same thing happened here, the text actors said that those in the musical didn’t know how to act because perhaps some of them sang well although they didn’t act or dance superlatively. But be careful, those questioning actors in musicals couldn’t sing or dance on stage either, they didn’t prepare for that, they chose to stick with what they knew how to do. Today that has changed, many choose a broader and more difficult training, the artists are more prepared, it seems to me that now people are beginning to appreciate it. I tell you more, for me life is a little like musical theater, when the text ends the song begins. I believe that for everything that happens to us we have a soundtrack, we go out for a run and play “Rocky” music…
News: You precisely sing “Eye of the tiger” in the work “Rocky”. How was that created?
Tripel: That’s right, I get along really well with Nico Vázquez, we worked together on “My Always Friends” and from there we hit the ground running. He is a great guy as well as a great professional and he came up with the idea, he told me: “Hey, I want you to sing this song”, and well, that’s where I went! It is a pleasure to participate in a work like this with someone who is trying to produce post in this country. Regardless of whether you like the result or not, he is a person who is truly dedicating time and effort.
News: A curiosity, is your daughter called Nina after Nina Simone?
Tripel: A little yes, but there are several Nina. Nina Simone was first in mind, because Flor loves jazz and had always thought it was a beautiful name. Later, just when she got pregnant, the movie “The Black Swan” was in fashion and Natalie Portman’s character was called Nina, there we said: “Look if Nina, in addition to singing, dances?” All the Ninas came together, plus it was short, we liked it. Without a second name so that the same thing doesn’t happen with Alfredo…(we laugh)
News: They say that journalists are a couple among us because no one who dedicates themselves to anything else could understand us. Does something similar happen with musical theater actors?
Tripel: I think it would be impossible for someone who did not dedicate themselves to this. It happens to us in a good way with the parents of our daughter’s classmates at school. Everyone works on a specific schedule, what they instill in you since you were children: get up at 7 in the morning, work, come home at 7 in the afternoon, watch the news, have dinner and go to sleep. What a shame that life! (laughs) Nowadays those concepts have changed, but it is still difficult for people to understand the world of acting, they see a play and they really think that we are those characters. It seems incredible, but that keeps happening. I am Germán, I work as an actor, but my life is something else, off stage is the real person and if there is not a partner who understands that, this job would be much more crazy. Being with a couple contributes a lot, if not you won’t last long as a couple, we are impossible to stand! (laughs) If you’re not familiar, how do you understand the topic of kissing someone on stage? Forget it.
News: It’s almost show time, thank you very much for the interview…
Tripel: Stop, aren’t you going to ask me about Mambrú? Incredible!
News: Gerónimo Rauch complains that they always ask him the “Mambrupregunta”
Tripel: But please, if you have to answer it once a year when you come to Buenos Aires, it’s my turn every day! (laughs).
