‘Golfus de Roma’ reinvigorates the musical in Catalan

The Teatre Condal has celebrated this Saturday the 200 performances of the version of the musical ‘Golfus de Roma’ produced by Focus since its premiere in Mérida. And he has done it with the entry of the 100,000th spectator who has been honored in a special function. Dani Anglès, director of this acclaimed version and of the Condal, rang the bell when a woman who went with two friends passed by the photo booth set up next to the theater bar for the occasion. Laia Figueras, A versatile 31-year-old publicist, she was the 100,000th lucky viewer and received as award a subscription to attend all the theaters of the Grup Focus in 2023 -Condal, Romea Romea, La Villarroel and La Latina, from Madrid- and a one-year subscription to El Periódico.

What Laia did not know is that, in addition, she would have the privilege of acting in the first number of the show. The clowns took her backstage and she came out on stage transformed into one more of the ‘troupe’. With a red nose and wig, he demonstrated his acting skills parading through the public making a shaker sound together with the rest of the company, before being led to her seat to enjoy the 9:00 p.m. show, which began with a slight delay.

reclaimed land

The staging of Stephen Sondheim’s work ‘Golfus of Rome’staged by Daniel Anglès starring 26 performers and musicians recovers a ground that had been lost: that of great musical in catalan. In recent years adaptations of famous titles are usually released in Spanish. This is what happened with ‘La cage de las locas’, premiered in 2018 and which returns to Tivoli in February and ‘Cantando bajo la lluvia’, the show with the most viewers last season and currently in Madrid, both produced by the Catalan company Nosotromo Live .

‘Golfus de Roma’, produced by Grup Focus, premiered in Spanish at the Mérida Classic Theater Festival -where it filled two weeks- and had a season at the Teatro La Latina in Madrid. Launching it in Catalan in Barcelona has meant a great investment. “The cost of the production is 1.1 million euros. It is a great bet for Focus”, highlighted César Martínez, director of Art and contents of the Grup Focus at the presentation of the production in Barcelona. Changing languages ​​means making a new translation, new essays and sometimes requires change castespecially if it is from Spanish to Catalan, as in the case of ‘Golfus de Roma’.

“In Barcelona we are somewhat self-conscious when it comes to putting on great shows of these characteristics. Here, unlike Madrid, it seems that we need to have a cultural patina behind us. We need to believe more in what we have because there is a lot of talent,” says Anglès, who Despite having job offers in Madrid, he is committed to playing at home. “I am a fan of Barcelona, ​​I believe a lot in its potential.”

More musicals in Madrid

But many Catalan artists have settled in Madrid, where there are more musicals, more series filming, more work, in short. There are more theaters there and new spaces continue to open. The trend in Barcelona is not the same, although this season the Cúpula de Las Arenas has been recovered with ‘Cruz de Navajas’, the musical inspired by Mecano’s songs. There are two more large-format musicals currently on the bill, both in Spanish: ‘Grease’ at the Tívoli and ‘Pretty Woman’, at the Condal.

Beyond ‘Golfus of Rome’, the Another recently released musical in Catalan is ‘Pares normals’an original creation of medium format arose from the alliance between the producer Absolute Minority together with the pop-rock group Els Amics de les Arts and the author Marc Artigau, directed by the wise Sergi Belbel. A super team defends this vibrant and tender production at the Poliorama with Enric Cambray as the protagonist along with Annabel Totusaus, Albert Pérez, Júlia Bonjoch and Lucía Torres and a versatile choir that interprets different characters. Nine performers and a band of four musicians defend this production.

original creations

Anna Rosa Cisquella, from Dagoll Dagom, a historic musical theater company in Catalonia, is also preparing the premiere of a new musical ‘L’ alegria que passa’, inspired by a piece by Santiago Rusiñol. It will be released in the spring. She, who has also staged the family musical ‘By, by monstre’, currently on the bill, believes that there should be more musicals in Catalan. “Absolute minority has gotten wet with ‘Pares normales’, but the last thing that has been done here lately are franchise musicals and in Spanish”. There are few exceptions like ‘Spamalot’ (2008), ‘Sweeney Todd’ (1995)which was a real phenomenon, and ‘Golfus of Rome’.

“Unfortunately, the growth of the large-format musical audience is very Spanish-speaking. We really have to make a double effort for that viewer to say: “it’s in Catalan but I’ll go see it anyway,” explains Cisquella. That’s what happened, for example, with ‘Mar i Cel’, the longest running musical in Catalonia. the procés’ everything has been polarized. There are people who do not want to go to see shows in Catalan. If we don’t act, within four days no one will do anything in Catalan”. And that means more institutional support, more subsidies.

Controversy on twitter

Although ‘Golfus de Roma’ sales are going well now, it was difficult at first. Despite the good reviews, ‘Golfus’ needed a tweet from the actress Mercè Martínez, one of the interpreters, to make the public react and achieve a ticket that would guarantee its economic viability. “We’ve been doing ‘Golfus de Roma’ for almost a month and I wonder: “Where are all those who complain now because there are no large-format musicals in Catalan?”

Related news

The controversy benefited the production and ‘Golfus’ recovered a good audience and this Saturday reaches 100,000 viewers. “Sometimes people need a push to get out of the house, being in front of the screen all day with Netflix and now with the World Cup it doesn’t help the theater either. What Mercè said seems good to me. little,” says Cisquella.

for the veteran Mario Gas, who premiered ‘Sondheim x Sondheim’ this weekend at the Temporada Alta festival, the important thing is not the language. The director triumphed with ‘Sweeney Todd’ released in Catalan in the Poliorama the 1994-95 season -which years later he would take to Madrid in Spanish- as with ‘Follies’, released in Spanish in 2012 at the Spanish Theater in Madrid. vicky pena who has participated in all his Sondheim productions, comments: “The important thing is to have good material: the story and what the songs explain. Whether you like it, whether it’s successful or not, is something else. The hardest part is going from one language to another because you have the letters and syllables learned in one way and transferring them to another is a drag”.