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After years of success in numerous countries, the musical 'Fame' has reached Barcelona, putting on stage a Catalan production the story of a group of young performance arts students. The work has received unbeatable critiques, from the public as well as the press. Coco Comin, artistic director and choreographer, is the person in charge of this project along with Ramón Ribalta.Why did you decided to put ´Fame´ in Spain?Sometimes, when one decides to do a musical, it is not a fruit of desire but one of coincidence, and in this case it has been like that. You do not have access to all the musicals you would like to do, due to budget or because they do not grant it to you. 'Fame' was of easy access in the moment in which the rights were requested, and we did not trust that it would work, because it is a musical that has been done for many years and were afraid that it was turning out to be obsolete, but in practice it has turned out that it is not true.
'Un paso adelante' (A Step Forward), 'Operación Triunfo' (Operation Triumph)… Do you think fame and performance is in fashion and that it could have contributed to 'Fame's exit?Absolutely. A new world has been discovered. The normal families that did not know what was a performance art school and the difficulty for a young person to become known or to do it well, which is actually the target, has be seen across the television programmes. 'Fame' is a continuation of this fashion and the opening to a new profession, which is the artistic.
Your 'Fame' is different to the film. And of the original musical?No, it is exactly the same. The script follows accurately, not only here, in Barcelona, but in any city where it should want to exhibit, because we are forced by copyright. That is to say, that we can neither remove nor add nor change anything, there is a control on a global scale so that it is the way it is. But between the film and the musical there are differences, differences that come from factory, so to speak. David de Silva is the creator of 'Fame', but he has surrounded himself with different creative teams for the television series, for the film and for the musical. This means that the three concepts of 'Fame' were also submitted between them to copyright, therefore he did not let some of his ideas be used in other projects.
That is to say, that the performance montage that is seen here is the same that were presented in Broadway for 25 years, but only certain parallelisms are maintained with the film. For example, the characters are all called differently. This at first creates certain confusion, but later little by little you are already being situated in the story.
Speaking of which, David de Silva was recently here and praised your work very much...Yes, we were with him for four days and we acted as a guide and practically living with him day and night. He liked it a lot and gave us important pep talks, like for example that the Catalan production was better than the London one in many aspects and that some cast members exceeded the cast they had currently out of Broadway.
Speaking of the cast, many of the actors from the show had little experience or some had not been in musicals at all. Was the direction difficult?In this musical it was not very difficult to understand the role they were fulfilling because it is the role of their own lives. The fight every day in their schools to obtain the same thing that our characters want to achieve. That is to say, that the whole situation is familiar and very often something just happened to them in the morning what they represent in the evening. The cast selection has been difficult because young people are needed, and young people don´t have any experience. To unite the young people without experience but with talent complicates the situation very much, and it is always necessary to sacrifice some of the disciplines. In this case, the dance has to be very well executed; they have to be very good ballet dancers, because when a person dances badly it is very clear. The same happens with the songs. The songs of 'Fame' are very difficult and it has taken a lot of effort to find people with ample qualifications. That's why, in this case, perhaps the interpretation has sacrificed itself more.
To what point is this lack important?The script of 'Fame' is a weak script, that is to say, dramatic scenes are shown to situate the spectator, but it is not a work of text with a specific gravity. That's why it has not been serious. At once we had results working with the kids, but they are not actors with an acting formation, for the moment, although they are fighting for it. All of them have hours and hours of class above this and keep on doing it during the day.
You have a very wide trajectory and have worked on many projects. Are you satisfied by the final result of this one?Yes, I am satisfied. I think that it is a well finished and rigorous product. We haven´t had much funding in Spain as we have had in other countries, and with our possibilities we have reached an international level, for what the Americans have said who have come to control us. I am satisfied with the cast and, especially, of the public, because we are having an unthinkable public in Barcelona, for their enthusiasm, their support... And the press as well; we feel very spoilt. We are proud of everything.
Have you shared the direction with Ramón Ribalta, although in different ambiences? You direct the choreography and he the actors. The artistic direction is a joint one. Is it difficult to agree?Yes, there are many hours of discussions of agreeing on different ideas and sometimes we decide on one and other times on another. It is difficult if the two directors are used to doing what they want, and it has happened to us a little, because he directs the Teatre del Sol and in my plays I am accustomed to work alone. By means of agreeing you achieve a good result, because several opinions are better than one, but the process is slowed down a lot. We have to avoid discussions in front of the actors, there has to be group cohesion and all that requires more bureaucracy.
The play is Catalan, not very habitual in big productions…We enjoy the support of
Generalitat de Catalunya (Autonomous Government of Catalonia) and their subsidy. Thanks to this, a musical of this caliber can be made, and the Catalan language is an indispensable requisite to obtain this subsidy.
Do you think it is important to promote the Catalan language in the important productions?The use of Catalan closes a lot of doors for you, because the public gets a little scared. They are not scared to go to see and see an English production, but yes in Catalan, so I would love to produce it directly in Castilian. In fact, it has already been translated and we are looking to go through the Spanish states in Castilian. Anyway, Catalan is better suited to the songs, because the language enjoys more monosyllables, is closer to English. In Castilian it is difficult to extract more the essence of the letter and to place it with the same grace.
In Madrid there is currently a lot of importance places in the music genre. Do you think the same thing will occur in Barcelona?This is directed related to the fact that there is enough economic potential to put a musical in motion, because it is much more expensive than a text play. What happens in Madrid now that there are so many? It is a heap of coincidences. There was a two or three important producers with enough romanticism to confront a musical and to put money out of their pockets, that is to say, very economical people. To add to this fact, there are some American productions that have come and that have been mounted in the capital of Spain, and this has made Madrid bloom, but that is because there is always a businessman who pulls the cart. Here in Barcelona there are producers who devote themselves to musicals, although not so economically powerful. That's why it is necessary to wait at least for a couple of years to be able to clean up your economy. It is a merely economic factor, not of lack of desire from the city or of lack of people dedicated to theatre.
Do the public respond well towards musicals?Yes, to go to a musical is to have a good night. Under this concept, the public moves. To go to see the musical one is a party. There is music, and the music connects the persons, has a connection with the brain that makes the whole world´s legs vibrate. The texts are easy, the dances are lively, and normally the wardrobe is very showy... What happens that if the musical does not go well, that is to say, if the production is not very rigorous, it has the opposite effect. It is possible for it to end up being very tiring, because musicals are very long, normally they are over two hours, and if it is not made well these three hours become endless.
Why after so many years ´Fame´ continues to have so much success?'Fame' is the permanent fashion. (Laughs) The problems that it relates to are eternal problems and they will continue in to the future. What happens to the young people? They´re vulnerable, they relate to each other, they fall in love, they doubt, they looks for their own personality... A series of things happen that will happen to them their whole live, because they are directly joined to the hormonal changes. 'Fame' describes what happens to the students in the world, and it will keep on doing it. Now parents bring their children to watch what marked them so much. That is to say, the success is assured.
Marta Franco Guallar :.
Monday, 10 May '04