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New York Times full-page ad for "Broadway's Sparkling New Musical," Disney's The Little Mermaid on Broadway
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Little House on the Prairie comes to the Guthrie Theater
(Andrew Gans, Playbill, November 2007)
Little House on the Prairie, a new musical based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's popular "Little House on the Prairie" book series, will make its world premiere at the Guthrie's McGuire Proscenium Stage in summer 2008.
Little Mermaid's Francesca Zambello, who helmed an April 2007 workshop of the musical, will direct. The creative team will also include Michelle Lynch (choreography), Kristen Blodgette (music director/supervisor), Adrianne Lobel (sets) and Martin Pakledinaz (costumes).
In a statement Guthrie artistic director Joe Dowling said, "The work of Laura Ingalls Wilder has a deep and powerful connection to the people of the Midwest. This musical fits perfectly within the Guthrie's goal to develop new work that speaks directly to this community. I'm particularly proud to welcome Francesca Zambello and a world-class artistic team to the Guthrie. Francesca's work has been seen on stages around the world and we're thrilled to have her here."
Director Zambello added, "There is no better place to develop this musical than the Guthrie in Minneapolis. I wanted to make a musical from these poignant stories the moment I rediscovered them as an adult. Reading of the exuberance of these characters as they encountered the immense power and force of the Prairie speaks to our history as a country and a people. It did in the 1880's and it does now. Our musical focuses on the independent spirit of the teenager, Laura Ingalls Wilder and her struggles to become an adult; along side the story of the land — as it becomes the American West. The Guthrie allows us to fuse together an integral part of American culture with unique theater writers of today in the heartlands where the Little House began its life."
The new musical features a book by Rachel Sheinkin, music by Rachel Portman and lyrics by Donna DiNovelli.
No Little House casting has been announced, although the April workshop in Manhattan featured Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura in the TV version of the "Prairie" books, as Ma with Patrick Swayze as Pa. The cast also included Sara Chase as Laura, Tony Yazbeck as Almanzo, Sara Ford as Nellie and Olivier Award winner Jenny Galloway as Mrs. Brewster.
Little House on the Prairie is being produced at the Guthrie by special arrangement with Global Prairie Productions, Inc.
The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street in downtown Minneapolis. For more information visit www.guthrietheater.org.
The Little Mermaid takes the stage
(interview by Peter D. Kramer, The Journal News (NY), December 2007)
Francesca Zambello is accustomed to having her feet in several worlds at once. A New Yorker by birth, Zambello has called Paris, Vienna, London and Moscow home. She comes from the world of opera, where she has directed dozens of productions and has been lauded by the French and Russian governments for her contribution to culture.
Zambello makes a point with the creative team of The Little Mermaid during rehearsals in Denver. The team includes, from left: Glenn Slater, lyrics; Doug Wright, book; Alan Menken, composer; and Thomas Schumacher, producer.
She's won three Olivier Awards (the British Tony Award) and two French Grand Prix des Critiques for her work at the Paris Opera. Her mantel holds honors from Japan, Germany, Russia and Australia.
And she taught Placido Domingo to sword-fight for the opera "Cyrano de Bergerac."
When she meets a group of reporters, she sits for an interview in English and five minutes later, she's giving one in Italian.
Who better, then, to bridge the several worlds presented in Disney's "The Little Mermaid" - a production that marks Zambello's Broadway debut Jan. 10 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre?
Zambello talked about bringing the ultimate half-fish-out-of-water story to the stage.
Read the rest of the article here.
The Little Mermaid on Broadway (Leslie Bennetts, Vanity Fair, November 2007)
Staging a Broadway Splash
"Staging a musical that takes place underwater is enough to confound anyone, so the Broadway version of Disney's 1989 animated movie, The Little Mermaid, languished for years — until the globe-trotting director Francesca Zambello came up with a concept. "No water, no wires," says Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Productions. "She had this jewel-box idea for the show, this opalescent, almost Venetian-glass-like setting." Zambello also had an international reputation for directing major operas and theatrical productions everywhere from the Metropolitan Opera ("She got Plácido Domingo to sword-fight in Cyrano!" says Schumacher) to Disneyland, where she staged Aladdin. At 51, Zambello — an American who grew up in Paris, Vienna, and London, studied in Moscow, and speaks French, Italian, Russian, and German as well as English — has won awards all over the world. "I'm a traveler," she says.
"But it was the universal themes in The Little Mermaid that hooked her. "It's about a young girl who wants to change herself to become something else," Zambello says. "It's also a metaphor about tolerance — about two worlds that don't like each other but come to embrace each other."
"When the $15-million-plus production opens on Broadway, in November, audiences will find an updated plot line. No longer is Ariel the drippy fairy-tale heroine who has to wait for the prince to save her. "She's a rebel, and I thought it important that she not be passive, so I've tried to give it more of a girl-power twist," Zambello explains. "In the movie, the prince destroys Ursula the Sea Witch, but in this version Ariel does it herself. She gets her own voice back, and she saves her father." There are, however, some things you can always count on. "She's a Disney heroine, so she gets the big pink ball gown," Zambello admits."
For tickets and additional information, visit the official website.
The Little Mermaid on Broadway
The musical The Little Mermaid, directed by Francesca Zambello, opens on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on December 6. For tickets and additional information, visit the official website.
A Blazing Don Giovanni at Covent Garden
From PlaybillArts.com: Writing from London in The New York Times [in June], chief music critic Anthony Tommasini observed that the Royal Opera's current run of Mozart's Don Giovanni, in a "grippingly spare and psychologically probing 2002 staging by the director Francesca Zambello," is "especially suited to big-screen close-ups thanks to an exceptionally attractive and involving cast."
Gilbert back on 'Prairie' (from Variety, March 15, 2007)
"Patrick Swayze and Melissa Gilbert will topline the pre-production workshop presentation of "Prairie," a new tuner based on the "Little House on the Prairie" series of books.
"Invitation-only workshop, set for April 16-17, precedes a national tour of the musical planned for spring 2008, prior to an eventual berth in Gotham. Swayze, recently seen on the West End in "Guys and Dolls," will play Pa opposite Gilbert as Ma. Actress, who was prexy of SAG for four years, grew up playing tyke Laura Ingalls Wilder on the nine-season NBC adaptation of "Little House."
"For the workshop, Francesca Zambello, helmer of Disney's Rialto-bound stage version of "The Little Mermaid," directs a cast that also includes Sara Chase as Laura, as well as Michael Arden ("The Times They Are A-Changin'"), Jenny Galloway ("Les Miserables") and Sara Ford.
Beth Henley ("Crimes of the Heart") wrote the book for "Prairie," which has music by screen composer Rachel Portman (who won an Oscar in 1997 for "Emma") and lyrics by Donna DiNovelli. Story follows a pioneering American family in the late 19th century.
Design team will include Adrianne Lobel (sets), Paul Gallo (lights) and Martin Pakledinaz (costumes).
Producing team, headed by Ben Sprecher ("A Moon for the Misbegotten") and wife Amy, a children's TV exec producer, also includes Louise Forlenza, Bob Boyett ("The History Boys," "Coram Boy") and Wendy Federman. Both Forlenza and Federman are producers of "Misbegotten."
Photo by Karin Cooper |
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Francesca Zambello in rehearsals for Die Walküre at Washington National Opera. |
'Mermaid' Approaches, So 'Beauty' Will Close (from The New York Times, January 18, 2007)
"To make room for the Dec. 6 opening of The Little Mermaid, Disney Theatrical has announced the closing dates for Beauty and the Beast...Mermaid, after its out-of-town tryout at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, will begin previews at the Lunt-Fontanne on Nov. 3. Mermaid will play in Denver from July 26 to Sept. 9. Doug Wright (Grey Gardens) is writing the book for the show, which is based on the 1989 movie; the movie's music and lyrics were by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, also the composer and lyricist of the Beauty score. Mr. Ashman died in 1991; the lyricist Glenn Slater will work with Mr. Menken on nine new songs for this production. Francesca Zambello, a director known for her opera productions, will direct; Stephen Mear, who worked on Mary Poppins, will be the choreographer; and George Tsypin, another opera veteran, will be the scenic designer."
Rebecca at the Raimund Theater, Vienna (from Variety, October 8, 2006)
"Around 30 Tony-winning best musicals have been made into Hollywood films, but Broadway has rarely returned the favor: Only three winners of the best picture Oscar successfully transferred to the musical theater stage ("Grand Hotel," "All About Eve" and "The Apartment"). We now can add "Rebecca" to that list. Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay deliver a work every bit as compelling as their hit "Elisabeth," the most successful German-language musical of all time, while Francesca Zambello's dazzling, cinematic production offers storytelling at its best, clearly defining the whirlpool of emotions experienced by the three tortured principal characters."
Carmen at Royal Opera House (from Variety, December 13, 2006)
 "As Covent Garden's hotly anticipated new production thrillingly proves, this most dramatic of operas only achieves true liftoff when all three partners in the central fervid love triangle are on inflammatory form. But it's not just three powerhouse lead performances that fire up the present proceedings. Director Francesca Zambello scores a major hit by making spectacle respectable.
"Where Hitchcock, according to rumor, treated actors like cattle, Zambello (who's about to join the Disney stable with stage tuner "The Little Mermaid") treats cattle like actors. A live donkey ambles across the sunny Seville square of the first act, a clutch of chickens actually laid eggs during the first-night performance, and toreador Escamillo (Ildebrando D'Arcangelo) makes a suitably high-status entrance on the back of a huge black horse.
"The second-act set may look pretty large for a secret smugglers' tavern, but the place is packed with activity, thanks in part to 34 extra singers, dancers and actors in addition to the already large Opera House chorus. Arthur Pita's flamenco-style choreography has the supreme virtue of looking natural. The vivid, foot-stamping dancing continues the gypsies' dramatic line rather than merely operating as token display. If all that suggests a Seville-theme-park approach, think again. Although Zambello's almost widescreen grandeur risks swamping the story, as soon as the heavily populated life of each location has been established, the focus narrows. She and conductor Antonio Pappano ensure serious storytelling via full-blooded, intensely characterized singing.
 "Heat surges throughout the production...[Pappano] and Zambello effectively create a new edition of the score midway between the original version's spoken dialogue and the later addition of recitative. Most of the latter has been scrapped to sharpen the action, which is also the reasoning for a cut at the beginning of the final act.
"The fact that this production is being filmed by BBC TV will encourage the edition's further uptake. The Royal Opera's last "Carmen" opened in 1991 and was last revived here in 1994. Zambello's production, which has already virtually sold out a long run, not only fills a crucial repertoire gap, it deservedly looks set to last for years."
Showboat at Royal Albert Hall (from Variety, June 21, 2006)
"This gigantic arena revival is in the experienced hands of opera director Francesca Zambello. If you've staged all 15 hours of Wagner's Ring Cycle, what's three hours in the company of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II? Hell, these guys even wrote jokes.
"Zambello and choreographer Arthur Pita keep the stage alive, employing swathes of people — whether the Mississippi "colored folks" of the opening lyrics, working and lifting cotton bales, or the white folks playing — to keep the slow-to-no-tension first act afloat. The vast stage area seems to insist upon a wide-angle view, but Zambello and Pita keep the aud focused on action in long shot.
"Zambello's pruned-down variant on the 1994 Hal Prince version cannot stop the plots of the first half from overspilling, but she contracts the second-act jump cuts and wraps it all up smartly enough to suggest her arena version is likely sail on into further waters."
Placido Domingo visits Francesca Zambello and the cast of Showboat at Royal Albert Hall. Photo by Catherine Ashmore
Rupert Holmes Joins Zambello for First Wives Club Musical
The Broadway-bound musical based on The First Wives Club is gradually coming together, with Francesca Zambello confirmed as director and Rupert Holmes set to pen the book.
Zambello was previously announced as a strong candidate to direct the musical, which is based on the Olivia Goldsmith novel and the hit 1996 film comedy it inspired. Holmes, who won two Tony Awards for writing the book and score of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, has joined the production as librettist, according to the LA Daily News.
The show will likely have "all songs completed by December, then put it up the beginning of next year to work out the kinks before we get to Broadway," stated Eddie Holland, who with Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland was previously announced to pen the score.
Zambello is renowned for her work staging both theatre and opera. Past productions include Lady in the Dark on the West End, West Side Story at the Bregenz Festival, and Les Tryoens at the Metropolitan Opera.
To learn more about the upcoming show, visit www.fwcthemusical.com.
Francesca Zambello in rehearsals for Cyrano de Bergerac at the Royal Opera House. Photo by Rob Moore
National Opera Molds Wagner's 'Ring' to Fit American Myths
"On Saturday night the Washington National Opera introduced its new production of "Das Rheingold," the first installment of its first complete "Ring" cycle (a co-production with the San Francisco Opera), which will unfold over the next three seasons at the Kennedy Center. For months, the director Francesca Zambello's staging had been touted as a provocatively American "Ring" steeped in American mythology and iconography.
"There are many fresh and impressive elements to the company's colorful, abstract and well cast "Rheingold." But its success is only partly attributable to overtly American imagery. It's true, for example, that in the opening scene Ms. Zambello, working with the set designer Michael Yeargan and the costume designer Anita Yavich, portrays Wagner's Alberich, the dwarf who dwells among the lower race of Nibelungs, as a hulking forty-niner, with thick boots and suspenders, panning for gold; the Rhine Maidens are a trio of sassy gals in fleecy dresses who cavort on a mining sluice, a wonderful wood contraption with chutes and ladders.
"But the visual imagery that really gives this scene its impact is the depiction of the pristine river. Rushing water is suggested through swirling video projections by Jan Hartley. When the magic gold glows from the river bed, the Rhine Maidens do a celebratory dance with a billowing silken sheet atop this abstract river's sleek, clear plastic surface. Shafts of golden light (courtesy of the lighting designer Mark McCullough) fill the stage..."
"The giants Fasolt and Fafner, having just finished building Wotan's castle Valhalla, first appear sitting on a steel beam as it is lowered from an unseen crane. They are blue-collar laborers in matching overalls with elongated legs and huge clodhopper feet. If they look a little like Gumby giants, the cartoonish humor seems intentional. Ms. Zambello is refreshingly attentive to the whimsical side of Wagner's mythological tale. The audience, sensing it was O.K. to laugh, did...
"The lingering image of this production comes in the deep, dank and sulfurous mine where Alberich brutally drives his slaves to hew rock and forge gold. The workers are played by a roster of some 50 mostly minority children, large and small, with tattered clothing and sooty faces. Evoking the history of slavery in America is the idea, but the image of child labor, which remains an international outrage, is what came through for me."
— Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
"Washington National Opera launches its new production of Wagner's Ring cycle tonight with the first performance of Das Rheingold, the prelude to the four-part epic. The WNO's staging, a co-production with San Francisco Opera, is directed by Francesca Zambello, with sets by Michael Yeargan and costumes by Anita Yavich.
"In December, Zambello said that she and WNO general director Plácido Domingo had conceived her production as an "American Ring," with imagery drawn from the "American history, mythology, iconography, and landscape." In costumes sketches, the goddess Erda is depicted as a Native American woman; Wotan wears a stylish, sharp-creased suit and an eye patch."
— Ben Mattison, Playbill Arts
"The Royal Opera's 2006-7 season looks like one of its strongest since reopening...
One of the most rewarding revivals of the season will surely be Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades from November 11. Francesa Zambello's production is full of the psychological insights that this work requires, and the strong cast includes Vladimir Galouzine (Hermann), Gerald Finley (Yeletsky), Katarina Dalayman (Liza) and Larissa Diadkova (Countess).
"Francesco Zambello's production of Don Giovanni returns from June 11. Erwin Schrott follows up his recent Figaro by playing the Don; Anna Netrebko (the only good thing about the last revival) is Donna Anna, and veteran Robert Lloyd returns as the Commendatore. Ivor Bolton returns to conduct, after a long absence from the House."
For more information, see the Royal Opera House website.
David Gockley, General Director of San Francisco Opera, announced in a press release dated January 11, 2006, that "renowned American stage director Francesca Zambello will join his creative team as artistic adviser. Ms. Zambello made her North American stage debut in collaboration with Mr. Gockley for Houston Grand Opera's 1984 production of Fidelio. Ms. Zambello has also had a lengthy association with San Francisco Opera, having directed eight productions [there] in over two decades. Her production of Tristan und Isolde will be featured during the 2006-07 Season. In her new role with the Company, Ms. Zambello will assist in identifying new talent, help to ensure the highest quality of stage production, and work to broaden audiences for opera."
For more information, see the San Francisco Opera website.
"An American Tragedy...would not be out of place in a Broadway theater, the opera is accomplished, dramatically effective and thoroughly professional...The production by the director Francesca Zambello could not be more gripping. Ms. Zambello has choreographed the staging so that scenes flow, merge and shift hauntingly. As always, she elicits detailed and believable portrayals from the cast..."
— Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
"Francesca Zambello's production is as fluid as the score. Working on Adrianne Lobel's three-level set with elegant movable panels stunningly lighted by James F. Ingalls, Zambello cleverly creates a sense of drama gracefully taking place in many arenas."
— Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times
"Francesca Zambello staged the opera with fine cinematic sweep...The seamless parade of imagery was inseparable from the fluid arc of Zambello's direction."
— John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune
"Francesca Zambello's direction is ideal — simple and direct, with formalities clear between and within the classes, and movements natural and sincere, with no posturing."
— Robert Levine, Classics Today
"Francesca Zambello provided psychologically acute direction; her work with Clyde's wealthy relations, who were played by Jennifer Larmore, Kim Begley, William Burden, and Jennifer Aylmer, brought out much funny, telling social detail."
— Alex Ross, The New Yorker
"This production is the responsibility of Francesca Zambello, and it is a characteristically smart, persuasive production."
— Jay Nordlinger, The New York Sun
Leading opera director Francesca Zambello is set to helm her first feature, "The Legend of Pork Pie," a musical fantasy from indie producer Daniel Bigel's recently established L.A. production company.
Penned by Michael Genet (Spike Lee's "She Hate Me"), the mythical jazz fable concerns a young man's search for his father, which leads him to legendary jazz club the Pork Pie Hat Bar.
Bigel said he will seek a domestic studio partner for "Pork" once a cast is on board. Film's budget is $25 million.
Last fall, Bigel ("Empire," "Black and White") ankled the Bigel/Mailer shingle in Gotham to launch Bigel Entertainment in Los Angeles. A private equity fund is supplying coin to his new banner, which aims to produce three pics annually.
Among the projects at Bigel Entertainment is a bigscreen adaptation of Elizabeth Berg's bestselling novel "Never Change," with Sharon Stone set to make her directing debut. Roger Wilson ("Missing in America") penned the screenplay.
Zambello is directing "Porgy and Bess" for the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center this fall.
— by Pamela McClintock, for Variety
Liz Smith, NY Post, July 19, 2005
"BACK IN 1996, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton made a sur prise smash out of "The First Wives Club," a movie about three middle-aged women dumped by their husbands. These females seek and attain delicious revenge. Aside from its own charm as a film, its success was seen as a triumph for mature actresses, and perhaps the beginning of a trend. The latter didn't really happen, but every few years some women over 40 latch onto great roles, as did the "Desperate Housewives." That's as much as we can expect in this youth-mad world.
"Now comes word that ladies of a certain age who can sing and possibly dance will be courted when "The First Wives Club" comes to Broadway as a musical. This is planned for the year 2006! Fun idea? You bet, but even more exciting is that marketing maverick-turned-producer Paul Lambert and his business partner Jonas Neilson have persuaded the legendary songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland to compose the score. The first major teaming of these talents in years!
"They are the geniuses who gave immortal words and music to Martha [Reeves] and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, the Miracles, the Four Tops, and supreme of all, the Supremes. Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote 10 of the group's greatest hits. And while new songs will be written, producer Lambert asked the composers to allow a few of their past hits to be used, when appropriate. Gee, when is "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" not appropriate?
"Lambert — who has invested in smaller off-Broadway shows in the past — fought for over a year to secure this movie-to-stage property, but now has the go-ahead from Viacom, Paramount and the estate of the late Olivia Goldsmith, who wrote the novel upon which the movie was based.
"He also wanted a female director, and is inches away from signing Francesca Zambello. She is doing "Porgy and Bess" at the Kennedy Center, and will direct at the Metropolitan Opera in December
"Casting? Lambert has his eye on Queen Latifah, Bernadette Peters, Megan Mullally, Stockard Channing (remember, in the movie she jumped off her balcony, bringing the three friends together for the funeral.) He would also enjoy luring Olivia Newton-John back to the spotlight! And might I suggest Meryl Streep? She began in musical theater, and has a hell of a voice. People who see "Postcards from the Edge" for the first time, still gasp when she belts, "I'm checking out of this Heartbreak Hotel."
"It's too early to give exact dates and theaters, and there's many a slip twixt the lip and the orchestra seats. But if enthusiasm alone could make a hit, Lambert has a huge one heading for The Great White Way."
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