We, like the real Eurovision, may not be able to host a live competition this year, but join me as I look back over our past #URNivision winners and chat about some of my favourite European musicals!
Here's a few suggestions to check out:
Soldaat van Oranje (Soldier of Orange):
Tanz der Vampire (finale number): youtube.com/watch?v=iEtez3VeAhg- Michael Kunze’s Elisabeth (international trailer): youtube.com/watch?v=YPhxQy1ZiXE
- Michael Kunze’s Mozart! Das Musical
Mozart, l’opera rock is a rock opera about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (what a sentence) which premiered in Paris in 2009 before going on to have productions in Belgium and Switzerland. Take a listen to the song ‘Tatoue-moi’ which became a number 1 hit in France (and sounds like it was written by Mika): youtube.com/watch?v=KtTlVYG9o8Y
Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l'Amour is a musical by Gérard Presgurvic that takes a more pop/rock-influenced approach to the Shakespeare play of the same name. It opened in Paris in 2001 and the song ‘Les Rois Du Monde’ was a huge pop hit in France and Belgium: youtube.com/watch?v=7gh81PYERlM
Monte Cristo is one of the few Russian musicals to be recognised internationally and is kind of like a cross between Phantom and Jekyll & Hyde but with more electric guitar: youtube.com/watch?v=DOmK2PnN0II- Another rock opera based on a Shakespeare play, Hamlet is a Czech musical that has (apparently) been compared to Jesus Christ Superstar: youtube.com/watch?v=OI6Ldc8ExLg
And to finish off, just a few of my favourite songs from foreign translations of hit English-language shows:
Music credits in order of use: Marc-Antoine Charpentier (‘Te Deum’); Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus (‘Waterloo’, Mamma Mia, Original Cast Recording, 1999); David Yazbek (‘Model Behaviour’, Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Original Broadway Cast Recording, 2011); Alan Menken & Howard Ashman (‘Be Our Guest’, Beauty and the Beast, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2017); David Baerwald & Kevin Gilbert (‘Come What May’, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Original Broadway Cast Recording, 2019); Lucy Moss & Toby Marlow (‘Haus of Holbein’, Six: The Musial, Studio Cast Recording, 2018); Tom Harriman, Pamela Philips Oland & Frans van Deursen (‘Morgen Is Vandaag [single vesion’, Soldaat van Oranje, Original Dutch Cast Recording, 2011); Jim Steinman & Michael Kunze (‘Totale Finsternis’, Tanz der Vampire, Original German Cast Recording, 1998).
