Musicals lead the recovery
‘I love you when I’m drunk’, ‘Singing in the Rain’, ‘Billy Elliot’ and ‘Fame’ all feature in this autumn’s theatre season
To attract really large audience numbers, big productions with long runs are essential. In Barcelona, this often means musicals, such as the ones that will take place this autumn. In addition to ’Cantando bajo la lluvia’ (Singing in the Rain), ’Billy Elliot’ and ’Fama’ (Fame), also hoping to attract the attention of the theatre-going public is ’T’estimo si he begut’ (I love you when I’m drunk) and the family musical by Dagoll Dagom directed by Anna Rosa Cisquella, ’Bye, Bye, monster’.
Meanwhile, the Condal theatre will have ’El màgic d’Oz’ (The Wizard of Oz) over the Christmas and New Year period, to be followed by Àngel Guimerà’s ’La filla del mar’ (Daughter of the Sea) from February 3. And it seems as if ’Golfus de Roma’ (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) is also on its way to Barcelona, although it is unlikely to open until next summer.
As for the Tricicle theatre group, they will revive another musical from past years, ’Forever Young’, at the Poliorama theatre from March, following the visit of T de Teatre, La Brutal and Dagoll Dagom performing Empar Moliner’s ’T’estimo si he begut’.
The Balañá theatre company will perform ’Cantando bajo la lluvia’ presumably for the whole season (and they no doubt dream of repeating the figures they clocked up during the first season of ’La jaula de las locas’ [The Cage of Madwomen]). From January, the Coliseum theatre will host ’Adéu, Arturo’ (Goodbye, Arthur) by La Cubana, a theatre company that despite its four decades of history maintains an unmistakable connection with the Barcelona public.
Other theatre
While we wait to find out what surprises the Lliure theatre and the TNC national theatre will bring this season, the Focus production company has opted for comedies like ’Les irresponsables’, written by Javier Daulte and directed by Sílvia Munt. Starring Nora Navas, Marta Marco and Cristina Genebat, the play will be on at Barcelona’s La Villaroel theatre from November 27 to December 12. Meanwhile, from December 3 until June at the Goya theatre, Joel Joan plays ’El gran comediant’, in a comedy he wrote with Hèctor Claramunt. Before that and until November, one of Focus’ mainstays, Emma Vilarasau, is also appearing at the Goya theatre in ’Eva contra Eva’ before she takes on ’L’oreneta’ at La Villarroel from February to May. As for the Romea theatre, it will return on December 28 with ’53 diumenges’, one of the highest grossing plays of last season.
Normal opening times
Last year, to comply with the curfew, many theatres brought forward their opening hours. However, it is now likely that many venues will return to more normal schedules. However, many theatres are also looking to get the most out of their schedules by doubling up. An example is the well-crafted comedy ’Ovelles’, which recently finished a two-week run at the Poliorama theatre after its first stint in La Villarroel theatre last year. In all, the Poliorama theatre has 90 performances scheduled in a single room, which will include the monologue ’Ramon’ by Mar Monegal.
Some 5% of the people who go to theatres every year are usually made up of family and school audiences, which suffered dual restrictions last year because of the pandemic. This season will see the return of school parties, although, according to sources in the theatres affected, the hope is that cultural criteria will prevail over the health restrictions on education. Otherwise, they argue, any school programming could become unfeasible.
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