NewsWhore
06-30-2009, 03:40 PM
The Dominican Republic is becoming a leader in musical theatrical productions in Latin America. Alfonso Quinones makes a roundup in today's Diario Libre pointing out that the Dominican versions have been so good that on several occasions they compete directly with the originals in Broadway.
Nine musicals are to be staged in 2009. So far, among these have been "The Fiddler on the Roof," "Cats" and "Hairspray", and some upcoming are "The Miracle of Fatima (September, a Luis Marcel Ricart production), "Cinderella" (October, an Amaury Sanchez production) and "Rhen" (December, a Carolina Rivas and Luiggi Tejada production).
Quinones makes the point that around 15 musicals have been staged here in the last four or five years. He said the impetus for musicals began after the success of "Beauty and the Beast." Then came "Cabaret", "Annie," "High School Musical and "Les Miserables".
He wonders about the musicals' profitability. He estimates that a musical like "Beauty and the Beast" cost RD$16 million to produce 3 years ago and was staged 27 times in the DR and 14 in Venezuela, and thus made a profit.
But there are big losses with only four performances, for example, as was the case of Hairspray. He points out that sponsorship deals are crucial to the success of the productions and says that high taxation affects the promoters.
Quinones proposes that ticket packages could be offered to tourists, even as part of their all-inclusive deals. He suggests agreements with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to promote the plays at the hotels.
Furthermore, he supports the idea of increased international marketing of the plays. He said this would continue with the very successful performances of "Beauty and the Beast" in Venezuela, while warning that transport costs and logistics would have to be taken into account when designing the sets.
Regardless, he concludes that we could be witnessing the dawn of a new school of Dominican musicals.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#12)
Nine musicals are to be staged in 2009. So far, among these have been "The Fiddler on the Roof," "Cats" and "Hairspray", and some upcoming are "The Miracle of Fatima (September, a Luis Marcel Ricart production), "Cinderella" (October, an Amaury Sanchez production) and "Rhen" (December, a Carolina Rivas and Luiggi Tejada production).
Quinones makes the point that around 15 musicals have been staged here in the last four or five years. He said the impetus for musicals began after the success of "Beauty and the Beast." Then came "Cabaret", "Annie," "High School Musical and "Les Miserables".
He wonders about the musicals' profitability. He estimates that a musical like "Beauty and the Beast" cost RD$16 million to produce 3 years ago and was staged 27 times in the DR and 14 in Venezuela, and thus made a profit.
But there are big losses with only four performances, for example, as was the case of Hairspray. He points out that sponsorship deals are crucial to the success of the productions and says that high taxation affects the promoters.
Quinones proposes that ticket packages could be offered to tourists, even as part of their all-inclusive deals. He suggests agreements with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to promote the plays at the hotels.
Furthermore, he supports the idea of increased international marketing of the plays. He said this would continue with the very successful performances of "Beauty and the Beast" in Venezuela, while warning that transport costs and logistics would have to be taken into account when designing the sets.
Regardless, he concludes that we could be witnessing the dawn of a new school of Dominican musicals.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#12)