It was revealed this week that the New London Theatre is to fill the void left by the (deserved) early closure of Gone With the Wind with another new musical — a “Holocaust musical”, or so it was reported.
The show, which is due to open in November and is to be directed by Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park artistic director Tim Sheader, will be called Imagine This.
It is set in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942 where, according to the press release, “a group of actors inspire hope and optimism within their community”. In America, an earlier version called Masada never quite made it to the stage.
You’d think that if the New London’s general manager Gareth Johnson was looking for a sure-fire hit after the disastrous Gone With the Wind, he would stay clear of anything that attempted to set the Final Solution to a snappy tune or two.
But sensing all was not quite as it appeared, Notebook rang the show’s producer Beth Trachtenberg at her Miami home to ask if she was at all worried that Imagine This — which is composed and written by a Jewish team consisting of Shuki Levy (music), Glenn Berenbeim and David Goldsmith (book and lyrics) — is being referred to in the media as a Holocaust musical.
“Tremendously. Because it’s not a Holocaust musical. It’s a show about a group of people… who manage to hold on to their humanity, to find a way to laugh with each other and love each other and exist in that situation.
“It doesn’t take place within a concentration camp; the group of people you get to know during Imagine This are not hiding from the Nazis, they are, to the degree that is possible, creating a life within a ghetto.”
So, now you know — it’s not a Holocaust musical, it’s actually a ghetto musical.