Gambler

You can take a look at the Gambler programme here.

"Dostoyevsky Goes Las Vegas"
The original German text of this article was found on the Rheinische Post online service.

DOSTOYEVSKY GOES LAS VEGAS

In October Eric Woolfson's musical `Gambler' will open at the Municipal Theatre of Mönchengladbach.

On 26 October 1996, Mönchengladbach will join the ranks of Music Hall cities. `Gaudi' producer Friedrich-Carl Coch has leased the city's Municipal Theatre on the Hindenburgstrasse, where Eric Woolfson's latest musical `Gambler' (based on Dostoyevsky) will open on the aforementioned date. The local council is confident that this new musical production will not only be "an asset to the town's cultural programming"; it will also draw many visitors, as does the city's top league soccer team and the internationally renowned local museum. This `venue policy' will offer new prospects for this troubled town.

In view of the increasing number of musical productions in Germany, particularly in the Westphalia region, the `Music Hall Mönchengladbach Ltd.' wants to distinguish itself. Coch spoke about the dangers of being "crowded out of the market" and announced that he will exclusively stage new productions in Mönchengladbach. He has leased the theatre for the next five years, with an option for prolongation. How long `Gambler' will run, only time will tell: "It's not going to be easy to run big productions for several consecutive years". The plan is to run the show for two years. When box office sales go down, however, something new has to be available to replace `Gambler'. Stageing a production that has already run somewhere else is out of the question.

`Gambler' is the second musical by Eric Woolfson, former `co-pilot' of the Alan Parsons Project. It is based on Dostoyevsky's novel `The Player' and is said to take the spectator to a modern, Las Vegas type gambling hall. According to director Elmer Ottenthal, no expense is spared on stage technology. In July, the theatre, which seats a mere 800 people, will undergo a five million Deutschmark make-over for the benefit of a musical production; the Laser Division of the RWTH, Aken, is commissioned to design spectacular new laser effects, especially for Mönchengladbach.

As a result, cuts will have to be made elsewhere in the budget; the music, for one. Yesterday, composer Woolfson announced that he would use a number of popular songs from the Alan Parsons Project album `Turn of A Friendly Card'. He was not able nor willing to come up with any new material, despite promises to the contrary when he was invited. Neither will there be an orchestra in the pit of the future Music Hall: the music is prerecorded.

In any case, producer Coch attaches such great value to Mönchengladbach as a Music Hall city, that he is already contemplating two venues. In the very near future, the town will start on its latest pet project: the grand-scale Nord-Südpark, which will include a new soccer stadium, a horseracing track, hotels, an amusement park and a Music Hall (seating 1500).

The local council wants to emphasize that this does not mean that the city's existing thespian activities will be put on the backburner. It will merely be relocated to the Rheydt Opera House; the city's `three steps system' will be maintained [note from the translator: I assume this refers to the hierarchy of playhouse/theatre/opera in which the Municipal Theatre usually stages prestigeous productions, such as classical drama, opera and ballet, all now reallocated to the Rheydt Opera House. Musicals have always ranked rather low in thespian prestige, that would explain the - implicitly condescending - following remark -- PS]. And the musical is, as a genre, after all also "an asset to culture" (councillor for Art and Culture, Rombey). However, Ottenthal has enough of a grip on reality to admit that only time will tell if the new production is a box-office hit or bomb.

RP/Wolfram Goertz, 27 February 1996


© Rheinische Post online

- Petra Souisa


Gambler - Information From A Promotional Flyer
What follows is an English translation...

WORLD PREMIERE: 26.10.1996

Musicalbühne Mönchengladbach

GAMBLER: THE SECRET IN THE CARDS

The new musical by Eric Woolfson, adapted for the stage by Elmar Ottenthal

Tickets: +180-5.30.20.20
Souvenir shop in the foyer

THE STORY

GAMBLER, the new hit show by Eric Woolfson, is the moving story of gambling passion, addiction and seduction. A casino owner, a young man, a showgirl and an elderly duchess are the protagonists, whose destinies are linked through the mysterious secret that lies in the cards.

The scheming casino owner lures the young man to the card table, with the ultimate goal of driving him into addiction. This young man, who is in love with the showgirl, finds himself pulled deeper and deeper into his passion for gambling, because he believes the woman of his dreams will only love him as long as he is a winner.

The showgirl becomes involved with the player, because the casino owner has led her to believe that the player is her ticket to moviestardom. Thus, the two begin their quest for the secret in the cards.

But only the duchess knows the secret...

THE CREATORS

THE DIRECTOR

Between 1989 and 1992, Elmar Ottenthal was acting art director (replacing general art manager Peter Weck) of the Vienna Associated Musical Stages -- `Cats', `Les Miserables', `Phantom of the Opera' and `Elisabeth'. Since 1992, he is the general art manager of the Aaken Theatre. After `Freudiana' and `GAUDI', Ottenthal and his friend and artistic partner Eric Woolfson will now stage their third musical production, GAMBLER.

THE COMPOSER

Scotsman Eric Woolfson, who has been a songwriter and composer for over 20 years and has sold over 45 million records, is one of the most successful popmusicians in the world. As a key member of the rock band `Alan Parsons Project' he earned numerous Grammy nominations and many other music accolades.

With `Freudiana', his first stage production which opened in Vienna, 1990, he embarked on a new career as a composer of musicals. With the hit musical GAUDI, a story of love, art and passion, he has become one of the top composers of musical theatre.

Ticket information: prices range between 60 and 160 Deutschmark, depending on seating and on the day and time of the performance you plan to attend. For more information, I refer you to the ticket information line: +180-5.30.20.20

- Petra Souisa


"A Testing Ground for Cologne?"
This article was taken from the Mönchengladbach Stadtmagazin, April 1996. This is an English translation...

A TESTING GROUND FOR COLOGNE?

by Kirsten Wirtz

It's official! 26 October is the historic date the bigwigs of Mönchengladbach's art and politics are very much looking forward to. On that evening, `Gambler' will have its world premiere at the Municipal Theatre, which is currently being converted to a musical stage for the sole benefit of this show.

The conversion has a budget of six million Deutschmark, which was brought in by the `Music Hall Mönchengladbach Ltd.', whose sole founder-member is Friedrich-Carl Coch. As of 15 July, Coch will lease the theatre for the next five years. `Gambler' is based on Dostoyevsky's `The Player' and will, by means of exploring the themes of gambling, addiction, seduction and love, reveal `the secret that lies in the cards'. `Life is one big gamble anyway,' says composer Eric Woolfson, who staged his first musical, `Freudiana', with director Elmar Ottenthal, followed by another joint venture, `Gaudi', which is currently running in Aaken with considerable success. Woolfson is particularly pleased with the Municipal Theatre, not least for its adjacent Theatre Gallery.

One doesn't have to be pessimistically inclined to note that a project of such grand scale is also a financial gamble. `Gambler' may prove to be the commercial equivalent of a trapeze act without a safety net. When a relatively small town is trying to pass itself off as a cultural metropole, it may be like trying to jump on a band wagon travelling at 500 miles per hour.

By stageing a new and hopefully successful musical, Mönchengladbach, a town hobbled by cuts in the arts and culture budget, is hoping to upgrade its prestige. Major growth areas such as Hamburg and the industrial area known as the `Ruhrgebiet' are predicted to go into a decline soon and it is necessary to consider new avenues. To prevent getting crowded out of the market, the local government will, according to Coch, `not acquire already established shows for lots of money, but invest in and facilitate new productions'. He did not elaborate on which specific productions are to be staged in the near future.

`Versatility and Vitalization' are the keywords for the initiators at the local council. By adding musical productions to Mönchengladbach's other major tourist magnets, the acclaimed Museum of Abteiberg and the soccer team Borussia, they aim to broaden the city's cultural appeal. The ultimate aim is to attract new businesses to the inner city and stimulate the economic growth of the area in general.

`The arts and culture should be pluralistic and accessible to all forms and manifestations,' councillor for the Arts and Culture, Wolfgang Rombey, says in defense of establishing Mönchengladbach as a venue for musical productions, even if the musical, as a genre, `has no cultural function, but is merely a name to describe the packaging.' `The musical as a genre is an excellent addition to the existing cultural programming,' Town Clerk Semmler agreed.

As promising as these productions may sound, there has been some criticism by people who feel that the outcome of the ambitious project may not be entirely positive. In response to an article in the 9 March edition of the `Aachener Zeitung', Ulrich Elsen (the head of the town committee on cultural affairs) expressed his concern about `what will happen with a major theatre such as the Municipal Theatre when the project doesn't live up to the expectations'. Gaudi Musical Ltd., of which the founder is, again, the ubiquitous Coch, is currently having a huge structure in glass and steel built in Cologne. After its completion, the musical production `Gaudi', which is currently playing in Alsdorf (near Aaken), will relocate to Cologne. There is the not unfounded fear that, like Alsdorf, Mönchengladbach will be reduced to a mere testing ground for Cologne.

To prevent financial and cultural disaster when the circus moves on, Elsen wants some kind of guarantee that `whatever happens, the city's reputation as a venue for the performing arts can be maintained at its present level and that the investment risks remain within feasible limits.'


© Mönchengladbach Stadtmagazin, April 1996

- Petra Souisa


German Newspaper Review
In its section on `culture' today (Oct. 27, page 27), the largest German Sunday newspaper `Welt am Sonntag' has the following (rather positive) review of Eric Woolfson's new musical `Gambler', which opened last night in Moenchengladbach.

My translation may be inadequate and a bit awkward in places; I'm sorry. - I guess that the reviewer knows much more about operas than about musicals, let alone rock music. - Unfortunately, once more, Alan Parsons or APP are not mentioned.

Celebrated first night of the musical `Gambler' in Moenchengladbach

HONEST MAN IN A LAS VEGAS GAMBLING DEN

by Marieluise Jeitschko
As the first production of the recently founded `Musical Stage Moenchengladbach', `Gambler -- the secret of the cards', third musical of the Scot Eric Woolfson (`Freudiana', `Gaudi') stood its crucial test. Even during the pre-premiere on Friday night there was a feeling of high spirits. In the end the makers received standing ovations by an audience of 800 people in Moenchengladbach's former playhouse. At least until the end of 1997 the gambling drama is supposed to draw visitors to the crisis ridden town of textile industry in the lower Rhine area. Tickets can be had for the comparatively modest prices of DM 60 to DM 160 [about 40 to 100 dollars]. The `Gaudi-Musicals Inc.' hired the house in the center of the town, integrated into the hypermodern new shopping mall `Theater Gallery', for five years. Producer Friedrich-Carl Coch had it remodeled in a few months for about five million Marks [3.3 million dollars]. Provided there is success, it will then go on in its own musical hall in the `North-South Park' (still a project).

Composer Woolfson again wrote the book and lyrics of `Gambler' himself, with English songs and German dialogues. During the work, he appears to have changed his route. For, instead of converting episodes from Dostoevki's novel `The gambler' (as announced), he rather followed Pushkin's novel `Pique Dame', which was already set to music by Peter Tchaikovski for his opera of 1890 with the same name. Instead of in St. Petersburg, the tragedy of seductibility to gambling now takes place in the glittering world of glamor of Las Vegas: A young `honest man' [German term: Biedermann] (the Austrian opera tenor Reinhard Bussmann) falls in love with a `showgirl' (Annika Bruhns, former `Gaudi'-Isabella). But the boss of the gambling den (beautifully diabolic up to blasphemy as a catholic priest in the Christmas mass: Rafi Weinstock from Haifa) makes him believe that she can only be had by a winner. Only after the gambler against his own will lost everything, including the girl, as gentle as a lamb, and gambled away all the loans so amply granted to him, the shady mother of the owner of the gambling casino signals pardon. Georgina Chakos, however beautiful and appropriately vulgar she may be, never has any chance to be compared with Martha Moedl whose last dream role was the old duchess in Tchaikovski's opera. The drama ends with a `coup de theatre': The gambler shoots himself dead on stage.

The story has a slow start in the first part. Everything looks like a warm-up for a great showdown. One show number follows the next one just as in a cabaret performance. Since the story of seduction takes place in the `Beijing Palace Casino', two `inspired bodies' [German: `Begnadete Koerper', the title of a famous show with Chinese acrobats, directed by Andre Heller some time ago], the Chinese duo of acrobats Lodoi, are integrated. Blond girls with long legs and long hair do not miss to present their female charms on the show stairs.

The hidden star of the production is light designer Wieland Mueller who learned his business at the Bavarian State Opera. With refined effects, he simulates large spaces and phasmagories on the small stage of the playhouse. The stage decoration, as economical as effective. was designed by Hannes Rader from Vienna, former student of Caspar Neher. With Elmar Ottenthal, the superintendent of Aachen's public playhouse and also art director of `Gaudi', a serious stage professional is responsible for the entertaining `mise en scene'.

Eric Woolfson is a clever theater man who is very well acquainted with the stage. Starting from Puccini's `Gianni Schicci', beyond `A chorus line' and Tchaikovski's classical ballets up to Charlie Chaplins `Limelight' - so the sentimental final song of the show girl, with distinct musical reminiscences of [the musical] `Man of La Mancha' [I cannot believe that part of the story!] -, he quotes nearly everything for four bars that can be had free of charge. Thanks to such a `back up' never feeling alone, everybody in the audience may go home with his own, very personal treat for the ears...

The report includes a (black-and-white) photo of Annika Bruhns (kneeling in front, looking up, fitting perfectly the description of `blond girl with long hair and long legs') and Reinhard Bussmann (standing to her right and looking down, just as one would imagine a younger opera tenor: with beard, but not overly corpulent).

- Klaus Bierstedt


Another German Newspaper Review

`GAMBLER' DID NOT SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE CARDS

The Premiere was on October 26

Moenchengladbach (AP). `Faites vos jeux' - that's what it was all about on Saturday night, the first night (worldwide) of the musical `Gambler' in Moenchengladbach. The show of two and a half hours, centered around the mania of gambling, passion and disappointment had attracted more than 850 visitors to the city in the lower Rhine area. Besides the Minister of Economy of [the Federal State of] Nordrhein- Westfalen, Wolfgang Clement, the comic actor Dirk Bach and the actor Raimund Harmstorff were among the prominent guests. With the [former] national soccer player Berti Vogts [who has now been the coach of the German national soccer team for several years], a genuine professional `player/gambler' had come who, however, had searched for his luck not on the green velvet of roulette, but on the green playground.

[In German, there is just one word for both `player' and `gambler'; I don't know how to translate the pun at this point in a better way. - Let me add that it is well-known that Berti Vogts loves musicals; when there is a break in German soccer in December, he usually goes to NYC with his family and is a frequent visitor to Broadway musicals.]

Confusion in Beijing Palace

`The mystery of cards', as the subtitle of the musical is called, could, however, not be solved during the first night. Too rarely the scenes took place in the well-done gambling casino `Beijing Palace', too vague was the story of the young visitor who first defies the arts of seduction of the diabolical owner of the casino and nevertheless - hard to understand for the audience - falls victim to the charm of cards and roulette balls. The best scene is at the very end. At this point, the gambler, in the meantime completely dependent, wins and feels like a king who is flattered and ensnared [?] by everybody. After he has put all his money on one card, he loses everything, and, of course, all the false friends, too. Completely desparate, he shoots himself.

Songs of different quality

The music of the Scottish composer Eric Woolfson was, in part, breath-taking and full of melody. Much intermediate applause arose after the songs `Eye in the sky' and `Green light means danger'. Rafi Weinstock presented the role of the casino boss of satanic effect with a very good voice. Too colorless, however, and not passionate enough the gambler, played by Reinhardt Brussmann. [Originally, somebody else was announced to play the role of the gambler. It is not clear if there was a change of cast or if the other guy was just ill.]

Annika Bruhns gave a successful presentation of the show girl. The dancer who, despite the warnings of her mother, falls in love with the gambler and then loses him to gambling, got much applause during the first night, to the great delight of her mother, sitting in the front row, TV journalist Wibke Bruhns.

[Sorry, this time it is not my bad translation - the reviewer wrote this confusing sentence in which both the mother of the dancer and the mother of the one who plays the dancer appear and reality and play are mixed up.]

Visitors tried their luck on gambling tables

Prior to the start of the musical and during the long celebration afterwards, [which took place] right next to the former Moenchengladbach playhouse, reconstructed for about 6.5 million DM [more than 4 million dollars], one could see - quite appropriate for the occasion - stunts by card-players; moreover, there were plenty of gambling tables at which the visitors could test `Black Jack' and other games, but without real stake and thus without danger for their purse. [I have left this long sentence more or less as it was written - to provide reconfirmation of what Mark Twain had said about the German language: one can go on and on, never ending, without ever having to finish a sentence...]

The costumes and the stage decoration of `Gambler' were impressive and took the audience in Moenchengladbach to a world full of passions and dark secrets around professional gambling. However, too many dancing scenes of the show girls, some monks' chants and scenes in the church which would not have been necessary for the story, and finally a touch of `Circus Roncalli' [German version of Barnum], with gigantic Chinese dragons and two snake girls, made a mixture out of the musical which was overloaded. Director Elmar Ottenthal, who had already been responsible for the musical `Gaudi' in Alsdorf, should rather have taken the word of the croupier as orientation: `Rien ne va plus'.

The audience on the first night, on the other hand, liked it and honored the performance with standing ovations of nearly ten minutes, for which the ensemble thanked with several da capos.

A few comments are in order at this point:

This reviewer appears to know a little bit more about musicals than the one in `Welt am Sonntag', but he does not seem to have much experience with the first nights of musicals.

Many big musicals reach Germany only after long runs in the West End or on Broadway, and they are exact copies of the original - except for the translation (which, unfortunately, usually is much worse than the original). Broadway musicals, on the other hand, are `tested' somewhere else prior to the first performance in NYC. And in many cases (if not all), these tests lead to major changes. Some songs are `lost in Boston, Washington, D.C. or somewhere else', the book is changed etc. [Andrew Lloyd Webber tests his musicals for quite a long time before they open in the West End. E.g., there was a different version of `Sunset Boulevard' which was discarded later on - somebody else wrote a completely new script.]

Thus, it is a completely different story to review the first night of a Broadway musical (or, say. the first night of `Sunset Boulevard' in Germany) and the first night of German production such as `Gaudi' or `Gambler'.

The reviewer of the first night of `Gaudi' (in Alsdorf) in the German magazine `Musicals' mentioned a large number of weak points, which were changed pretty soon after the premiere. Long run musicals `live'. [Andrew Lloyd Webber usually changes his musicals quite a bit when they are exported to the US. With `Whistle down the wind', which will start in Washington, D.C. and then go to the Broadway before opening in London, it may happen the other way around.]

Thus, one should not take the criticism of the reviewer in `Rheinische Post' too seriously: It's good to have more than necessary - it is rather easy to cut...

On the other hand, all the three musicals of Eric Woolfson can be criticized for having no `really good' stories. In `Gaudi' (the only Woolfson musical that I have seen on stage), the second act is a mixture of dream and reality which is rather hard to understand. (Petra's explanation was by far the best I have seen, read or heard.)

In the TV report on German musicals on which I reported this morning, Helen Schneider said that the librettos of some famous operas are very bad - `some of the stupidest stories I have ever seen'. She is right. From this point of view, Woolfson's stories are still good (e.g., as compared with the `story' of `Cats') - but they could be much better! [Rather than taking his story from `Pique Dame', he should take it from a famous novel (`Les Miserables') or movie (`Sunset Boulevard'). But this would probably require to compose even more `new music'. - Incidentally, it looks as if `Gambler' is a step in this direction.]

- Klaus Bierstedt


I have a NEW HOMEPAGE!!! With info and many photos of the "Gambler" stars and "Kaleidoscope-The Musical Concert", a show I initiated with 5 other Eric Woolfson "Gambler" and "Gaudi" musicalstars. In this concert we sang all the famous Eric Woolfson, Alan Parsons Project songs from these two musicals. Soon there will also be mp3 excerpts of the songs on the site. There are news critics also and the very first picture on the firs page is me singing Eric Woolfsons "Limelight"!

- Jaqueline Aubert


If you have information, links or pictures which you believe could enhance this entry, please contribute.

Track Listing
Time Track Title Vocalist
0:30Fanfare(instrumental)
7:01Green Light Means DangerRafi Weinstock
Chris van Tongelen
4:14Love In The Third DegreeGambler Chorus
6:14When The World Was YoungGeorgina Chakos
5:21Games People PlayRafi Weinstock
Chris van Tongelen
Gambler Chorus
4:49The Golden KeyChris van Tongelen
Rafi Weinstock
7:11LimelightAnnika Bruhns
4:409x9x9Dirk Smits
5:10HalfwayGeorgina Chakos
9:01Eye In The SkyRafi Weinstock
4:21(You'll Be) Far AwayAnnika Bruhns
7:19TimeChris van Tongelen
0:55MedleyRafi Weinstock
Gambler Chorus
66:46(total)
Credits
Miscellaneous Links


Encyclopaedia Index - Back to the Front Page

Show me all entries starting with