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"Behind The Mirror of Music" with Dannii Cohen - Special interview of David Serero "Anne Frank, a Musical" with studio and Live recordings from Anne Frank, Phantom of the Opera, and Man of La Mancha.
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00:00 Welcome to the theater, everyone.
00:01 My name is Danny Cohn.
00:03 Every week I bring you songs from the history of musical theater,
00:07 plus the stories behind this music with a special guest.
00:12 This is Behind the Mirror of Music on No Barriers Radio.
00:16 And this week's guest on my show has produced a musical about a young Jewish
00:21 girl who has become synonymous with World War II, Anne Frank.
00:26 After a song from the musical, David Cerreiro, producer and performer,
00:31 will tell us all about the production and why he felt it had to be made.
00:36 Now, welcome producer and performer David Cerreiro.
00:41 How are you, Danny?
00:43 It's such a thrill, such an honor to be with you today.
00:46 Thank you for the opportunity.
00:48 Thank you for joining.
00:50 This week, your production of Anne Frank, a musical opens.
00:53 Could you tell me about the show?
00:55 Absolutely. Well, first of all, my dear Danny,
00:58 I want to thank you for the opportunity of having me on your wonderful show.
01:03 And I really appreciate it.
01:04 And I watch all the stuff you do.
01:05 So it's people like you who give me the desire to always be better
01:11 in any of Broadway production. So thank you.
01:15 So, yes, so Anne Frank musical is a beautiful musical written by my dear friend
01:20 Jean-Pierre Hadid. Originally, it's a French musical.
01:24 So it's about the life of Anne Frank.
01:26 It's not an adaptation of the diary of Anne Frank.
01:29 It's really the life of Anne Frank.
01:32 She had a very important life that needs to be told.
01:36 And around her life, there were many things like D-Day,
01:40 like the Nazis, like Auschwitz, like how was life before the Nazis?
01:46 You know, it shows a lot of very important things,
01:49 including the dreams of Anne, which are the dreams of a lot of teenagers.
01:54 And and as we see her reality throughout the show,
01:58 we understand that we are all Anne Frank because we have everything that we can
02:04 connect to her, to her dreams and her desire.
02:07 This musical, I brought it in September 2019 and it was like sold out.
02:13 It went like crazy, standing ovation every night.
02:16 It was like a big, big, big success.
02:19 And then I brought it back in 2020 in New York.
02:22 And the day of the premiere was the day
02:26 that it was the official shutdown from Covid.
02:29 So I was not able to bring it back.
02:32 And I think I waited the right time to bring it now, right after the Jewish
02:37 holidays, to to bring this important story that is not just, of course,
02:43 it's a Jewish story, but it's really a universal story because it shows courage
02:48 and solidarity and humankind and and sacrifice.
02:53 So we all connect to it.
02:54 And the music, you know,
02:56 expresses things that words alone cannot express.
03:00 So a lot of people could be reluctant when they hear a musical about Anne Frank.
03:06 What are you talking about?
03:07 But actually, a musical doesn't have to be joyful, doesn't have to be happy.
03:13 It can be musical about a sad subject, even though I'm and we know it
03:18 from the diary of Anne Frank that throughout nearly three years that the
03:23 Franks were hiding in the attic, they didn't cry during three years.
03:28 There were moments where they were a little bit joyful when they were reading
03:32 the magazines, there were some arguments, things like that.
03:35 And all of that is reflected beautifully in the show and all the characters.
03:40 Really what I wanted to do is to really
03:42 bring a theatrical approach to all of these characters.
03:47 And I'm so, so, so happy of the work that I did in 2019,
03:53 not just to bring the show as in the tradition, in the literature,
03:58 in the grammar of the big classics of American musical theatre,
04:04 but also I was able to bring the vocal colors that we see in American
04:10 musical theatre, which were not so much in the French version.
04:13 But I wanted to bring this.
04:15 And then at the end, I have a product, if I may call it,
04:19 that is at the crossroad of a musical theatre, golden age music mixed with a tiny
04:27 bit of jazz there and there with Fiddler on the Roof colors, with oratorio,
04:32 with opera, and there was not a single dry eye at the end of the of the production
04:40 and the performance. And even me as the performer,
04:44 because I'm playing Otto Frank also in it, and as the director,
04:48 I never cried that much in rehearsal.
04:51 So it's really, really beautiful adventure.
04:54 Can you tell us who is in the cast, who's playing Anne and the other characters?
04:59 Absolutely.
05:01 Well, I'm playing Otto Frank, so he's the father of Anne Frank.
05:05 He's the only one who came back alive when the Franks were deported.
05:10 There is Anne Frank that is played by Zoe Berger, who was a big name,
05:17 I should say, with Nickelodeon television.
05:20 She did 80 episodes in a TV series back then called Every Which Way.
05:26 I like that she has the youth and the energy of acting.
05:32 Then after I have a phenomenal cast, I have Kelly Fuller, who is playing Peter.
05:37 I have a wonderful guy named Marco Dumanchic, who plays Herman Van Pels,
05:43 who is a very tall guy.
05:45 Madison Merlanti, who is playing Meep.
05:48 I have Yard and Bars, Margot, Paloma Eisenberg as Edith Frank.
05:53 Fritz Pfeiffer is played by Aaron Penzel.
05:56 And I have a narrator also that tells the play,
05:59 because we started the show in 2023 and then there is a travel back in time on and off.
06:06 So that's why it is very interesting.
06:08 And this is Alexander Wolliam.
06:10 And I have also amazing soloists.
06:13 They are also understudies, but they are doing a lot.
06:16 And I have wonderful Liza Susana, who is absolutely wonderful.
06:20 I have Alina Garcia,
06:22 who is just mind blowing with her technique, with her intelligence.
06:26 And I have also Stephen J. Harris, who is also understudies.
06:30 And I have pianist Benjamin Baladbat and wonderful cellist named Zoe Haasman and Diana Golden.
06:38 So plus technicians, because we project things also.
06:42 My poor self directing all of that,
06:46 directing and producing all of that.
06:50 But it's really a pleasure.
06:51 And you in the audience, I hope.
06:54 Your Sunday trip to the theater with Danny Cohen on No Barriers Radio.
07:02 Everything will be fine, I promise.
07:06 Look, Stalingrad has been recaptured.
07:09 It's a sign.
07:10 Soon Hitler will lose the war and everything will be back to normal.
07:16 I promise you, Edith.
07:21 Do you forget all the things I have loved
07:29 in memory of all the things I've lost?
07:35 Remembering that freedom has a cost.
07:43 To forget all these words that we heard
07:50 and all these thoughts that we'll one day have to erase for they're too hard for us to face.
08:04 Fall moves along.
08:09 The wind is cold.
08:11 The leaves are gone.
08:13 And I see tears running down your face to your lips that I once loved to embrace.
08:23 Although poetry can bring us peace and harmony,
08:33 there seems to put me to such a place where I need to escape before it is too late.
08:44 Do you forget all the things I have loved in memory of all the things I've lost?
08:56 Remembering that freedom has a cost.
09:03 To forget all these words that we heard
09:10 and all these thoughts that we'll one day have to erase for they're too hard for us to face.
09:24 Dream that an angel will bring our passion back to life
09:33 and that I am loving you all the same
09:37 and that love is to me nothing more but a game.
09:44 Look, the moon is the same one we knew
09:52 when we were planning it together as one
09:56 and our dream will come true.
09:59 Everything could be done.
10:02 Do you forget all the things I have loved in memory of all the things I've lost?
10:14 Remembering that freedom has a cost.
10:20 To forget all these words that we heard
10:27 and all these thoughts that we'll one day have to erase
10:34 for they're too hard for us to face.
10:46 With "To Forget" from Anne Frank, a musical.
10:50 And with me is my guest, David Cerrero.
10:53 Well, I started in Paris and then I moved to New York when I was 16, the first time.
11:03 I moved by myself and then went back and forth between Paris and New York,
11:09 a few months in New York, a few months in Paris.
11:11 And then at the age of 19, I moved to New York and did theatre studies
11:18 and started to put my first plays, my first shows, concerts
11:23 with actors from the school I was in, rented theatres,
11:28 working in restaurants to pay for all of that.
11:31 And yeah, I discovered opera.
11:33 People told me I have a voice for opera.
11:35 So I did a lot of opera and went to Russia in St. Petersburg
11:38 where I studied at the Mariinsky Theatre.
11:41 And from there, you know, followed a nice career in Europe
11:45 and also in the US and mostly in opera.
11:48 And then step by step, desire to produce and to create and innovate
11:53 in the way I wanted to bring opera and the way I wanted to bring shows.
11:57 And right away, my signature, which is still applicable to this day,
12:02 where I would take a material, I will rewrite it, I will adapt it,
12:06 like taking a Shakespeare classic and make it Jewish, you know,
12:10 or make it or make a musical simply about it,
12:13 or take a play and add music around it,
12:16 like I did with The Merchant of Venice,
12:18 where I did classic Jewish song of the era, this kind of stuff.
12:22 So it was my signature to take this classic, adapt it to make it younger,
12:26 fresher, but also to do the role in it and also to direct and produce it.
12:31 Taking care of the whole aspect, you know,
12:34 I was like a one man company and doing it all
12:38 and started from playing in basements to even stadium.
12:44 And that worked pretty, pretty well.
12:46 And then I started for the last 10 years to be a little bit more involved in the US.
12:51 And, for example, in Morocco, I have created the first national opera company
12:56 in partnership with the Moroccan government.
12:59 So that's a big achievement.
13:01 And it's the first time that a civilian creates a national opera company.
13:06 So that meant a lot for me.
13:08 And just following the destiny, the path of bringing now, you know,
13:12 French musicals to the US,
13:14 but also bringing American musicals to France
13:17 and writing now my own plays, which are opening soon.
13:21 And for the last, I would say, four years,
13:24 I started to direct and produce my first my own movies.
13:28 So I was acting as an actor in movies before,
13:31 but now I started to direct them.
13:34 I did one, The Battle Fashion Designer,
13:36 and Ameli Tahari, which was a big success.
13:38 And from that movie, I got 12 more movies.
13:43 What I learned as directing movies,
13:45 I applied it when I direct musicals.
13:47 So the visual aspect changed,
13:49 the way the actors are acting also on the close ups,
13:53 not just from the point of view from the last seat of the theater,
13:57 but that also definitely changed my way of bringing things.
14:03 But I always go back to my love.
14:06 And I want to tell you, my dear Dani,
14:08 that the first musical I saw in my life was The Phantom of the Opera.
14:12 And I know you're the big specialist.
14:15 And one of the first Broadway songs I learned,
14:17 as a matter of fact, was Music of the Night.
14:19 So I started with the easiest thing.
14:23 And I think I'm the only one who sang The Phantom of the Opera
14:29 at the Paris Opera, the Garnier Opera.
14:32 There was a bank who did a big gala.
14:35 They privatized the whole thing
14:37 and they hired me to play The Phantom in it.
14:42 So it was... I know you're a specialist,
14:44 a big fan of The Phantom,
14:46 so I wanted to squeeze you that info.
14:49 [Music]
14:57 Nighttime charm
15:00 Heightened speech
15:03 Sensation
15:06 Tautness
15:09 Ignis
15:11 Imagination
15:14 Silent
15:16 Silence
15:18 Abandon
15:20 Silence
15:24 [Music]
15:34 Slowly, gently
15:38 I did my first explanto
15:42 Rusty, stanky
15:46 Tremulous and tender
15:51 Turn your face away
15:53 From the garish light of the day
15:57 Turn your thoughts away
16:01 From the gloomy night
16:05 And listen to the music of the night
16:13 Close your eyes
16:16 And surrender to your pal, yes, please
16:20 And your thoughts of the world
16:23 Use your eyes
16:29 And listen to soul
16:39 And you'll live as you've never lived before
16:49 Softly, gently
16:53 Music shall caress you
16:57 Heal it, heal it
17:01 Secretly possess you
17:05 Open up your mind
17:08 Let your fantasies unwind
17:12 In this darkness, which you know you cannot hide
17:18 The darkest sound, the music of the night
17:26 Let your voice have a journey
17:30 Just make it worth
17:33 Leave your thoughts of the world you knew before
17:39 Let your soul take you where you've never been
17:46 Only then can you belong to me
18:01 Floating, calm
18:06 Spreading, constriction
18:12 Touch, trust, savour each sensation
18:20 Let a dream begin
18:24 Let your talk assign it in
18:28 To the power of the music that I write
18:37 To the power of the music of the night
18:43 [Instrumental]
19:08 Hello, can you hear my song tonight?
19:14 Help me make the music of the night
19:26 [Instrumental]
19:42 You are listening to Behind the Mirror of Music with Danny Cohen on No Barriers Radio.
19:51 You just heard David Cerreiro with Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera.
19:56 Tomorrow marks 37 years of Phantom, which we'll be celebrating later on in this episode.
20:03 Now, back to our guest, David Cerreiro.
20:06 One of your biggest roles in France was Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha.
20:12 Don Quixote from Man of La Mancha was really a dream for me because it's one of these lead roles for baritone
20:20 because a lot of them are for tenors or you're playing the bad guy.
20:24 So this one is really heroic and it was really one of my favourite roles.
20:30 First time I played it was 11, 12 years ago, I think.
20:33 And it was in Paris and I produced it, not directed, but produced it.
20:38 I had the idea of putting it together in a new version and it was really extraordinary.
20:44 One of the most beautiful thing I've done.
20:48 It brought me so much and I learned every time I play a different role,
20:52 I play over 50 lead theatrical roles, such as whether it's Shakespeare, musicals, etc.
20:58 And I always took from the role, for me in my personal life,
21:03 of course, you put a little bit of yourself in the role.
21:05 I wanted to take from the role and that role taught me so much about
21:12 being afraid of saying your vision of the world and believing in the good of people.
21:19 And it might sound romantic like this, but it really is something when you apply it every day.
21:26 That was one of my favourite, favourite roles.
21:29 And I had a phenomenal cast with a big star, Jean Manson, who is American originally.
21:35 And she moved to France, I think 40 years ago, if not more.
21:39 And she's a big star. She sold, I don't know, 40 million albums in France and the rest of the world.
21:45 And she played Aldonza, which she played 30 years before that, when she just got in France.
21:51 So really extraordinary.
21:53 Man of La Mancha is one of the most beautiful, memorable musicals.
21:57 And I thank the authors who gave me the rights to do it.
22:01 You also did a production of Cyrano. Was it one of your own?
22:05 Absolutely. Thank you for saying that.
22:08 Because Cyrano, you know, I played it in Paris a few times in French, you know,
22:13 as part of the French patrimoine, you know, we say it's part of the really French history.
22:19 It's that playing, it's French in all the way.
22:23 In America, I wanted to bring it, but I never found really a good translation, a good adaptation.
22:31 Because I have in my head the French rhythm, the rhymes, they are rhymes,
22:37 which are part of the musicality of the play.
22:40 And I thought that was important to have it reflected.
22:44 So not only I did a new translation, but I did a new adaptation
22:49 that came back really, really from the origin French book.
22:53 Because a lot of translations I read were adaptation of adaptation.
22:58 So we were losing really the sense, really didn't mean anything.
23:03 So I had to go back and not only I translated it, I adapted it, but I made it, you know,
23:09 I made it my way a little bit. I added jokes, I added comedy, a little bit more comedy.
23:15 And I added music around it, which was absolutely beautiful moment.
23:20 What are some of your favorite productions to create or to play?
23:25 If I tell you that this is my next one.
23:29 It's always like that, you know.
23:33 I am proud of every single production I've done.
23:38 Of course, when you start, you don't know, you don't have the money,
23:42 you don't have the experience, you're afraid to say to the technician,
23:46 please put less light or more light at that moment, etc.
23:51 One thing that I'm not afraid anymore is really, really to search the best cast
23:58 and to really work with the cast individually to make them grow.
24:03 Because I can assure you, they're not the same on the first day of rehearsal
24:08 than on the last, not just last day of rehearsal, but the last show.
24:12 Because every show I film them, after each show I write notes that I give before the next show.
24:19 So I'm proud, mostly proud that I've been doing that for every single show
24:27 for at least the last 13, 15 years almost.
24:30 And the more it goes, the more I'm more into details.
24:35 Especially now we film a lot of the theater, which is good,
24:39 because then your work can travel.
24:42 I have television in Pakistan who broadcast one of my shows.
24:47 I would have never had that before.
24:49 I would have never had the opportunity to have me bringing all my cast and all of that
24:56 to travel to Pakistan to play.
24:57 So the fact that it's just a file that can travel, I think this is wonderful.
25:02 And we have to have that.
25:04 My show played in Buenos Aires, in Argentina, in festivals,
25:08 and I'm very, very happy of that.
25:11 I will say my favorite roles is Don Quixote, Serrano, Otello,
25:17 Shylock from The Merchant of Venice, and Otto Frank, of course.
25:22 These are really, really roles that I can say I nailed them down.
25:26 I really did something special, only that was not necessarily done before.
25:33 That's what I'm happy about.
25:35 But of course, you know, Don roles like Richard III,
25:38 I don't think I changed the game by doing Richard III.
25:41 But I'm happy I did it.
25:43 But definitely for, whether it was Otello, whether it was Merchant of Venice,
25:48 or Serrano, or Gore Moises from The Ten Commandments,
25:52 all these roles, you know, they live in me every day.
25:55 It's like an old friend who is always with you, you know,
25:58 they're right around the corner.
26:00 Your Sunday trip to the theater with Danny Cohen on No Barriers Radio.
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28:52 You are listening to Behind the Mirror music with Danny Cohen on No Barriers Radio.
28:58 You just heard my guest David Serrero with I Don't Give a Dirty from Men of La Mancha.
29:03 Now, David, what are some of your favorite stage memories?
29:07 Oh, I'm thinking about now, I don't know why, but I'm thinking about opening night of Anne Frank.
29:17 When you have the bravo, you are backstage and then you come one by one and you bow and etc.
29:25 And I will never forget I was backstage, I was the last one to come because I'm auto and there was Anne right after me.
29:31 And the surprise, not the surprise, but the shock to arrive on stage and see every single member of the audience standing up and applauding and most of them crying and all of that.
29:48 It was really a beautiful memory, but I lived it when I did Moses from the Ten Commandments and so on before.
29:56 Yeah, the Men of La Mancha also, but I would say every stage memory is exciting if you know how to learn from it and to celebrate it.
30:06 Like when I'm on stage, I celebrate the fact that I am allowed to be on stage, to exist on stage.
30:15 And I can't wait for you to come to see Anne Frank. We're opening October 15th and we're going to play.
30:20 We have 10 performances. First one is October 11th. It's a preview for a beautiful cast and I love them to death.
30:27 And we're going to give you a great show. And my dear friend Jean-Pierre Didat is coming also, the composer.
30:36 So we're going to have a blast.
30:39 Thank you so much.
30:42 Danny, God bless you, my dear. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you so much.
30:45 My interview with David Cerreiro on Anne Frank, a musical, which will open on October 11 at the Actors Temple Theatre in New York.
30:55 You are listening to Behind the Mirror of Music with Danny Cohn on No Barriers Radio.
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