Rebecca (musical)

A young woman, "I", dreamily walks among "shadows"; in the background, Manderley appears destroyed by fire ("Ich hab geträumt von Manderley"). "I" reveals her "paid companion" clothes, as she is transported to a hotel in Monte Carlo in April 1926. Her employer is a wealthy American, Mrs. Van Hopper ("Du wirst niemals eine Lady"). Widowed, aristocratic Maxim de Winter enters, as the hotel guests gossip ("Er verlor unerwartet seine Frau, Rebecca"). In the dramatic hills near Monte Carlo, Maxim kisses "I", his worldly charm sweeping the inexperienced girl off her feet. Back in the hotel, "I" is told that she is to return to New York. She reflects on the memories she shared with Maxim. ("Zeit in einer Flashe") Moments later, Maxim comes in and asks "I" to marry him.

Maxim and "I" honeymoon in Italy and then drive up to his stately Cornwall estate, Manderley. The servants enter and talk about what they’d think their new mistress will be like. ("Die neue Mrs. de Winter"). The haughty head housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, who oversees the well-organized servants, is cold and hostile to "I". Later, in the morning room, Mrs. Danvers is alone lamenting about Maxim's first wife, Rebecca ("Sie ergibt sich nicht"). "I" comes in and accidentally breaks a statue of Cupid; she is frightened. Mrs. Danvers fears that she is an unworthy replacement for the beautiful, elegant and mysterious Rebecca. Maxim's sister Beatrice and her husband Giles arrive at Manderley to meet "I". The three get along well and are in a happy mood ("Die lieben Verwandten"). In the library, "I" becomes tipsy and Mrs. Danvers comes in to tell Maxim that the Cupid statue is broken. "I" admits to doing it, causing a fight between her and Maxim ("Bist du glücklich - Bist du böse"). At night, "I" and Maxim reflect on how they are seeking solace in each other ("Hilf mir durch die Nacht"). At her house, Beatrice reflects on her affection for her brother and how he has changed in the past year ("Was ist nur los mit ihm"). In Rebecca's room, Rebecca's cousin Jack Favell tries Mrs. Danvers' patience ("Sie war gewohnt geliebt zu werden"), arguing about Rebecca's possessions and the fact that Rebecca “loved him” and that he was “her favorite cousin”. "I" comes in and meets Favell who tells her not to tell Maxim he was at Manderley. "I" and Mrs. Danvers discuss an upcoming masked ball and Danvers suggests "I" wear a dress that copies a portrait of one of Maxim's ancestors. Unbeknownst to "I", this is part of Mrs. Danvers's plan to humiliate her. Then, Mrs. Danvers worshipfully describes Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who drowned while sailing on Maxim's sailboat a year earlier.

Members of an elite golf club gossip about Maxim and his new wife ("Wir sind British"). Later, Ben, a mentally handicapped man, is in the boat house ("Sie's fort") and meets "I". He rambles about how she is better than Rebecca until Maxim returns and finds that "I" is near the boathouse. This causes Maxim to fly into a rage due to his dark memories ("Gott, warum"). Frank Crawley is in his office discussing the upcoming ball as well as the late Rebecca with "I". He reassures her that she doesn't need to be just like Rebecca to gain Maxim's love and be socially respected ("Ehrlichkeit und vertrauen"). Later at the ball, everyone is waltzing ("Der Ball von Manderley"). Mrs. Van Hopper enters ("I'm an American Woman"). "I" is in her room in the dress Mrs. Danvers suggested she wear, hoping to impress both the guests and Maxim ("Heut' nacht verzauber' ich die Welt"). She emerges and begins to descend the staircase to the party. The guests freeze in horror, realizing that the dress "I" is wearing is the same one Rebecca had worn at last year's ball. Maxim bursts into fury and "I" runs upstairs crying, while Mrs. Danvers looks on malevolently.

At night, "I" stands outside Rebecca's room hoping to sort out the previous night's accident, while Mrs. Danvers is inside the room ("Und das, und das, und das"). Mrs. Danvers makes "I" uncomfortable and she runs off when Mrs. Danvers menaces her ("Tu nicht, was sie empört!" ... "Nur ein schritt"). At the seaside, the people of Cornwall find the remains of a shipwreck and with it, Rebecca's boat with her body inside the cabin("Flotsam and Jetsam"). "I" runs to the boat house and sees Ben and a disheveled Maxim, who had gone to help the sailors. He tells "I" that Rebecca was a manipulative and deceitful person and that he never really loved her. After he confronted Rebecca about her multiple affairs, an altercation between the two ensued, in which Maxim snapped and pushed Rebecca, causing her to hit her head and die from a concussion. He had panickedly hid the body in the boat. ("Now she has returned" ... "No smile was ever so cold"). Maxim is suspected of having killed Rebecca, and an investigation is taking place. The next morning in the house, Beatrice is panicking about the hearing but notices and subsequently compliments "I"'s newfound confidence (Die Stärker Einer Frau). "I" confronts Mrs. Danvers, having had enough of her unfair treatment, and makes some changes in the house's decor, discarding all of Rebecca's items ("Mrs. de Winter bin Ich"). "I" is now a confident woman; when she breaks the Cupid statue again, she is no longer frightened.

At a nearby courtroom, a hearing takes place, with Maxim and Horridge, the coroner, at odds. "I" faints, and everyone returns to Manderley. Danvers and Favell arrive at Manderley and go to the library. Mrs. Danvers leaves and Favell remains in the library ("Eine Hand wäscht die andre"). Frank and "I" unsuccessfully try to get him to leave. Favell tries to blackmail Maxim with a letter from Rebecca and accuses him of murdering her but lacks sufficient proof so he calls Mrs. Danvers and asks for Rebecca's diary. It is revealed that Rebecca had gone to see a man named Dr. Baker on the day she died. Favell assumes she was pregnant and Maxim killed her out of jealousy because the nonexistent child wasn't his but no one knows the real reason. Standing by her husband, "I" takes initiative, deciding to visit Dr. Baker in London to find out why Rebecca visited him, while Maxim is ordered to stay at Manderley until the truth is found out. The servants and Mrs. Danvers comment on the situation ("Sie fuhr'n um acht"). Maxim picks up a phone call from "I", who explains that Rebecca was terminally ill with a form of cancer, likely instigating her own death by provoking Maxim because she did not want to die slowly and painfully. Mrs. Danvers overhears and learns that Rebecca was going to die of cancer.

After this liberating news, Maxim can finally remove the picture of Rebecca from Manderley and completely focus on his new wife. Maxim picks up "I" at the train station in Cornwall, and they kiss passionately ("Jenseits der Nacht"). As they prepare to return, they see a red glow in the distance and realise that Manderley is in flames. Maxim and "I" hurry home as the servants run around with buckets of water ("Feuer, feuer, Manderley in Flammen!"). Mrs. Danvers stands inside the house atop the staircase with Rebecca's nightgown, holding a candelabra in her hand as the flames consume Manderley. Maxim and "I" arrive, and Frank runs towards them. Inside, Danvers inclines the candles to the stairway handrail and sets it ablaze. The house collapses and Mrs. Danvers perishes in the flames together with her memories of Rebecca.

"I" walks dreamily in darkness ("Ich hab getraumt von Manderley" (reprise)). Everyone except Maxim is standing among Manderley's ruins, but now the shadows have faces. Under a bright blue sky, Maxim holds his hand out to "I" who runs to him, and they kiss.

Musical Rebecca in Vienna

Rebecca premiered at the Raimund Theater in Vienna, in German, in September 2006, "where it played to sold-out houses totaling more than three years".[5] It was directed by Zambello and choreographed by Denni L. Sayers, with production design by Davison, costumes by Birgit Hutter and lighting by Andrew Voller. The cast starred Wietske van Tongeren as "Ich" ("I"), Uwe Kröger as Maxim and Susan Rigvava-Dumas as Mrs. Danvers.[6][7] Variety magazine considered the Vienna production a "dream of a show", adding:

Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay deliver a work every bit as compelling as their hit Elisabeth, the most successful German-language musical of all time, while Zambello's dazzling, cinematic production offers storytelling at its best, clearly defining the whirlpool of emotions experienced by the three tortured principal characters. ... Kunze's deft lyrics take us deep into the psyches of the never-named heroine (simply called "I"); moody, mercurial Maxim de Winter; obsessive Mrs. Danvers; and even the late Rebecca herself. Levay knows how to write tunes that jam in your head; he delivers the goods with Mrs. Danvers' haunting "Rebecca" and the anthem "The Power of a Woman in Love". ... Designer Peter J. Davison stunningly captures the atmosphere, from heady summer nights on the Riviera to the oppressive decay of Manderley.

Wietske Van Tongeren has all the endearing pipsqueak qualities to make the nameless heroine endearing, expertly conveying the slow transformation from little brown mouse to confident, strong woman. Her performance is marred only by her screechy pop vocal production. ... Kroger has built a substantial career on his pretty-boy looks. As Maxim, they work against him: He seems too young, too fey, too lightweight for such a haunted, world-weary character. His singing, while impassioned, is merely adequate, but he rises to the challenge of confessing his hatred for Rebecca in "No Smile Was Ever as Cold". ... Mrs. Danvers gets the best music, and in Susan Rigvava-Dumas has found a perfect interpreter. ... With a rich mezzo-soprano as her weapon, she embodies evil born of passion and jealousy in a multi-layered turn.[8]

Reviewing the Vienna production on a night when an understudy was playing the protagonist "I", the critic of The Times, Benedict Nightingale, praised the fidelity of the plot to du Maurier's original and rated the staging "up to the most lavish West End visual standards. ... Only the shipwreck that leads to the discovery of Rebecca's body disappoints – and only a gallumphingly Wodehousean golfing number (Wir Sind Britisch) needs excising." Nightingale judged the ending of the musical "forgivably ... a bit more upbeat than the novel's." He found the dancing dull and the music "seldom harsh or imaginative enough" despite "a terrific central song, a soaring, grieving tribute" to Rebecca by "Susan Rigvava Dumas's mesmeric Danvers". He said of Kröger's Max, "though white-hot at moments of crisis, [he] hasn't quite the mix of brooding inwardness and outer sang froid the character needs."[9]

Rebecca was next produced at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo, opening on 6 April 2008. There was a 2010 production and 2018–19 10th anniversary production in Tokyo. In 2010 a studio recording of the Japanese cast was released .

The musical was performed in Helsinki, Finland, at the Helsingin kaupunginteatteri (Helsinki City Theatre) from 28 August 2008 to 9 May 2009,[10] as well as in Kouvola, Finland, at the Kouvolan Teatteri from 11 September 2010.[11]Rebecca played in Budapest, Hungary, on 18 and 19 March 2010 (and later in repertory).[12]

On 7 February 2014 the musical opened in Malmö, Sweden at Malmö Opera. The director was Åsa Melldahl, and the musical director was Anders Eljas.

Productions have also played in Stuttgart, Germany; St. Gallen, Switzerland; Moscow, Russia; Belgrade, Serbia; Bucharest, Romania; and Ostrava, Czechia.[13][14]

In 2009, Ben Sprecher co-produced two English-language readings of Rebecca, hoping to mount West End and Broadway productions of the musical.[5][15] The first, in October 2009, featured Sierra Boggess as "I", Brent Barrett as Maxim and Pia Douwes as Mrs. Danvers.[5][16] The English-language book was written by Christopher Hampton in collaboration with Kunze.[17] The other reading took place in March 2011 in New York, directed by Michael Blakemore and Zambello. The cast featured Boggess as "I", Hugh Panaro as Maxim, Carolee Carmello as Mrs. Danvers and James Barbour as Jack Favell.[18]

A Broadway production was announced twice during 2012, to be co-directed by Blakemore and Zambello and choreographed by Graciela Daniele. However, the producers cancelled both times after financing for the production fell through, even though there were $1 million in advance ticket sales.[19][20] In October 2012, The New York Times reported that four of the "investors" in the proposed Broadway production never existed. Following criminal investigations by the FBI and federal prosecutors in Manhattan,[21][22] Mark Hotton, the middleman who fabricated the fictitious investors, and received $60,000 in fees, was arrested and charged with fraud.[23][24] In January 2013, Sprecher told an interviewer that he hoped to mount the show on Broadway later in 2013.[24] Although the Securities and Exchange Commission pursued no action against Sprecher and his partner,[25] they were unable to raise enough funding for a Broadway opening.[26][27] On 24 April 2017, during a trial in New York State concerning losses from the aborted production, it was announced that Sprecher and Louise Forlenza had lost the rights to produce the show and would not pursue a Broadway run.[28]

Rebecca premiered in Korea in January 2013, and was met with both critical and commercial success. The cast included Yoo Jun-sang, Ryu Jung-han, and Oh Man-seok as Maxim, Lim Hye-young and Kim Bo-kyung as "I", and Ock Joo-hyun and Shin Young-sook as Mrs. Danvers. In the 2013 7th Annual Musical Awards, the production won 5 awards, with Ock Joo-hyun as the Best Featured Actress, Robert Johanson as the Best Director, Jung Seung-Ho as the Best Scenic Designer, Jack Mehler as the Best Lighting Designer, and Kim Ji-Hyeon as the Best Sound Designer.[29]

The Off West End Charing Cross Theatre began the first English-language production on 4 September 2023, which is scheduled to run until 18 November. A smaller-scale production than the Viennese premiere, with an orchestra of 18, it is directed by Alejandro Bonatto in Hampton and Kunze's 's English translation.[30][31] The cast includes Kara Lane as Danvers, Lauren Jones as I (Emily Apps has played the role during Jones's illness), Richard Carson as Maxim and Alex James-Ward as Jack Favell.[32] The production received mixed reviews at best, with many critics expressing disappointment with the direction, the pacing of the plot, the score and the scope of the production; the acting, however, received praise.[33]