The Neverending Story, The Musical
Those who read the Mononoke Cafe post will not be surprised that I am a fan of Haku, the flying dragon which Chihiro/Sen rides in Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away. (Which is an excellent Halloween movie, by the way.)
But Sen and Haku were not the first human and dragon partnership in my life. So you can imagine my delight when, walking home on a warm evening in July, I looked up and saw this:
It took me a second to make the Spanish to English translation - but La Historia Interminable, El Musical - Yes, The Neverending Story, The Musical - was coming to Zaragoza: The boy Bastian, the warrior Atreyu, and the flying dragon Falkor were coming to a theater near me!
Now maybe you saw The Neverending Story movie growing up (click here for a refresher), or maybe you're more of a Stranger Things fan (click here for that clip). Maybe you read the original novel Die unendliche Geschichte by Michael Ende, or its translation into another language. (More on the novel here.)
Or maybe you're like me and wrote a 20+ page paper in college analyzing the second half of the novel (which details Bastian's adventures in Fantasia) in reference to Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey....
Whatever your history is with The Neverending Story - apparently there's a musical now? There is in Spanish! While I'm a fan of the Story, I can't say the MUSIC from the movie is something I was ever all that excited about. I made it my mission to memorize the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Turtle Power" rap song growing up, but the "Neverending Story Theme" didn't make that kind of impression on me (as it must have others, I guess). I have a love/hate relationship with musicals, so I was skeptical - and yet really curious and hopeful. Ultimately my family lovingly and graciously gifted me a trip to the theater to see the show.
This was our first trip to the Teatro Principal in Zaragoza. Here's a look inside! First from our seats:
And then here's the ceiling:
Maybe the theater was a little well loved around the edges, if you take my meaning, but we arrived early, found our seats, and eagerly awaited the show.
The author of the book was not a fan of the movie adaptation, so I was curious how the musical was going to adapt the text to the stage. I've only seen the original movie, and not the sequels, so I don't have that as a reference. And I haven't read the book in Spanish, so let's just say that I wasn't primed for all the unfamiliar words which were suddenly flying and being sung for my entertainment.
What I can say is that I enjoyed an afternoon at the theater with my family. My favorite song was probably the one about science vs. magic (by the historians at the Southern Oracle), but the tap-dancing spiders were also a highlight. The musical worked in some of the elements of the book without straying too far from the movie that most are probably more familiar with - but in departing from the movie, it did provide more character development and catharsis for Bastian.
There were animatronic fantasy creatures of impressive proportions, and the costumes were eclectic and befitting a fantasy environment. And yes, we got to see Bastian ride Falkor!
What the show did best was to create entertainment for all ages - it was a family show. It was fun, it was scary, it was dark, it was thrilling - it was an adventure. There was fog, thunder, rain, snow, bubbles (and smoke bubbles) - and the characters joined us in the theater at various points. We were like Bastian, experiencing the book with all our senses.
With that, we returned to our daily lives here in Zaragoza, with another adventure surely awaiting us....
***
"This is a wonderful story: that which we intend, that which is the journey, that which is the goal, is the fulfillment of something that never was on earth before – namely, your own potentiality. Every thumbprint is different from every other. Every cell and structure in your body is different from that of anyone who has ever been on earth before, so you have to work it out yourself, taking your clues from here and there." Campbell, Joseph. Transformations of Myth Through Time, p. 212.
I'm also a fan of the Dragonlance fantasy book The Legend of Huma by Richard A. Knaak.
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