The Book Thief musical turns its next page with West End concert

After “basically begging” Zusak for the rights, the team set out to create a piece that did the book justice. “I’m a novelist and I was so jealous when I read the book, I wish I’d written it. There aren’t many books that have the joy of being narrated by a character like Death,” Picoult adds. For this production, Melanie La Barrie has joined the cast to play Death. “I think most people, if they read the novel, they’d assume Death was a white man,” McDonald says. The team, however, never saw the character like that. “Death in this version is a woman who has a feminine energy and is a mother, and has a duty to do this job,” Jackson-Greaves adds. “[La Barrie is] one of the most extraordinary storytellers in the UK”.

It will also be the first time The Book Thief is performed in the West End. “We’re really excited to show this version specifically in London, it feels like the right time in the world, but also the right time in the process to share it,” Jackson-Greaves says. Having Death as the narrator, with an ensemble of the dead, makes the production distinctive. “There’s nothing like this on right now,” says Jackson-Greaves. “You’re seeing the world through the eyes of Death, there aren’t many productions that say they can do that, and that is almost impossible and utterly brilliant as a challenge for someone like me.”

The result is a musical that takes Zusak’s poetic story and injects it with new life. “We all felt the writing was already musicalised; it made our job very easy,” says Anderson, one half of the songwriting team. A musical felt like the natural form for The Book Thief. “As an art form, it is good at making people feel,” says Picoult. The novel’s emotional core lies in its unique depiction of young Liesel’s discovery of the power of books and words against a backdrop of war and division. “When I read it, it automatically felt to me like a love letter to humanity,” Samsel, the co-composer, says. “The show has become something that inspires positivity, hope and human kindness. I think that is a very important message both now and always.”
Continues...

Of course, the subject matter is not the most obvious choice for a musical. “I think there’s been this notion that musical theatre can’t handle dark stories or things of a political nature,” Samsel says. “But really it has been done forever: look at Cabaret, look at Les Mis.” McDonald agrees: “There’s a kinetic energy that goes beyond the spoken word... when people sing in a show it’s because the words have so much emotion they must sing.” Picoult adds: “I think if this had been done as a play, it would run the risk of the audience feeling like they’re being lectured a little bit.”

That sense of defiance and heartfelt urgency also shaped the show’s music, which draws on styles that the Nazis themselves tried to silence. With jazz and classical sounds, the score is quite different to Samsel and Anderson’s previous work. “We’ve done a lot for Disney, we’re typically known for being more like pop writers,” Anderson explains. “Music was censored by the Nazi party in Germany and jazz was banned. We wanted the score to represent every message that we’ve ever wanted to convey about human kindness.”

The concert itself will be “an embodiment of what the show is” with full choreography and staging. “It’s a hugely ensemble piece, lots of brilliant collaboration with choreography and movement, with the music, and how they can work together to show things that are impossible to stage realistically,” Jackson Greaves adds.

Fans of the book need not worry; the musical has Zusak’s seal of approval. But how did it feel showing him the early stages? “Oh, we were terrified,” laughs Picoult. “When you have a book so magnificent, the thought of ruining it is very, very real.” But the team needn’t have worried. “He came to us with notes and all of them echoed what we were all feeling in our guts as well,” says McDonald.

Above all, the team hope that the note with which audiences leave is one of joy and lasting hope. “The human race can be really terrible to each other, and that’s important. So we had to make sure there was an importance to what we’re telling, too,” McDonald explains. And they believe wholeheartedly that audiences will leave feeling moved. Picoult concludes: “It is about heroism, and it’s about how anyone can utilise hope and can be an ordinary hero.”

The Book Thief will play the Prince of Wales Theatre in a concert production on 19 and 26 October, starring Melanie La Barrie. Visit delfontmackintosh.co.uk