It will happen to you: you are a crazy musical fan and can, together with your bestie, translate one of Disney’s most famous musicals. It happened to Orihana Calcines (26) and Ryan van der Heijden (26) from The Hague .
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On Sunday 23 April the world premiere of the new version of the musical Disney’s AIDA will take place in the circus theater in Scheveningen . Not only the crew and part of the cast come from our region, the lyrics are also written by neighbors.
Rijswijks Jeugdtheater
Both Ryan and Orihana grew up in The Hague and went to school here. When they were eight years old, they both started drama lessons at the Rijswijks Jeugdtheater. “Something we both still really enjoy doing,” says Orihana.
“Despite the fact that we both took classes there, we didn’t really get to know each other until we were eighteen”, says Ryan. “It was actually quite a coincidence because I was doing an internship at the Residentie Orkest at the time and I needed a camerawoman. That became Orihana.”
Passion for music and… lyrics
Together, the two played in several musicals and discovered, in addition to theatre, music and singing, yet another passion: working on translations of musicals. “I was born in South America and therefore grew up trilingual,” says Orihana “Then I would hear or read such a translated text and I would think: ‘It’s not like that at all!’.”
Together, Ryan and Orihana have now translated and even written many small musicals for, for example, theater education. Now they have been able to translate one of the most famous musicals in the world. How do you do that?
Orihana: “Well, actually we just wrote a letter to Stage Entertainment (the producer of musicals like Aladdin and The Bodyguard, among others) that we wanted to be included in the translator’s file. Then we were soon told that translators were being sought for AIDA and we auditioned”. Ryan adds: “It all went very quickly, we first made a small test translation and we sang it during the audition. I don’t know if that was the deciding factor, but they thought that was special.”
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Collaborating for Disney
In the meantime, their texts for AIDA have passed through many hands (and throats). “We wrote for quite a long time and during rehearsals the script changes every day. All scenes of the musical have been redone from the earlier version. We never saw it ourselves, because we were five or so at the time. But we do know the CD.”
Ryan: “The songs have hardly changed, the lyrics come from Martine Bijl. We were allowed to adjust a few parts of the songs so that the story is now completely correct. All texts must be approved by Disney and screenwriter David Henry Wang. We found that exciting at the beginning, but the collaboration is actually going very smoothly.”
Almost premiere
The past few months have been according to the duo a real rollercoaster. “We’re really looking forward to the premiere, I’m so curious to see what people will think,” says Orihana. “It is of course incredibly unique that we were able to translate this musical together and even have contact with Tim Rice who made the music for the show together with Elton John.”
And what do you see for the future ? “After so much stress, we first need to relax,” says Orihana. “But after that they can call us for the musical Hamilton.”
AFAS Circustheater
Circusstraat 4, 2586 CW Den Haag
Now open
Read also:
Pride! The main roles in the musical AIDA are all played by Hagenaars
That Disney’s AIDA will come to Scheveningen when the musical Aladdin ends in December, was already happy news. But now it turns out…
Together, the two played in several musicals and discovered, in addition to theatre, music and singing, yet another passion: working on translations of musicals. “I was born in South America and therefore grew up trilingual,” says Orihana “Then I would hear or read such a translated text and I would think: ‘It’s not like that at all!’.”
Together, Ryan and Orihana have now translated and even written many small musicals for, for example, theater education. Now they have been able to translate one of the most famous musicals in the world. How do you do that?
Orihana: “Well, actually we just wrote a letter to Stage Entertainment (the producer of musicals like Aladdin and The Bodyguard, among others) that we wanted to be included in the translator’s file. Then we were soon told that translators were being sought for AIDA and we auditioned”. Ryan adds: “It all went very quickly, we first made a small test translation and we sang it during the audition. I don’t know if that was the deciding factor, but they thought that was special.”
Loading advertisement…
Collaborating for Disney
In the meantime, their texts for AIDA have passed through many hands (and throats). “We wrote for quite a long time and during rehearsals the script changes every day. All scenes of the musical have been redone from the earlier version. We never saw it ourselves, because we were five or so at the time. But we do know the CD.”
Ryan: “The songs have hardly changed, the lyrics come from Martine Bijl. We were allowed to adjust a few parts of the songs so that the story is now completely correct. All texts must be approved by Disney and screenwriter David Henry Wang. We found that exciting at the beginning, but the collaboration is actually going very smoothly.”
Almost premiere
The past few months have been according to the duo a real rollercoaster. “We’re really looking forward to the premiere, I’m so curious to see what people will think,” says Orihana. “It is of course incredibly unique that we were able to translate this musical together and even have contact with Tim Rice who made the music for the show together with Elton John.”
And what do you see for the future ? “After so much stress, we first need to relax,” says Orihana. “But after that they can call us for the musical Hamilton.”
AFAS Circustheater
Circusstraat 4, 2586 CW Den Haag
Now open
Read also:
Pride! The main roles in the musical AIDA are all played by Hagenaars
That Disney’s AIDA will come to Scheveningen when the musical Aladdin ends in December, was already happy news. But now it turns out…
In the meantime, their texts for AIDA have passed through many hands (and throats). “We wrote for quite a long time and during rehearsals the script changes every day. All scenes of the musical have been redone from the earlier version. We never saw it ourselves, because we were five or so at the time. But we do know the CD.”
Ryan: “The songs have hardly changed, the lyrics come from Martine Bijl. We were allowed to adjust a few parts of the songs so that the story is now completely correct. All texts must be approved by Disney and screenwriter David Henry Wang. We found that exciting at the beginning, but the collaboration is actually going very smoothly.”
Almost premiere
The past few months have been according to the duo a real rollercoaster. “We’re really looking forward to the premiere, I’m so curious to see what people will think,” says Orihana. “It is of course incredibly unique that we were able to translate this musical together and even have contact with Tim Rice who made the music for the show together with Elton John.”
And what do you see for the future ? “After so much stress, we first need to relax,” says Orihana. “But after that they can call us for the musical Hamilton.”
AFAS Circustheater
Circusstraat 4, 2586 CW Den Haag
Now open
The past few months have been according to the duo a real rollercoaster. “We’re really looking forward to the premiere, I’m so curious to see what people will think,” says Orihana. “It is of course incredibly unique that we were able to translate this musical together and even have contact with Tim Rice who made the music for the show together with Elton John.”
And what do you see for the future ? “After so much stress, we first need to relax,” says Orihana. “But after that they can call us for the musical Hamilton.”
AFAS Circustheater
Circusstraat 4, 2586 CW Den Haag
Now open
Circusstraat 4, 2586 CW Den Haag
Now open
Read also:
Pride! The main roles in the musical AIDA are all played by Hagenaars
That Disney’s AIDA will come to Scheveningen when the musical Aladdin ends in December, was already happy news. But now it turns out…
Pride! The main roles in the musical AIDA are all played by Hagenaars
That Disney’s AIDA will come to Scheveningen when the musical Aladdin ends in December, was already happy news. But now it turns out…
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