A familiar story. A stunning musical.
Book and Lyrics by Enid Futterman
Music by Michael Cohen
COMING IN FALL, 2010
1947 marked the first appearance of Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl. Since then, her chronicle of life in "The Secret Annex" has been translated into 67 languages. Next to the bible, it is the most widely read non fiction book in the world. Anne Frank's story, while tragic, was certainly not unique. The story of Anne Frank opens the door to the study and exploration of the Holocaust, and Music Theatre of Madison's production heightens an already powerful story with beautiful music. With the musical Yours, Anne, MTM invites audiences to learn about Anne Frank, what happened after her family was discovered, and the historical significance her story.
With this production, MTM also encourages a discussion amongst audiences regarding the dramatization of Anne's story, the ways in which her story has been told, and the ways in which it has been manipulated. Click here for more information on this phenomenon.
Explore this page for lots of links and information about Anne, including a biography, historical background, and an up to date list of articles showing how Anne's story is still very present in our society to this day.
ANNE FRANK IN THE NEWS
A chronicle of select major news stories regarding Anne Frank, starting in September 2009 and going all the way up through the run of our production in September 2010. Check often for updates!
(Note: Compulsion is a new play by Rinnie Groff that deals with a fictionalized version of Meyer Levin, the author who became obsessed with adapting Anne's story for the stage.)
Playbill.com: "Compelled by Compulsion" 2/18/10
St. Louis Post Dispatch: "Anne Frank persona has gone through nonstop recreation" 2/14/10
Ynet News: "France fights anti-Semitism with Anne Frank diary in Persian" 2/12/10
Public Broadcasting Atlanta: "Anne Frank exhibit opens in Sandy Springs" 2/08/2010
Preview of Yale Rep's "Compulsion" 2/04/10
Yale Daily News: "Compulsion" presents a new side of the Anne Frank story" 2/03/10
The Washingon Post: "Anne Frank's Diary is back on Culpeper schools' reading list" 2/02/10
The Washington Post: "School System in Virginia won't teach version of Anne Frank book" 1/29/10
The Globe and Mail: "The Many Lives of Anne Frank's diary" 1/29/10
The New York Times: Miep Gies, Protector of Anne Frank, dies at 100". 1/11/10
The New York Times: "Tracing the Many Lives of Anne Frank and Her Still Vivid Wartime Diary" 9/30/09
NPR: "Francine Prose explores Anne Frank's literary genius" 9/26/09
MTV News: "David Mamet's 'The Diary of Anne Frank' rejected by the Walt Disney Company" 9/25/09
ABOUT THE ERA
ADOLF HITLER
The Nazi (National Socialist German Workers) party under Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. Hitler had long been outspoken about his dislike of the Jewish people. His 1925 book Mein Kampf detailed his intention to drive the Jews from Europe, alleging a Jewish conspiracy for world power. Hitler's planned anihilation of the Jewish people took effect almost immediately after the Nazis came to power in Germany. The rights of German Jews became more and more limited throughout the 1930s. The Nurmberg Laws of 1935 made it illegal for Jews to marry Aryans (non Jews), annulled the marriages of Aryans and Jews, stripped German Jews of their citizenships and took away their civil rights. In 1938 Ernst Vom Rath, a German diplomat, was assassinated by a Jew named Herschel Grynszpan. Upon hearing of this, Hitler sparked Kristallnacht ("The Night of Broken Glass"), which was an assault on Jewish properties throughout Germany and Austria. These properties included over 7000 storefronts, 200 synagogues, and countless homes. The official count of murdered Jews during the event is 91, though many believe there to have been far more. Between 25,000 and 30,000 Jews were transported to concentration camps and released only when they could provide proof of their intended emigration or when they allowed all of their properties to be transferred to the Nazis. 1939 marked the Nazi invasion of western Poland, home of about 2 million Jews. Jewish people were confined to ghettos, where many Jews perished due to wretched living conditions. Many also were simply murdered. As the Nazis occupied various European countries, extreme measures such as these continued to be taken. Concentration camps were being used as early as 1933. They became largely populated with Jews, African Americans, homosexuals, gypsies, and others who did not fit the Nazi profile of the "master race". Some were labor camps, where prisoners were worked under cruel conditions and often died of starvation and disease. Others were extermination camps, where prisoners were simply murdered upon arrival. Other locations served as transit camps, where prisoners waited for room to become available in the larger camps. There were also camps that forced people to undergo extreme torture and medical experimentation. This continued until the end of World War II in 1945, when the camps were liberated.
THE ENTRANCE TO AUSCHWITZ. THE WORDS OVER THE ENTRANCE TRANSLATE TO " WORK MAKES YOU FREE"
It is estimated that about 6 million people died as a result of the Holocaust. 1 million of them were children.
ANNE FRANK
ANNE FRANK IN 1942
Anne Frank was born Anneliese Marie Frank in Germany in 1929 and moved with her family to the Netherlands in 1933, which was the same year Hitler's Nazi regime took power in Germany. In 1940 Anne and her family were restricted to living in the Netherlands as part of the German's Nazi occupation of the country. Anne's father, Otto, owned a successful spice factory. But as a Jewish owned business, the company was in danger of being taken from him. Therefore he transferred the company name and all of its assets to Jan Gies, whose wife Miep worked in the factory office. The loss of the business in his own name meant a smaller income for the Franks, but it was enough to survive comfortably. In 1942, for her thirteenth birthday, Anne was given a cloth bound red and white checked book. Anne decided to use the book as a diary. Early on, with a sense of false modesty, she wrote: "For someone like me, it is a very strange habit to write in a diary. Not only that I have never written before, but it strikes me that later neither I, nor anyone else, will care for the outpouring of a thirteen year old schoolgirl."
Shortly after Anne's birthday her sister Margot received a call-up notice to report to a work camp. Otto Frank had begun making plans for the family to go into hiding to escape exactly that fate. When Margot received her notice the family quickly accelerated their plans and moved into several secret rooms located at the back of Otto Frank's office building. Otto left a note in the family's home stating that they had gone to the neutral country of Switzerland. Anne was instructed not to tell any of her friends where she was going, and was also forced to leave behind her beloved cat. The only people who knew the Frank's true location were employees Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies, and Bep Voskuijl, as well as Miep's husband Jan. They would become known as the Frank family "Helpers". Joining the Franks in the hiding place was the family of Hermann Van Pels, a consultant at Otto's company. Hermann, his wife, and their 15 year old son Peter were family friends, but Anne did not know them very well.
OTTO FRANK'S OFFICE BUILDING (LEFT), BEHIND WHICH WAS THE SECRET ANNEX
THE ENTRANCE TO THE SECRET ANNEX
The Frank family hiding place was quite comfortable given their situation. Many Jews at the time were forced to hide under floor boards and in equally uncomfortable places. The "Secret Annex", as Anne came to call it, had three levels: The first floor had a room for Mr. and Mrs. Frank, a room for Anne and Margot, and a bathroom. Up a flight of stairs was a large living area with a kitchen, which was converted into a bedroom for Mr. and Mrs. Van Pels at night. Off of that room was a small area where Peter Van Pels slept. A second staircase led to an attic. The door to these rooms was concealed by a bookcase on hinges. Four months after moving into the Secret Annex, the famiies were joined by Fritz Pfeffer, a local Jewish dentist. Pfeffer would share the bedroom with Anne and Margot would sleep in the room with her parents. Though excited at first, Anne grew to dislike Pfeffer, a large part of which came from the fact that he would rarely share the desk in their room so that Anne could write. For two years the family remained in hiding, unable to go outside. Anne demonstrates her growth in her diary from little girl to young woman, and a relationship blossoms between her and Peter Van Pels.
On August 4, 1944, Anne and her co-hiders were arrested and sent to Westerbork transit camp. Shortly after, all were sent to Auschwitz, the largest of the German concentration camps. Eventually Anne and her sister Margot were sent to Bergen-Belsen. It was here that both succumbed to a typhus outbreak. Anne died in March 1945, a few days after her sister. One month later, the camp was liberated. All of the inhabitants of the Secret Annex died with the exception of Otto Frank, Anne's father. He remained at Auschwitz until its liberation in 1945. With no news of his family, he returned to the Netherlands, eventually to learn that they had all perished. Miep Gies, however, had found Anne's diary after the family's arrest, and kept it for Otto to read.
THE DIARY
Anne kept her diary faithfully and included great detail about her life in the Secret Annex from 1942-1944. Recording her most private thoughts, she vowed often that no one would ever be allowed to read it. However, in March, 1944, she heard on the radio that a member of the Dutch government wished to compile an account of those who had suffered during the war, and that he would use diaries and letters as part of his compilation. Anne then decided to begin editing her diary. She used pseudonyms for her family and friends, and edited certain information she had included. She did this on looseleaf paper. When Otto found the diary and endeavored to have it published, he used a combination of both the original and the edited versions.
What Mr. Frank ommitted were several pages detailing Anne's feelings about her mother, her observation of her parents' seemingly loveless marriage, and passages about her sexuality. These pages were recovered in 1999 and have been published in all subsequent editions of the diary.
Otto was first successful at getting the diary published in Europe. After initial hesitations, it was a huge success across the continent, and Otto began to shop it to publishers in the United States. Most were not interested, but Meyer Levin, an American writer, read a copy while visiting Spain and campaigned to have it published in the United States. Levin and Otto Frank were first friends and then rivals. Levin wanted to dramatize the diary for the Broadway stage, but his adaptation was eventually phased out in favor of one that had a more universal appeal. Otto even said to Levin "Don't make this a Jewish play." There are several accounts of how Levin was pushed aside...he maintained he was unfairly ousted and that his material from his original play was stolen. He was awarded $50,000 in damages for this claim.
Regardless, The Diary of Anne Frank was made into a very successful, award winning Broadway play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. It was then rewritten for the screen in 1959, starring Millie Perkins as Anne and Shelley Winters as Mrs. Van Daan. More film and television adaptations followed, and the play was widely produced regionally across the country and overseas. Meanwhile, Anne's diary itself was translated into 67 languages and became, next to the Bible, the most widely read nonfiction book in the world. Melissa Muller wrote a biography of Anne in 1998, endeavoring to explore the entire life of this young woman outside of her diary. The book was made into a successful television miniseries entitled Anne Frank: The Whole Story, starring Ben Kingsley as Otto Frank. The miniseries was the first to dramatize what happened after Anne and her family were arrested. The film shows graphic depictions of concentration camp life and illustrates the conditions Anne and her family were forced to live in. Anne Frank's diary has become required reading in countless classrooms across the country, and her story continues to be dramatized today. The Internet Movie Database shows several upcoming adapatations of the work. Development began on a Disney adaptation written by controversial, gritty playwright David Mamet in 2009. However, Disney rejected Mamet's script because it was "too dark."
Yours, Anne uses music to add to the suspense and gives a heart wrenching tone to an already dramatic story. Much of the emotional weight of the story is conveyed through the music, which makes Yours, Anne a unique adaptation and a wonderful way for audiences to rediscover this story...or see it for the first time.
A MEMORIAL FOR ANNE AND MARGOT AT THE SITE OF THE FORMER BERGEN BELSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP
LINKS
(This is by no means a complete list! There are countless resources on Anne, the Holocaust, and the diary)
United States Anne Frank Center