Know what we think of when we think of the Holocaust? Chorus girls! All dressed in prison uniforms with their heads shaved and big gold stars sewn on their chests. The kind of stars that light up Broadway. Or Madrid anyway. But not some party poopers. Like Anne Frank’s cousin Buddy Elias. He’s all, “No musicals about Anne Frank!” Mi, mi, mi, mi.

Buddy Elias, Frank’s 82-year-old cousin, who is chairman of the Anne Frank-Fonds, a Swiss-based charitable organization that holds the copyright to “The Diary of a Young Girl,” said: “We are very much against it. The Holocaust is not a theme to be made into a musical.”

He noted, however, that the foundation had no recourse against the musical because it does not quote from the diary.

Bummer.

Rafael Alvero, the director and developer of “The Diary of Anne Frank: A Song to Life,” scheduled to open on Feb. 28 at the Calderón Theater in Madrid, insisted that the show was “very faithful” to the diary.

It’s true. We did hear that scene where Anne Frank breaks into, “I Hope I Get It (The Hell Out Of Bergen-Belsen)” is just like it happened in real life.

Anne Frank Musical Denounced by Relative [New York Times]
Earlier: Anne Frank Musical Premieres In Spain; We Can’t Wait For Elie Wiesel’s “Night: On Ice!”