A Warm Welcome from the Creators & Cast of Tbilisi’s First Musical

Interview

Welcome to Georgia- The Musical is a theatrical show in English which weaves a tale about Georgia and its people through song, dance, and dialogue. By attending the show, new visitors in the country will learn about Georgia’s age-old culture, history, national costumes, cuisine and more; while those who have been in Georgia a bit longer will recapture the magic of their first days here.

The creators, Natia Amiridze and Michael (Mikho) Maisuradze, were inspired by the magic of the West End and Broadway when they decided to promote the best of Georgia via the stage. GEORGIA TODAY sat down with the creators and cast to find out more.

What was your inspiration? How did you get from idea to paper to weekly shows?

Natia: Two things helped in the inspiration. I grew up abroad, spending 13 years in St Petersburg. I always felt proud of my home country, especially its dance and song. Once I moved back, and whenever I had friends visiting, I realized there was nowhere to take them to showcase everything I was so proud of. Mikho and I worked with Redbull, dealing with a lot of foreign athletes coming to Georgia, and we wanted to take them to concerts to see the dancing but as they aren’t held regularly, we were forced to take them to the dance rehearsals of national Georgian dance ensembles.

We met with scriptwriters [Irakli Kakabadze and Rati Tserodze] early spring 2017 and it took a couple of months to work on the plot- it needed to be light to balance the amount of information we wanted to give the audience- there wasn’t room for a lot of drama. Then we found Achiko [Archil Sologashvili] to be the director and choreographer.

Mikho: I’ve seen a lot of West End musicals in my time and loved them. Like Natia, I struggled to find somewhere to take guests here to impress them with Georgian song and dance, other than restaurants. This Musical was the perfect solution!

What challenges have you faced in bringing the project to life?

Mikho: The challenge has been to show Georgia in the right way: to show the great pride Georgians have for their culture, but not go overboard with it and end up offending foreign audiences. Achiko and the scriptwriters found the right balance. Technical things also proved challenging- a lot of equipment had to be ordered from abroad as I wanted good lights and a good sound system.

How did you choose the actors?

Achiko was in charge of that. 90% of the actors belong to this theater [the Vaso Abashidze Music and Drama Theater].

Natia: All the actors of this theater can dance and sing- it’s hard to find this mix of talent in other theaters.

Was the fact that most of the script is in English a problem for the actors?

Natia: Only a couple of the actors actually speak English; the others had to learn the script by heart. But they did it. Without a doubt, it’s not easy for them to play in another language.

What’s ahead for the Musical?

Natia: Success for me means the Musical becoming the “must-see” presentational performance about Georgia that every tourist coming to Georgia will choose to go to at the beginning of their visit. I’d also love to take the show to other countries to represent Georgia, on Independence Day [May 26], for example, if embassies in other countries invited us. Success also means seats filled even in the off-peak season!

What would be your main message to visitors about Georgia?

Natia: We put almost everything that we’re proud of in the show. What’s in there is what we tell our visitors. For people who have been here a while, the story typically represents their first days or months here.

Next, GEORGIA TODAY spoke to Eka Demetradze who plays ‘Julie,’ the new French girlfriend of a Georgian man, on her first visit to Georgia.

How did you feel prior to the premiere?

“Before Welcome, I was a bit scared and not sure what to expect. It was very interesting and challenging, but a nice experience. For the first time in my life, I looked at Georgia with new eyes and I found that we are really very nice people: behind all the loud voices and too much food, which I don’t like, there’s a lot of love and Georgians really put their all into making guests feel at ease. I thought I might get to the stage where I’d not want to hear another Georgian song, but I fell in love with it anew. And Julie’s story is lovely. I was terrified on premiere night- not at all sure of the reception we’d get. It’s a lot of responsibility to represent your country via a play in English. But to see the emotion; to have people come up to you saying how much they laughed or cried…I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”

GEORGIA TODAY then spoke to Ia Shugliashvili, an actress best known for the award-winning film ‘My Happy Family,’ which was snapped up by Netflix last year, making Ia an internationally recognized face. The film presents the tougher side of a housewife’s life in Georgia. In the new musical, however, she plays a secondary role as a villager welcoming a French guest to Georgia. We asked her which woman best represented the “real” Ia and which plot best represented modern Georgia.

“My character is a neighbor who shows a typical neighborly side of the Georgian character- how sweet and helpful neighbors are to each other, and how we bicker. But, ultimately, we show that, in the end, we are always there for each other. That’s how Georgians really are. We stand by each other.

Having starred in both film and theater, which do you prefer?

I love both. Different energy is needed, and both have their own challenges and responsibilities.

How did you come to this project?

I belong to another theater but as I have a well-known musical background and family, Achiko came to me and offered me a part- and I was happy to accept!

Check out their website and facebook pages for updated information about their weekly shows and to watch the trailer. www.musical.ge, www.facebook.com/musical.ge

Katie Ruth Davies