The Argentinean who triumphs in London and Madrid starring in musicals

Citizen of the world. This is how one could describe Geronimo Rauchthe great Argentine singer who specialized in musicals and has been starring in works that are true classics for almost two decades, first in Buenos Aires and then in London and Madrid.

For example Jesus Christ Superstar, Chicago, Les Miserables, Sunset Boulevard and The Phantom of the Opera, which he performed in English in the West End and in Spanish on Gran Vía.

As restless as he was creative, he also shaped a unique discography, first with an album dedicated to his beloved Beatles (titled Here there and everywhere), then a tribute to the great Latin singers (Because I love you) and very soon a collection of songs from the famous Frank Wildhorn (Chapter one), sung in English and Spanish. In a few days the first single will be released, with A new sunrise.

He also wants to go deeper your job as a producera facet that excited him when he made a theatrical version of it in Madrid The bridges of Madison and a recital at the Buenos Aires Teatro Avenida with great hits from musicals, which he named the songs of my life.

And as if that were not enough, he has also given some masterclassthus entering the field of teaching.

Apparently, His time with the pop group Mambrú is long gone.which emerged from a television contest and became a phenomenon that between 2002 and 2005 marked a generation with hits such as A veces.

On July 22, Gerónimo “Gero” Rauch will perform at the Teatro Colón with a repertoire that will combine the songs of my life with an advance of Chapter one. The songs list will include Bring him home of Les Miserables, Music of the night of The Phantom of the Opera, Maria of West Side Story and even the tango version of Roxanne from the film Moulin Rouge.

He will be accompanied by the Buenos Aires Broadway Orchestra and will be conducted by Tomás Mayer Wolf, from the current formation of Les Luthiers.

He is currently enjoying some unusual days off in Madrid, where He lives on the outskirts, in the mountains, among deer and wild boars.. There ended a season of The Phantom of the Opera and will only return to the scene in September. That is why he has planned this special concert in Argentina.

to chat with Clarion of this intense present, where You could say that he is in the best moment of his career.set up a meeting in a small bar in the heart of Gran Vía, right next to the theater where tourists sell out seats. The Lion King. It’s over 30 degrees hot and immediately offers a juice that is the house’s specialty.

She used to live very close by, but she moved back to the outskirts at the express request of her 11-year-old son, who goes to school there and one day told her that he couldn’t stand riding the bus anymore and that his friends were in that area.

“I had come to the Center,” he says, “because I had functions every day and it seemed more practical to me, but he gave me the points. Now I have my daily dose of the city, but then I go home. Walking through the mountains is my life, and in London it was similar, because it was near Finsbury Park, where there were deer and foxes. On the other hand, in Buenos Aires I am from Palermo, which is quite urban.”

A month ago a new series of functions ended Ghost…after nine months on the billboard. They will return to the stage in Bilbao from August 14 to September 15, and then return to Madrid on September 27, again at the Teatro Albéniz.

“I am very happy,” he says, “because It’s a new version, where the music and script are the same as the original, but the staging is totally different, more real and with more freedom, less stuffy than the franchise that was made before. He is a character that gives me a lot of joy and I continue to feel that I have something to give him. That’s why I love doing it.”

Video

“The Phantom of the Opera”.

Regarding his concert at the Colón, he defines it as a continuation of last year’s shows at the Teatro Avenida. And he remembers how it all happened: “Lino Patalano was my manager, but unfortunately he left us, so I got together with some producers and we decided to try Avenida, to see what happens. It was an incredible experience, because we did two sold-out shows and right there I threw the idea of ​​Colón at them. It seemed like a joke, but it seems that they took the bait and we found a date where I already knew I was going to be free and on winter vacation in Argentina, something ideal to spend a little time with the family.”

At the time of the talk, Gero had not yet finished defining the topics. And he admitted that, “Every day that approaches I become more sleepless. My voice is at its best, but I know that the repertoire will be key on a night where the public will be waiting for this series of epic songs.”

-How will it be different from the concerts at the Avenida?

-For now, the line-up is different. At Avenida we were 12 musicians and here we are going to be 22. It gives us the option to do more grandiose things because we have horns and a wind section, in addition to the strings and a line-up that will allow us to go from rock to classical. Also, I am going to preview my new album, which is all Frank Wildhorn songs.

Although everyone believes that Gero began his career with Mambrú, in reality His first professional contact with music was with musicalsat the age of 22, when he entered The Miserables and then in Greaseas well as singing in the group Voxpop.

Only in 2002 did he appear at the casting of the program Popstars and had his experience as a pop idol. But then he picked up right where he left off: acting in musicals. The rest, as they say, is history.

However, it still seems ironic that he continues to be presented as an “ex-Mambrú”, although he knows perfectly well that the group was very big and very popular at the time. He does not deny that stage, but he believes that the constant references are “like a shortcut to the reader’s brain.”

-Didn’t you sing those songs again?

-No. Never. However, in 2016-17 I invited Germán “Tripa” Tripel to a show at the Maipo Theater and at one point we cracked a joke that we had already prepared: we started making Sometimes and the people went crazy.

I guess the same thing must have happened to musicians like Andrés Calamaro, when he started out as a soloist and they called him “the ex-Abuelos de la Nada”. The day will come when it will be the same. In the meantime (approaches the recorder) Argentine journalists, cut it, please, it’s hard to make a career and maintain yourself enough to throw away all the time in the past. (laughs)

-How is the musical season in Spain?

-Here there are about 14 productions a year, although unfortunately some do not do well and new ones come next year. Others, like ours, The Lion King and Aladdin are productions that remain on the billboard for years and years.

Now there are many Argentines who are coming to Madrid because it is going to be installed Come from away Here at the Marquina Theatre. I think it’s a great bet on the part of Carla Calabrese, who is the producer. I hope it goes well.

-Are you aware of the musical scene in Argentina?

-Yes, of course. Elena Roger is a good reference and we always send messages to each other. I am up to date and I go to see musicals when I am there. On the other hand, when I started it was a very small scene. I was Dracula and then they came Beauty and the Beastwhich was the first international project, and The Miserableswhich is where I started.

The thing is that in 2000 we were still at 1 to 1. Afterwards it was very difficult. But it is true that there is immense local talent and there are production methods with the cooperative concept, which are not done here.

-Don’t you miss having some Broadway experience?

-I don’t plan to go and make a musical there, but I do plan to make the album. I’m not a fan of the American Way of Life and I couldn’t live with the American dream, ruthless competition and egocentrism.

For Gerónimo Rauch, reaching a figure like Frank Wildhorn “was all magical.” He says that he had completely fallen out of love with the topic of releasing records, but one day the owner of the label complained to him, “You still haven’t recorded an album with songs from musicals!” Two days later Frank appeared and felt that this was the way to go. “I believe in signs and things that happen organically,” he says.

He then gives details of the ccontact with Wildhorn, who even composed a famous hit for Whitney Houston, Where do broken hearts go: “I wrote to him on a feed where he announced that they were going to record the album of the London production of Bonnie and Clyde. I said, ‘Why don’t we record the Spanish version?’ and suddenly he started writing to me privately, the assistant. He took Me seriously! That’s where our relationship began. Now, from a distance, I see that he was a very generous guy, because he reviewed his entire catalog and sent me 300 songs chosen for my voice. He gave me freedom to re-arrange the songs and I adapted them to Spanish.”

A peculiarity of this third album by Gero is that it will be called Chapter One For two reasons. On the one hand, because it could well inaugurate a series of volumes dedicated to great composers of musical songs. On the other hand, it could also function as the closing of a chapter of his lifeprecisely that of all these last successful years.

“I feel that I am at a stage – he confesses – where I am beginning to write a new life of Gerónimo Rauch, in every sense: personal, work, family and musical. The launch will have a first stage in Spanish for the Hispanic market and in December we will begin to release singles for the Anglo-Saxon market.”

“Those who know me,” he says, “can confirm that sometimes I go very hard and very fast, so obviously I’m thinking about the second volume, because I’m lucky enough to know people like Andrew Lloyd Webber, so I’m going to ask him if I can face that possibility. We’ll see.”

And he adds: “I am considering retiring from musicals, because it is true that the years go by and there are fewer and fewer characters that you can play as the protagonist. I don’t know if I’ll be able to choose much of what I want to do. And I am increasingly involved in this path of starting to look for works to produce. The work gave me great satisfaction The bridges of Madisonbecause it was sharing with friends a project that became their dream and motivation. I’m going to continue recording albums and making songs, but I want to start generating my own projects.”