Yolanda Pérez Abejón: «With limits above and below you only harm the majority»

-In Spain. —There is no tradition of making great musicals but we like live entertainment. We have precedents like the zarzuela or the magazine. -London. —We realized that more and more people were going to see musicals even without understanding the language. They began to become experts and demand quality. —Why the success of ‘The Lion King’? “If I knew, I’d make another one.” What I do know is that it reaches all ages. Music, Africa, animals. The story he tells explains us all. -You like? —Something very curious happens to me, and that is that every time I see it, and I see it many times, it transmits something different to me depending on my mood. —It is an attraction of Madrid, like another monument. —It transcends what a musical is. 80% of our audience is from outside Madrid. Before, people used to go to Madrid and incidentally go see a musical. Now people go to see The Lion King and visit Madrid on the way. It is a destination in itself. —Season 12. —We are almost at 2019 levels but this one is almost important. After the pandemic we were not able to reopen until they allowed us 100% capacity, because being so expensive to produce it was not profitable without full occupancy. – They don’t fill? —This season we are going to manage to fill in a stable way. —Is Madrid going to become London, with several great musicals on the bill for decades? —I see it as difficult, because our target market is the Spanish population. Especially when it is not the original, but an adaptation to a specific language, people want to see it in their own language. 600,000 people a year go to see ‘The Lion King’. Another 600,000 go to see the rest of the musicals that are made throughout Spain. London or New York have millions of people in their target market. —Growing market. —Yes, we have a younger audience than musicals have in the cities mentioned. 60% are under 35 years old. —The most purists say that musicals are tacky. — We are not an opera but opera is not for everyone. Musicals help engage a lot of people in the culture. The opera continues to be only for a few. Musicals are easier, more entertaining, more open, not as long. Many young people access opera through musicals. —Does the political situation influence a company like yours? —Influences stability. If you only talk about messes, this is the image you give. —I ask because the Ada Colau thing in Barcelona is a disaster. —If there were no other topics in Barcelona, ​​we would talk about its wonders, which are many. Without background noise, we can talk about all the good things about Madrid. —Can you watch a 3-hour musical when it’s hot? -Nope. Now we are trying to measure the temperature in all areas of the theater, because it is not the same. Actors need fresh to act. We are making measurements to know how we manage it. “What an absurd waste of time.” —In the end, we all have enough head to put our shoulders to the wheel in difficult moments and in this case save energy. Making a clean slate, with limits above and below, you only manage to harm the majority. —It is the obsession of the left to get into the lives of others. —Without impositions, everything is easier to resolve, and even more so in a country like Spain, which has shown enormous solidarity. Against covid, we went to vaccinate massively. We don’t need to be told what temperature we have to put things at. —Inflation, recession. —We released ‘The Lion King’ in 2011, in the middle of the financial crisis, and it went very well. It is true that in difficult times people reduce spending on leisure: you go out less but with more head and you look for quality. And I am very sure of the quality we offer. -Optimistic. -Yes. I am it. Maybe it’s because I’m a pathological optimist. They are scaring us more than anything else. On the street I do not perceive drama. Let’s not anticipate. We have suffered a lot in recent times. Now that we’re doing well, let’s enjoy the good stuff.