Iván Macías

Iván Macías – is the leading Spanish composer and creator of the musicals: "Germinal the Musical" (2016), "El Médico/The Physician" (2018), "El Tiempo Entre Costuras / The Time in Between" (2021), "La Historia Interminable / The Never-ending Story" (2022), "Los Pilares de la Tierra/The Pillars of the Earth" (2024).

It would be fair to state that you are the main composer writing for Spanish musical theatre nowadays. What do you think is the current place for Spanish musical theatre in Europe? Because French, German, and Italian musical theatre has been developing over time by leaps and bounds, the genre has been gaining more and more popularity.
I think today Spanish musical theatre is perhaps third in the market of music theatre in Europe. It isn’t official, but it’s between Hamburg and Madrid, they’re fighting for second place in the European market. I believe Madrid is the 3rd musical theatre capital in the world. But we have still much to do before we can claim the 3rd place in the global market of music theatre.

When working on your shows, do you keep in mind the possibility of exporting them to other European, and Spanish-speaking countries?
Yes. We haven’t been “exporting” shows much, but we are certain that we can create great musicals and share them with the world. I think we are in the right place, and Spanish musicals are about to make “one great explosion”. What we need is for the shows that we’ve created to enter the English-speaking market.

Do you strive to achieve the Broadway level in your productions? Is Broadway the ultimate goal, or are you creating your own musical theatre?
Yes and no. As far as show business goes, yes. I strive for the best in the art, the music, and the quality of the product. Yes, Broadway standards are what we all strive for. I travel to New York and London to watch new musicals at least twice a year. I believe that one day one of our shows will make it to Broadway. Of course, West End and Broadway is the ultimate goal.

What is most important in a musical – the story or the music? What makes for a successful musical?
At the beginning, we search for a story we want to tell. Something that will “wow” the audience: we want great stories with great characters. For me, it is always very interesting to mix different cultures into the show.

"The Pillars of the Earth" the Musical is based on Ken Follett's bestselling medieval novel of the same name. How can a thousand pages of a novel fit into a three-hour book for a musical?
"The Pillars of the Earth" - is one of the greatest novels and stories in the world. Ken Follett is not just a bestselling author, he created and represents a brand at this point. He is one of the greatest novelists of our time and he certainly knows how to create amazing stories and incredible characters. We kept the most vivid and important characters and storylines in the show, with Ken's blessing.

Tell me about the music – did you stylize it similarly to "The Physician"? Since once again, with "The Pillars of the Earth", you are working with a story set in medieval times?
I always try to find logic in the music, when mixing all the elements. I do my research, and study the specifics of medieval music, their scales from the 11th-12th century… But we don’t emulate medieval music exactly. Mind you, even the instruments we have today are very different from the medieval ones… So, we use a lot of imagination and make it all sound contemporary.

That makes sense. Sounds like you are having a lot of fun working on these shows because it involves a lot of research. It's like you're putting a puzzle together. In "The Pillars of the Earth", there are so many characters, there's so much going on, there's so much history! How does all of it come together in the music?
The music is very symphonic. Only the rich symphonic sound can transmit the density and importance of the overall message of the story. The cathedral is big, so the music must be big. It's a very difficult score vocally. During the musical, there is an evolution in the music, which follows the evolution of the story, and that appeals to the younger audiences as well. There is a lot of action in the scenes, fights- to make the story more attractive- special effects. We want the spectators to feel completely immersed in the reality of the show.


Photo Credit: Pablo Martínez Canosa