Joop van den Ende celebrates his 80th birthday: from clown to stage producer

Joop van den Ende actually wanted to make him an artist, but soon discovered that his heart lies in all the things that happen behind the scenes of (musical) theatre. The music producer who is in his 80s today made sure to have successful productions in the 90s like Les Miserables And the phantom of the opera And later took, among other things believe in me† Cesc de Rat And the the king lion to Dutch theaters.

Van den Ende takes his first steps into the world of theater on the stage. Join the Youth Drama Association and start working as a site builder at the Opera. At the age of 17, he started his own cabaret group, occasionally performing as a clown and a Batman impersonator.

Van den Ende also gets to know the then unknown comedian André van Duin. When Van Doyen gets sick for a day and can’t perform, his friend takes over. “I was so confident in my own confidence, I said, ‘I’ll do it'” van den Inde says. Standard† “Well, I knew it. It was so quiet! I thought: You see, I am nothing at all. Without thinking I gave up.”

He discovers that his passion is not with performance, but with everything that happens behind the scenes. So Van den Ande set up his own theater agency which also book artists and organize events.

The first big show was staged by Van Duin

One of his first big performances was a play by Van Doyen. It became a huge hit and Van den Ende eventually established himself as a producer. He will give many popular shows with comedian.

Van den Ende focused on the world of television in the 80’s and achieved great success with shows like surprise show And the honeymoon contest rune† It’s hard for him to start his big dream by creating his own business channel. So Van den Ande decided to invest his money in musicals.

In the 1980s the musical was not very popular in Holland. Until 1987, as the Royal Theater Carré on the occasion of its centenary, the popular Broadway show the cats To the Netherlands and people flocked to Amsterdam to see the show.

Encouraged by this success, Van den Ende wants to make Dutch variants of his other English successes. These are nightclub And the sweet charityin which Willem Negault and Simon Klinsma play the main roles.

Invest in your own theater

He invests the money Van den Ende earns from his television productions in his theater company. In 1993 he decided to rebuild the dilapidated runway for 23 million guilders. After renovation, the theater in Scheveningen will house musicals that can be played there for a longer period of time. phantom of the operaWith Joke de Kruijf and Henk Poort, it has been a success and has attracted nearly two million visitors.

In 1998, Van den Ende founded the international company Stage Holding (renamed Stage Entertainment in 2005), which also operates theaters in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, among others. All this at the same time as his work on TV which leads to burnout.

He decided to put an end to this work in 1999 and focuses only on musicals and theater. Under his rule made of musical arrangements the king lion† Saturday night fever And the AidaThanks to licensing deals with major producers such as Disney Theatrical Productions and Cameron Mackintosh.

And new stories are invented like The three musketeers† believe in me And the petticoat (Written specifically for Chantal Janzen, one of the music stars who regularly appears on The Van den Indy Show)†

“There are a lot of plays that are just about form and effect, but I want to start with the story,” van den Ande says in the book. The Merchant in Illusions: 30 Years of Goop Van den Inde’s Theater Productions† “If that’s not a thing, I don’t need it. The theater has got to be responsible and it has to be right, that’s always in the back of my mind.”

Musicals by Tina Turner and Whoopi Goldberg

In 2007, Van den Ende entered into an international collaboration with Whoopi Goldberg. Together they produce a musical version of Sister’s Law, the film in which Goldberg played one of the main roles. The show can be seen in London, New York and the Circustheater in Scheveningen.

musical Tina About Tina Turner, whom Van den Indy develops with the singer, is the last to collaborate as a producer. It is also one of the musicals made after the acquisition of Albert Verlinde Entertainment. In November 2018, US media company Advance Publications acquired Stage Entertainment, but Van den Ende will remain as a consultant.

However, the coronavirus will throw a wrench into the works if theaters are to close in early 2020. “I was paralyzed by insecurity and almost depressed,” van den Indy says. Entire halls† “I shut myself down and then have almost no access to Janine (his wife, editor).”

Van den Indy says that the musical Diana and his children Help him during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. His daughter Iris, who produces the musical and thus follows in her father’s footsteps, asks him to take part in a consulting role in the production due to her pregnancy.

Although he will blow out eighty candles on Wednesday, Van den Indy has not yet considered enjoying his retirement. The destination (part of) his inheritance has already been decided: he wants to invest that money in making theater possible for a wider audience, including people with little to no spending.