Anne Frank remembered in musical

A musical production costing 3-million euros brings to the stage the tragic story of "Anne Frank's Diary." The production is ready to premiere in Madrid. A Cuban-born teenager stars as Anne Frank. She talked about how much the part inspired her.

A musical production costing 3-million euros brings to the  stage the tragic story of "Anne Frank's Diary."

Producers in Spain have turned the life of Anne Frank, into a musical - tearing a great rent into the convention that the genre must come with a sugar coated ending. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who wrote a diary while hiding from the Nazis.

The Spanish language production: "Anne Frank, A Song to Life", chronicles the girl's life while hiding in an Amsterdam attic from 1942 to 1944. Ann and her family were finally betrayed and sent to Nazi concentration camps, where they perished.

The three-million euro production, closer in style to Les Miserables than Cats, is the first of its kind to focus on Frank's life.

Director Rafael Alvaro who came up with the idea for the musical ten years ago said the show's aim was to project a vision of hope and optimism.

Director Rafael Alvaro , said, "If grown-ups for whom Ana Frank's Diary has been a reference bring their children to see it, I would consider the show a success. If the musical, done in an exquisite, delicate, important way, reaches the great public not only here but worldwide -that's success for me."

Alvaro said he searched for actors via a simple message on the Internet: "Looking for Anne Frank". Eventually he cast Cuban Isabella Castillo for the part of Anne.

The 13-year old from Havana, whose voice belies her age as she sings the musical's emotional melodies, says it's a privilege to play the part of someone as courageous as Frank.

Isabella Castillo, actress of musical "Anne Frank", said, "And then you find this girl, in a circumstance so bad she always finds hope -that helped me a lot. Nowadays I always think of the positive side of everything."

Producers say they may take the musical on tour and translate it into other languages. The program debuts in Madrid Feb 28.