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| re: Okay, so I promised... | |
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Markus 05:35 am UTC 04/03/08 |
| In reply to: | Okay, so I promised... - samurai7 02:52 am UTC 04/03/08 |
| Nice! :-) Thanks for writing down your thoughts! Markus. > ...that I would post my thoughts on the litle Steintrip to > Berlin. As it was my first 'official' Steinmeet, and I'd > never met any of you before I was a little unsure what to > expect, so here's my thoughts. > > The people... > > We all know who went, and have seen the photographs, but I > think it's worth mentioning that you're all great. There > was a pretty diverse buch of us there, some loud and brash > (in a good way!) and some less so (but still in a good way > lol.) There is absolutely not one person that I would not > want to meet again (well, maybe one :-p lol) and I'm proud > to call you all friends (if you'll let me that is). > I had a wonderful time meeting you, and it really is > fantastic to now have faces and personalities to go with > the names I see (and some I don't) on this board. I had a > blast and can't wait for the next opportunity, so Jim if > you're reading hurry up and get this Bat show up and > running so we can do it again ;-) > > And now for the show (this is the long bit)... > > I saw the matineé performance, which was obviously the > penultimate show in the Berlin run. This meant that we got > the 'second' Graf von Krolock and Sarah. It was the first > time I'd seen the show (apart from a few dodgy video clips > here and there lol) but the cast album has been heavily > played at chez Samurai for nigh-on 10 years, so I was > already familiar with the format and the songs and > characters. Obviously Steve Barton's performance was going > to be impossible to top, as was in my opinion Aris Sas', > so I didn't try to compare the actors too much to the > wonderful templates of the originators, but I did quite > like the von Krolock guy. In the evening performance the > lucky few who managed to go got to see Tomas Borchert, who > is apparently awesome, but I thought that the guy in the > matineé was pretty good. Like I said, no Steve Barton, but > I wasn't disappointed by his performance at all. Sarah's > voice was a little bit of a letdown for me though, as she > seemed to be struggling on some of the gutsier notes, but > like I said, this was effectively the '2nd' cast. > Arbronsius was fantastic, and really stole the show, but > he had to fight off some strong competition from Koukol, > who really milked some of the comedic scenes (such as the > part where the ressurected Magda and Chagal sing from > inside the coffin, and when he 'accidentally' left the > table prop from the Carpe Noctum scene on the stage) and > Herbert, whose every move (or should that be 'flourish'?) > was greeted with gasps from the really rather vocal > audience. It was obviously a meet-up for the fanclub too, > as the noise some of them made drowned out a lot of the > spoken parts - the ovation after the songs went on for > what seemed like a long time, and there were a number of > times when the actors had to wait a few moments before > continuing. Whereas this works brilliantly in a concert, > when watching a play it can be a little annoying. And this > brings me on to the sound... > For me, it was far to quiet. The whole lot should have > been turned up, because even though I was sat right at the > front, there were some parts that were barely audible, and > when mixed with the contrastingly loud audience is not a > good combination. Sarah's vocals frequently got lost in > the mix, and the whole sound seemed to have very little > 'punch'. Like I said, the cast album gets played a lot in > my house, and it really is wonderfully produced. The > engineers at Theatre des Westens don't seem able to make > it sound even remotely reminiscent, although I expect that > most of this was due to a lack of overall volume. Some of > the more playback-based tracks, such as Carpe Noctum and > the finale did have a better overall sound, but in my > opinion the music was underwhelming on the whole. I was > expecting a bigger sound, and other theatre shows I've > seen, such as We Will Rock You in London, have previously > delivered on this front. > > Don't get me wrong, though. I thoroughly enjoyed the show > and will go to see future productions. What I've mentioned > were minor niggles, not complaints per sé. I just like to > 'fell' the sound as well as hear it ;-) > > Anyway, that's all I have to say apart from to mention > that Berlin is a great city that I would love to visit > again, and to congratulate anyone who's actually read this > far! Well done you! And well done Steinmanics too. Same > time next year? :-D > > Samurai | |
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