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| re: Tanz Article | |
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RadioMaster 05:47 pm UTC 04/04/07 |
| In reply to: | Tanz Article - daveake 11:15 am UTC 04/03/07 |
| A friend asked me to translate the article, so if you're interested: read on _____________________ deutsch -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More than just a musical in concert The vampires are dancing in the Raimundtheater, Vienna. I remember it like it was yesterday, though it's almost 10 years ago: October, 3rd 1997: full of anticipation I sat in the Raimundtheater to see the last preview of Tanz der Vampire. I sat just a few rows behind the creative team with Roman Polanski. My excitement was huge, I even got the original 1967 movie and couldnt imagine, how it could be possible to transfer that onto the stage. The first half didn't really catch me. It all sounded a little flat and boring. If there was a fast forward button in the theater, I would still skip songs like "Knoblauch" or "Eine schöne Tochter ist ein Segen". A first glimpse of the count's (Krolock) fascination you could get with "Einladung zum Ball". It was as good as the final scene of the first half, when Professor Abronsius and Alfred entered the count's castle and the doors closed behind them like rolling thunder. Maybe the first half didnt really get me, because the appearances of the count were just these two and not more. In the second half the action really started. It began with the duet "Totale Finsternis" going over to "Fühl' die Nacht", Alfred's nightmare, which is, in my opinion, still one of the strongest moments in modern musical, in music, scenery and choreography. Nearly ten years later Tanz der Vampire is back in Vienna, but just like "Mozart!" last year, it's not the original musical, but a concertal show. Although the title "Tanz der Vampire in concert" is not really correct. The production left just the stage design, but all the characters were acting and singing in costumes, and even the choreography was the same, as far as the small venue and the missing stage design allowed it. A few songs and scenes were cut to fit the show into the 90 minutes of length. With Thomas Borchert the audiences in Hamburg, Berlin and now in Vienna were allowed to see a Graf Von Krolock, who is at least as great as the original count Steve Barton. Thomas Borchert gave the character of Krolock many details, his voice showed a magnificant expressional power, for example in "Die Unstillbare Gier". The only actor left from the original Vienna cast was Gernot Kranner, playing Professor Abronsius. His performance showed that he's still able to perform the role as good as he did back then. The song "Bücher", with which he still could win every fast-speaking contest, lost nothing of it's entertainment value. Lucas Perman and Marjan Shaki, playing Alfred and Sarah, are already known as lovers to the Vienna audience from "Romeo und Julia". If you recognize Roman Polanski from the original movie and the former Alfred inpersonators you may think that Perman is a bit too adult and grown-up, but he wins the audience with his acting and his singing. In the other productions Alfred was doubled by a dancer, during the nightmare scene. This time Perman took the part himself, what gave the scene even more intensity. Marjan Shaki was good in showing the change from the naive girl to the reckless vampire, not even afraid of biting the poor Alfred, whos in love with her. Voice-wise she was a good counterpart to Borchert in the song "Totale FInsternis", which was one of the highlights of the evening. Chagall, Rebecca and Magda were casted with Thomas Bayer, Tina Sholtze and Suzanne Carey, who all three played a good part, although Rebecca had none and Chagall and Madga each had only one solo in the whole evening. (Eine schöne Tochter ist ein Segen and Tot zu sein ist komisch) Tim Reichwein pleyed all the typical gay chlichee's well and gave with his powerful voice, together with Suzanne Carey, much intensity to "Fühl die Nacht". The detailled costumes were designed by Dorotha Kolodyska, who made them for the theatre in Warsaw. Differences to the original costumes you could only see at single vampires and a few at the main characters, but these didnt affect the story or impression of the play. The big orchestra of the "Vereinigte Bühnen" Vienna again did a good job. The orchestra was sitting in the middle of the stage and the actors were partially playing around them. The ensemble played mainly on-stage. Dancing and acting between the rows, like in the original production, did not happen this time. Only the count sang once from a lodge. Staging and choreography were conducted by Dennis Callaghan, like in the original production. He knew how to fill the smaller space on stage, due to the orchestra on stage, in a good way. The best examples for this are "Fühl die Nacht" and "Die roten Stielel", which both grew to highlights of the show's dancing. The mixture of a comprimized musical-concert with costumes, acting and choreography worked well in Vienna and could also work in other musical-venue cities. That the audience wants to see shows like that shows the fact that all the shows were sold out. Written by Norbert Ufermann Translated from German by "RadioMaster" | |
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