Postcard from Abroad
Guest Column Here is the Guest Column I have been wanting to add in my Home Page. The first featured guest columnist is from Germany, Nicole (Nikki) Freialdenhoven, who is actually a German correspondent for Musical Stage (a musical newsletter in UK). She reports Jekyll and Hyde, a German premiere!
Night of 1000 Voices an exclusive review of the one-night-only concert at the Royal Albert Hall featuring the one and only Philip Quast!
Jekyll and Hyde Das Musical Photo Gallaryhas been added!
Chicago in Utrecht (Netherlands) reported by Nikki!
Forbidden Broadway in West End? Julie gave us blow by blow report!
Nikki wrote another detail report on German RENT!
World Premiere of Hunchback of Notre Dame by Nikki!
Hunchback of Notre Dame Photo Gallaryhas been added!
Beauty and the Beast with John Barrowman! by Julie Meader
Elisabeth opened in the Netherlands, and of course our Nikki saw the preview and gave us her review!
So what can you see except Les Mis, POTO, CATS in West End? Nikki explored London and here is her review.
Which new musical opened in Germany in 2000? Nikki reviews JCS and The Life for you!
The Lion King on West End! Was it Tony Best Musical Show worthy? Find it out on Julie's review!
20th anniversary Sweeney Todd Concert in London! Our favorite Les Mis performers appeared on stage in this special event, read Julie's review!!
How well the Southern accent is received at West End? Find out about it in Julie's Whistle Down the Wind review!
CHICAGO � UTRECHT (Netherlands)
The "Chicago" Revival looks pretty much the same wherever it's being produced in the world, so I knew that the Dutch production would look exactly the same as the London production, which I had seen right after the opening when Ruthie Henshall and Ute Lemper starred. When Joop van den Ende, the Netherlands' biggest musical producer, announced that he was using the Beatrix Theatre in Utrecht for "Chicago", my initial reaction was that I really wouldn't need to drive all the way to Utrecht for this show. I changed my mind, though, when the casting was announced and I heard that Pia Douwes was to play Velma Kelly. I don't like the thought of having "favourite performers" because I've seen so many great, talented people in so many countries that it would be hard to single some out, but if I was ever forced to make up a list, Pia would be the one to top it. She's achieved the rare feat of being a top musical star in three countries � her native Netherlands, Germany and Austria, where she created the title role in "Elisabeth", the musical about Austria's tragic Empress Elisabeth, as well as playing Grizabella in "Cats" and Rizzo in "Grease". I've also seen her as Sally Bowles in "Cabaret" (Germany) and in the title role of "Evita" in Amsterdam and so far, she had never once disappointed me. So I knew she alone would be worth buying a ticket for the Dutch production of "Chicago".
We were lucky to get good seats for a preview performance and the date could not have chosen better, because we saw England's musical hero Michael Ball attending the same performance, prior to his concert engagements in Amsterdam and it felt good to be in such company! My joy was even greater when it was announced that the role of Roxie would be played by alternate cast Ellen Evers and not by the "real" Roxie Simone Kleinsma. Now I've never seen Simone live and certainly don't want to imply she may not be a good Roxie, but Ellen had stunned me in the Dutch production of "Miss Saigon", where she played Ellen and made me feel more for her than for Kim for the first time! So having seen her in such a serious, "dramatic" role, I was really glad to get the chance of seeing her in a rather comical dancing role now.
When the show began, I had a hard time to get the images of Ute Lemper and Ruthie Henshall out of my head and get used to two completely different leading ladies � Pia Douwes was rather small and compact of stature and wore a dark-brown wig , while Ellen Evers was the tall and skinny one now, wearing a light-brown frazzled wig and looking quite the opposite from cutie-Ruthie. But both soon convinced me that they were excellent choice for the roles. Hard to name any outstanding numbers, right from the start they convinced me and seemed to get better with every number. I especially enjoyed Pia's extremely sarcastic "I know a girl", Ellen's big number "Roxie" and once more the wonderfully funny "We both reached for the gun."
Almost everyone else was wonderfully cast, too, the only let-down being Billy Flynn, who was played by Stanley Burleson. Stanley counts among the top names of the Dutch musical scene after creating the title role in "Joe � the musical", a love story set in World War 2, and John in the Dutch "Miss Saigon" and although he is a good singer/actor with great stage presence, he was just far too young to play the sleazy lawyer, who knows how to razzle-dazzle the courts and the girls.
But never mind, the Dutch "Chicago" is just as fine as any other "Chicago" production around the world and the Dutch have proved once more that they can do impressive musical productions on a very high standard for reasonable prices (especially compared to the situation we have here, on the Eastern side of the border). Joop van den Ende only plans a limited run for "Chicago", but if the critics respond as strongly as the audience at this preview, he'll be having another great hit on his hands, which could certainly play for one or two years. Meanwhile he's planning the Dutch opening of Austria's hit musical "Elisabeth" at the Circustheater in Scheveningen, allowing Pia Douwes to re-create her biggest role in her native country. You bet I'll be the first to book tickets!
Want to see some photos from Dutch Chicago? Click here!
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY
JERMYN STREET THEATRE, SUNDAY 18TH APRIL 1999. 3.30pm
Mark O�Malley
Alistair Robbins
Sophie-Louise Dann
Christine Pedi
Walking along Jermyn St. it�s quite possible not to notice there is a theatre there, tucked away behind a normal front door, just about opposite the Plaza, next to the Spaghetti House. The theatre is accessed down a staircase and has a capacity of about 100, set out round 3 sides of the stage. The notice in the �foyer� states that due to the large numbers of costumes needed for the production, the restrooms would be closed 5 minutes before the performance began. Drinks were available at the kiosk and as everyone (completely sold out) took their seats, we sat back, not really knowing what to expect. A lone piano sat on the bare stage, backed by a silver sparkly curtain. The introductions were made, and then the four performers took to the stage one by one, men in evening suits and women in little black dresses to give us a little clue of what was to come���
First off - Chicago. A blonde-wigged �Ute� appeared round the side. �Hello, suckers� she drawled, in her heavily over-the-top German accent. And from about that point on, it was hysterics all the way! She did a routine to the tune of �Razzle Dazzle� changing the lyrics to �Give �em the old saucy Fosse� with some great jokes regarding the lack of scenery and costumes. The dancing was reduced to a game of Twister. Then came Annie. Not any old Annie, a camped-up woman Annie, with cigarette and looking slightly the worse for wear. �I�m thirty years old - tomorrow.� Then a very strange-looking figure in steel-rimmed glasses dressed as Napoleon�..Cameron!!! He treated us to a rendition of �Souvenir Things� opening his cloak to reveal the full extent of his merchandising range. �Les Miz chocolates, shaped like orphans. �Laugh? I could have bought a box! That over with, we had a behind-the-scenes peek at auditions at Cats. The claws were most definitely out for this show!
�Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Elaine Paige�. Where? Oh, THERE! A dwarfed Sophie-Louise, resplendent in silver turban and dress, peeked out from the wings. Walking on her knees to the shortened mic, she then sang those immortal lines �One foot more and you could see my face, I�m too short for this big staircase�� Then Alistair, wearing a nifty grey wig and beard, announced that he was Stephen Sondheim. He even had the T-shirt to prove it. Poor Stephen�s songwriting skills were very cruelly lampooned, with a version of �Into The Words� complete with sing-a-long verse written for us to follow on cue cards. I say cruel - I mean wickedly-funny. The tears had barely dried when Christine, in high-heels and suit, introduced herself. �Hello, I�m Elaine Stritch.� Any reservations the audience might have been having were by now completely blown aside as the laughter was coming so thick and fast, it was almost impossible to hear the actual show.
Then came Sophie-Louise in the shape of Julie Andrews. Here in England, we do still have a few sacred cows left, and Julie is one of them. The audience seemed to collectively breathe in. Then she sang! The take-off was spot-on! �A spoonful of Julie takes the stickiness away�..� She even swore! And we cheered! While the applause died down, out came Alistair in shiny cream top-hat, with candle-hands - AHA! Disney!! �Be Depressed� came the song and the particular line that stuck out was �Now what turns the great white way on is a drama made of crayon� Mark entered, dressed as the Beast himself, with Christine as Mrs Potts and Sophie-Louise trilling away as Belle. Then Alistair and Sophie were back in a selection of Grease and Saturday Night Fever (Stayin� Awake) with a nice little sideswipe at Mamma Mia. �There are worse shows we could do. Brigadoon or Sound of Mu. Mamma Mia would be new. That�s the worst show we could do.� If you thought that was below the belt for London�s surprise hot ticket, you should�ve seen Mark�s treatment of Mandy Patinkin! Totally hilarious!
The girls returned in identical mauve dresses, borrowed directly from the wardrobe department of the Prince of Wales, to do a Chita Rivera/Rita Moreno routine �My name is Chita and not Rita�.� to America. Up until then, each sequence seemed funnier than the last, with half the lyrics being drowned under the laughter. The next scene was probably quite the funniest thing I�d ever seen. Miss Saigon. Mark as John and Alistair as Chris entered, dressed in the marine uniform, singing �The beat is loud in Saigon..� Then came Kim (Christine). I think probably the only complete line they used directly from a show was the one which preceded her arrival, and seemed the only one somehow appropriate��Jesus John who is she?� with a slightly different emphasis than is used in the show proper. Wearing a red dress and long black wig, she looked like she�d escaped from somewhere, not necessarily a Vietnamese village. The show was then really taken to pieces, for its deafening noise, shallow lyrics and Hallmark sentimentality! Don�t blame me, I didn�t write it!!!! Mark then reappeared during the romantic part, where Kim and Chris are dancing (to West Side Story!!) with a tiny child�s saxophone, or �rusty saxophone� as the song said. The toy helicopter that then dangled over the proceedings was just about the finishing touch, but still to come was Kim�s miracle baby (snatched from behind the curtain less than a second after conception) and her shooting�..of the saxophonist.
Next we had a section from Anna Karenina - the Musical? Sophie-Louise�s Judy Garland was again, just about perfect, and Mark and Alistair�s Astrakhan collars and thick moustaches as the backing singers moved things along nicely. Then it was what I had been waiting for - Les Miz. It was introduced by way of nice little Piaf-type song, complete with oh-la-la�s. Then there it was, all my favourite characters having the stuffing knocked out of them. Mark as Valjean, or I should say Colm, for it was he, was singing �Bring It Down� which was priceless. The �revolve� was just superb, as was �Ten Years More� with Enjolras, Fantine and Madame Thenardier, and Valjean bumping into the microphone on each step forward. I haven�t seen the �real� show since, and I doubt I�ll be able to ever view it in quite the same light ever again (but I�ll try). End of Act One.
Act Two began with Phantom. I had absolutely no idea what they were going to do but I was already laughing. Ethel Merman then came out to give the old opera ghost a singing lesson in her own inimitable way. �You don�t need amplifiers� she was telling him, while he was adding �I keep singing and there�s nothing there, I keep going though my voice is air.�
Mark then returned to give us another round of Disney-bashing, with the show that will open here in September. The Lion King. Dressed in the weirdest costume I�ve ever seen (I could understand the straws on the fingers and the animals, but quite what the plastic cutlery and fried eggs were doing, I dunno, but maybe I�ll get it when I see the show?) he again laid into the show, in the manner of Elton John singing the Circle of ��.. Mice?!!! Alistair and Sophie-Louise then asked �Can you feel the pain tonight?� with neck-braces.
OK hands up anyone who remembers Carol Channing? Christine entered with bright red lipstick from nose to chin, singing �Dolly is a girls best friend� in what for me was the best impersonation of the day. It might well have actually been Carol, it was pretty hard to tell. Announcing the winner of the �Phoney Award� as Aspects of Love, and to collect it Michael Ball, the audience, already giggling were told �oh good, you know him, that�s nice�. If anyone�s ever seen Mark O�Malley, you�ll be hard pushed to believe that he could actually look like Michael Ball. But he did! It wasn�t the wig so much, more the smile and the nodding head, but it was great! And I�m sure even Michael himself would have been in hysterics? Singing �I Sleep with Everyone� he was then joined with two other characters from Aspects, all in dressing gowns, finishing, not with that great ending but �If you�re in the audience then you�ll sleep tooooooo� Not in this show!
After that, it was time for a more cultural interlude, and what could be more cultural than Barbra Streisand? Complete with arm waving, scarf twirling and hair tossing, lamenting why no-one will give her a Broadway part. Top marks for rhyming Yentl with Mental, too!!
Speaking of mental, now it was time for something a bit more modern. What could that be? Oh, of course - RANT! Alistairs tartan trousers and Mark (as Mark of course) in jumper and scarf completed a nice version of the title song, Mimi (Sophie) venturing out to sing about how her pants were OOH-OW Too Tight! The three-some finished with a rendition of �This Ain�t Boheme�, and were soon joined by Christine as Aunt Eller. The Rant crew soon reappeared with tasselled checked shirts for �Old Revivals�. And no sooner had each one disappeared they were back, this time Christine yet again, as a gloriously un-hinged Liza Minelli (I�m Liza One-Note). The show finished with Cabaret, using the Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson version. Then all back in the black costumes for the finale, taking their bows to tumultuous applause. And that was it! Almost two hours of complete brilliance, hilarious lyrics and quite wonderful impersonations. Still haven�t worked out how they managed the costume changes in the 3 seconds between each scene and how they remembered all the words. The show is running until May 15 and I would implore you to go, cos you�ll love it! I certainly hope we haven�t seen the last of either the show or the four most talented performers, but as it was brought over with a little help from the guy who runs Dress Circle, perhaps a CD is in the pipeline? A video would be even better :)
Jekyll & Hyde in Bremen
February 18, 1999
Copyright (c) by Nicole Freialdenhoven
As with most "big" musical productions in Germany a theatre was especially built for Jekyll & Hyde, this one in Northern Germany's town Bremen, one of the poorest areas in Germany suffering from high unemployment rates and economical problems. Since Bremen can also boast a beautiful town centre with many old buildings and a rich history, the council hopes to attract tourists to fill its empty coffers and one of the projects to attract people to come is now Jekyll & Hyde. Unlike other newly built theatres this one fits in nicely in an urban street and not sticks out as a huge block of concrete somewhere on a field outside of the city. It seats 1,500 people and comes complete with a bar on the ground floor and a restaurant on the second floor.
I was luckily invited to the press night, when the ground floor bar was transformed into a "press centre" for us to collect information, use computers and get free drinks, so I didn't mind the half-finished state of the bar with lose cables sticking out from the walls. Two press conferences were held in the afternoon, the first one introducing Bremen as a "tourist town" and new projects that are to make the city more interesting, the second one concerning Jekyll & Hyde itself. Afterwards we were treated to a free dinner on both floors of the theatre, before the doors were opened to regular visitors at 7.30. A souvenir stall was also opened, where a multitude of "useful" things were on display �not just regular musical souvenirs like T-Shirts and mugs but also computer mouse-pads for the new generation, male underpants (to turn a Dr.Jekyll into a Mr Hyde?) and something that passed for "Dr Jekyll's elixier" though it was vodka and cherry-brandy.
The show started a bit late at 8.10pm and only later I heard that this was actually the very first time that the show was performed with ALL special effects and stage sets. A busted water-pipe had wrecked most of the previews and both cast and crew hadn't had so much time to prepare afterwards. Now I must confess that I have never been a huge fan of the Jekyll & Hyde Studio Cast Recording, which has something of a cult status among German musical lovers and a Belgian tour production that had also been the first European production of this musical, had done nothing to improve my opinion of this show. So to tell you the truth I wasn't very much looking forward to the 150 minutes that lay ahead of me and I had an inner feeling of "Let's get over with it quickly".
The first minutes seemed to confirm my impression as the show started rather slowly with Dr Jekyll trying in vain to convince the board of governors to let him go on with his experiments, and subsequently his engagement party. But by then I had already discovered one fine surprise, namely that Ethan Freeman, who plays Jekyll, speaks and sings fluent German. For some unfathomable reasons German producers love to cast foreigners in German productions and in the best of cases they manage to pronounce their texts in comprehensible German but are so occupied with this that they are barely able to put emotion and feeling into their roles. And in the worst of cases you wind up understanding nothing at all, which may not be that grave in dancing shows like Cats but lethal to heavy drama shows like Les Miserables. I had received the news of Mr Freeman's casting with mixed feelings, knowing that he had done shows in Germany and more notably in Vienna before, where he had even managed to sing the role of Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni in Elisabeth in decent German with an Italian accent. I also knew that he had played such leading roles as the Phantom and Javert in London, making him an internationally accepted star we can be proud to have around. And it wasn't just Ethan Freeman who spoke fluent German on stage that night �almost the whole cast seemed to be either German or at least capable to sing in comprehensible German, so I found myself relaxing in my seat, knowing that for the first time in ages I could simply sit back and enjoy the singing instead of being forced to listen carefully and try to figure out what on earth they are singing. And luckily Jekyll & Hyde has not been marred by a horrible translation like Les Miserables and Miss Saigon where the German translation is so bad that people are sometimes forced to sing utter nonsense or tongue-twisters. Half-way into the first act I had already started to enjoy myself and thought that even if I don't like the show itself very much, at least we have been able to stage a decent production that is worth their overpriced tickets for once.
Enter Lyn Liechty aka Lucy, Dr Jekyll's love object. Ms Liechty is a young American performer who came over to join the German cast of Miss Saigon, understudying Ellen, before being cast as the alternate Sarah in Vienna's success musical Dance of the Vampires. Despite hearing many good words of her performance in Vienna, I was mildly sceptical about her as well, but she simply blew me away with her first apperance in "Bring on the men". Her American accent showed, but not so much as to be disturbing and what's more, I haven't seen anyone with so much charisma and stage presence in years. If we could ever say that a star has been born in Germany, it must be her!
By now I had become intrigued enough to be really watching the show and getting into the action, but I was still a bit nervous about what was to come now �Jekyll's big tune "This is the moment". The Belgian production had managed to wreck this song completely when half-way through Jekyll entered his laboratory which looked like something out of a cheap science fiction-spoof and made the audience erupt into laughter. Not to mention the fact that the unfortunate performer (who later went on to become an excellent Valjean in Antwerp's Les Miserables) just lacked the stage presence for this number.
Anyway, Bremen's set designer Johannes Leiacker did a perfect job and avoided to fall into the trap to equip Jekyll's lab with hundreds of chemical tubes, bottles and pipes. Instead he created something that looked like a long, dark passageway in the vaults of an university, lighted only by three tables with lonely bunsen burners (and I still haven't figured out how on earth he created the illusion of the passageway being so endlessly long!). And then there was Ethan Freeman delivering his big song in a way that brought the house down and stopped the show dead for some minutes. And mind you, we're talking of the press night here, where the theatre was full of bored journalists who were out to rip another commercial musical into pieces! By the time the transformation happened and Mr Hyde appeared for the first time, I was already on the edge of my seat.
Somehow I had always found the character of Lucy somewhat unappealing �she appeared to me like the age-old clich�of the "hooker with the golden heart", a stereotype that has appeared once too often in recent years for my taste �there's Fantine in Les Miserables, Kim in Miss Saigon, the ladies of The Life and other "there's-got-to-be-something-better-than-this"-dreamers like Sweet Charity and Sally Bowles. But Lyn Liechty's excellent acting won my heart very soon and the following song "Girls of the night" almost moved me to tears with its matter-of-fact realism in gritty 19th century London. I even loved "Someone like you", now placed at the end of the first act, which I had always found unbearably soppy and sickly-sweet. But Ms Liechty's joy of having found a kind-hearted gentleman like Dr Jekyll who offers true friendship, seemed to be so genuine and coming from deep inside that I could help feeling moved and rejoice at her happiness.
So by the time the lights came up and we left the auditorium for the interval, I was already completely spellbound and my feelings were reflected by my companion who asked almost unbelievingly. "Are you sure this is the same musical we've seen in Belgium?". I had almost jumped at the throat of another friend of mine who told me with a shrug, that she wasn't really impressed!
It often happens that action and music go rapidly downhill after the interval, leaving me with the impression that the authors want to get over with it quickly now, but this time the second act was just as masterfully done as the first. I could feel sorry for Lisa Carew who realizes that she is losing her lover and I could weep for Lucy who dreams of a new life with Dr Jekyll's help, before Mr Hyde cruelly ends her dreams �and life. Although I knew what would happen their scenes had me on the edge of my seat once more, hoping for Lucy and suffering with her. And I also found myself suffering for Dr Jekyll, a character I had liked to dismiss as an unrealistic nut, but whom Ethan Freeman made oddly real, making me hope that he would overcome the beast inside and go back to live happily ever after with Lisa.
When the curtain fell on the sad wedding reception, the audience got up on their feet within a minute, giving a standing ovation I haven't encountered in Germany for years. Germans are usually very lazy about this and get up slowly and reluctantly, usually when other standing people start blocking their view onto the stage, but this time it was a genuine, excited standing ovation celebrating the best cast and the best production that has been seen in Germany for years. Somehow I had the feeling that this was the first time for years that a production has been arranged and staged with real care and consideration to make it work as good as possible. Too often in recent years I have had the feeling that German productions have been hastily arranged to earn big bucks with the current musical craze in the country. Either they were shallow carbon copies of Broadway/London originals that look the same all over the world and leave nothing at all for creativity or improvements, worsened by bad casting and horrible translations, or it were new shows presented as "the new hit musical" without try-outs or re-writing that would have collapsed in the provinces already if they had been staged in the States or Britain.
The authors of Jekyll & Hyde had luckily allowed the German team to stage their own production, change a few things and create their own stage sets, costumes and direction. I was really dumbfounded to hear that J&H was German director Dietrich Hilsdorf's very first musical production! Unlike German opera director Harry Kupfer who had ventured into musicals to direct Vienna's Elisabeth and turning it into the same pseudo-profound bizarre staging that German drama and opera is famous for, Mr Hilsdorf has managed to add a touch of irreality and absurdity to J&H which served to enhance the gothic atmosphere or the story and Victorian London without disturbing the "real" feeling of the action. The same goes for the set designs that weren't overblown with flying chandeliers and helicopters but created some magnificent effects with a lot less technical fuss.
Now I haven't seen the Broadway version and cannot make comparisons, but I think we can say �for the first time �with some pride that we have done a great job and our production has the high standard of Broadway and Westend musicals. I really hope that both the musical and the town of Bremen will have the success they deserve. If you get a chance to come to Germany �do it. I doubt you will ever be able to see a better production in this country.
Any comments? Nikki would be glad to hear from you.
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