Beauty and the Beast, seaside edition
Jun. 16th, 2008 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterI saw the Disney musical Beauty and the Beast for the first time in Berlin, with Leah Delos Santos, Jan Ammann, Uli Scherbel and Kevin Kraus, a truly magical cast. I had vague memories of the movie, but the show clinched it for me; not an oh-my-gods, but a lovely musical that I saw twice (mainly on account of Jan) and that the cast loved to bits.
Yesterday, I saw the new production in Gdynia, Poland. Huh. Looks like we've got another international-class production on our hands.
At first there were rumours it would be a replica production of the official Disney version, with the same sets and costumes as in Berlin, but the license was too expensive. Still, the set designers measured up admirably, with designs that evoke the movie while not being copy-cat. The costumes are simple and for once, excellently cut (a breath of fresh air compared to the Roma theatre), and at times very novel - my favourites were the Silly Girls in period underwear and Monsieur D'Arque's outfit, more on which later. The direction is tight, quick, very cartoonish in ways that work with the symbolic sets. About my only objection would be too-subtle costume changes in the second act (with proceeding objectification of the servants). "Look at us having fun!" is the motto, punctuated by very neat dance numbers.
The Gdynia theatre benefits by its stable of graduates of their musical academy, which specialises in well-rounded male singers/dancers (they do worse on female voices, alas). Consequently, the ensemble is strong and vibrant. The highlight was an erstwhile Krolock as a fishmonger/corkscrew; he turned on the Krolock-voice once in Bonjour, which elicited frantic hushing of the "oi, it's not your solo!" kind as he threatened to overload the speakers ;)
Alas, the north is lacking in strong female performers, and the Belle was wooden. Her voice is decent, though nowhere near fluid, but her grace and acting are inexistent. Maybe it wouldn't have jarred as much if I hadn't seen Leah Delos Santos, with her nightingale voice and strength of will enough to move mountains, but this wasn't Belle. She just went through the motions.
Mind you, the guys made up for it.
In Berlin, the servant show was Lumiere's, but here Cogsworth took the lead. Jacek Wester was absolutely adorable in his nervousness, with drawers in a drawer, and the greatest bushy eyebrows once out of the clock costume ;) The rest of the servants were solidly good, and they worked very well as a team.
The Beast, Jerzy Michalski, was rumoured to only have got the role because he's the grandson of the founder of the theatre. I can say this is not the part - he's a great actor (the perfect mix of growling and stalking with teenage-boy flailing whenever Belle looks at him), and he's got a great, sonorous voice that could overload the speakers if only he'd let it out a little bit more. He looks quite well as the Prince, if not drop-dead gorgeous - but then they can't all be ex-male-models ;)
Gaston was the guy I came to see - Tomasz Wiecek is, among other things, my favourite Munkustrap. And this time, he was Elvis. Hair included. I'm not sure swinging hips that way in a children's show is allowed ;) He shines, and he doesn't need padding to get the Gaston-figure. I adore his voice as well, bright and bold, but what clinches things is the charisma. With the exception of two scenes, he commanded attention whenever he was onstage.
Those notable exceptions were both due to Monsieur D'Arque. The Disney replica version is a Javert-like figure of gloom, but Pawel Bernaciak (both acting and assisting the direction of the show - which I strongly suspect meant "designing his own stage motion and costume") opted for Johnny Depp playing a villain in a Tim Burton movie, in tight blacks, an emo haircut, and just... like this. And he moves like that too. It's Johnny Depp in a horror manga.
(My favourite bit of the evening was when Gaston noticed his show was being stolen, and in fury he went into Munkustrap mode, with a very, very characteristic pose and clawing at the air :D I only noticed because his voice dropped from Elvis into Munkustrap as well.)
All that on top of a very well-translated show, and I think we've got a winner on our hands :)
Yesterday, I saw the new production in Gdynia, Poland. Huh. Looks like we've got another international-class production on our hands.
At first there were rumours it would be a replica production of the official Disney version, with the same sets and costumes as in Berlin, but the license was too expensive. Still, the set designers measured up admirably, with designs that evoke the movie while not being copy-cat. The costumes are simple and for once, excellently cut (a breath of fresh air compared to the Roma theatre), and at times very novel - my favourites were the Silly Girls in period underwear and Monsieur D'Arque's outfit, more on which later. The direction is tight, quick, very cartoonish in ways that work with the symbolic sets. About my only objection would be too-subtle costume changes in the second act (with proceeding objectification of the servants). "Look at us having fun!" is the motto, punctuated by very neat dance numbers.
The Gdynia theatre benefits by its stable of graduates of their musical academy, which specialises in well-rounded male singers/dancers (they do worse on female voices, alas). Consequently, the ensemble is strong and vibrant. The highlight was an erstwhile Krolock as a fishmonger/corkscrew; he turned on the Krolock-voice once in Bonjour, which elicited frantic hushing of the "oi, it's not your solo!" kind as he threatened to overload the speakers ;)
Alas, the north is lacking in strong female performers, and the Belle was wooden. Her voice is decent, though nowhere near fluid, but her grace and acting are inexistent. Maybe it wouldn't have jarred as much if I hadn't seen Leah Delos Santos, with her nightingale voice and strength of will enough to move mountains, but this wasn't Belle. She just went through the motions.
Mind you, the guys made up for it.
In Berlin, the servant show was Lumiere's, but here Cogsworth took the lead. Jacek Wester was absolutely adorable in his nervousness, with drawers in a drawer, and the greatest bushy eyebrows once out of the clock costume ;) The rest of the servants were solidly good, and they worked very well as a team.
The Beast, Jerzy Michalski, was rumoured to only have got the role because he's the grandson of the founder of the theatre. I can say this is not the part - he's a great actor (the perfect mix of growling and stalking with teenage-boy flailing whenever Belle looks at him), and he's got a great, sonorous voice that could overload the speakers if only he'd let it out a little bit more. He looks quite well as the Prince, if not drop-dead gorgeous - but then they can't all be ex-male-models ;)
Gaston was the guy I came to see - Tomasz Wiecek is, among other things, my favourite Munkustrap. And this time, he was Elvis. Hair included. I'm not sure swinging hips that way in a children's show is allowed ;) He shines, and he doesn't need padding to get the Gaston-figure. I adore his voice as well, bright and bold, but what clinches things is the charisma. With the exception of two scenes, he commanded attention whenever he was onstage.
Those notable exceptions were both due to Monsieur D'Arque. The Disney replica version is a Javert-like figure of gloom, but Pawel Bernaciak (both acting and assisting the direction of the show - which I strongly suspect meant "designing his own stage motion and costume") opted for Johnny Depp playing a villain in a Tim Burton movie, in tight blacks, an emo haircut, and just... like this. And he moves like that too. It's Johnny Depp in a horror manga.
(My favourite bit of the evening was when Gaston noticed his show was being stolen, and in fury he went into Munkustrap mode, with a very, very characteristic pose and clawing at the air :D I only noticed because his voice dropped from Elvis into Munkustrap as well.)
All that on top of a very well-translated show, and I think we've got a winner on our hands :)