winter | Review: Tanz der Vampire, Oberhausen

Between work and fever, this is, alas, almost two weeks late. Rest assured that my memories are quite vivid :)

I saw two shows, the evening one on Friday, March 6 and the matinee on Saturday, March 7. I booked those two dates with the express intention of catching the first and second cast, but as usual, fate intervened. I don't know what happened to Jan Ammann (the guy at the box office told me he broke his leg, but since audios from the week after have surfaced with him, I assume that was just the box office guy's attempt at an English explanation of "wrenched ankle" or compatible), but I had Kevin Tarte as Krolock for both shows, and he was also doing the evening show on Saturday. At first, I remembered the Hamburg proshot DVD of Tanz and was furious, but oh, the show exceeded my expectations a hundredfold.

(Since I have an inordinate amount of holiday days this year, and since Tanz in Oberhausen got extended until January, I may try to stalk Jan again. From what I have heard in audios, he's very, very enthusiastic.)

It's the same plot I'd seen over 30 times before, the same music, the same characters, but again it's fresh and shining with a new cast's take on it. The music section was very dynamic - maybe even a little too fast at times, though they get brownie points for not trying to shut up the singers when they were showing off. They seem to have tweaked the projections again (I think - I've managed to repress my memories of the bland Berlin production), and they're very pleasing. The sets are similar to Berlin, ornate and intricate, but the Metronom Theater has a stage more than twice as big, so the sets can move in a much larger space :) I like the fact that in Das Gebiet, they had von Krolock on the roof, not at the door. It gives a greater impact to the scene.

Costume-wise, they seem to have watched the Budapest production closely :) It's the small touches - the fact that Sarah finally gets a high-quality velvet shawl worthy of a Graf's gift, the cut of her nightgown (a pet peeve of mine, since many productions have horrid gowns), and while the vampire cloaks retain those stiffened edges that allow them to be raised in a bat-wing shape, this time they've hit on a combination of fabric and stiffening that lets Krolock and Herbert engage in some serious cloak-twirling. And since cloak-twirling is my weakness, I approve heartily.

The major costume change is in the Ewigkeit scene - almost every vampire has been reimagined, with great results. The costumes remind me of a cross of the Budapest and Warsaw ones, more oneiric than the Budapest production alone. I've seen close-up photos of that scene and each castmember's clothes and makeup are detailed and gorgeous. They've also come up with distinct personalities to match those costumes, which adds lustre to the whole scene.

(There are also mostly new costumes for the final dance, very Budapest-like. They let the dancers show off their craft well.)

Ah, but the cast makes the play. The ensemble is international, liberally sprinkled with Hungarians, and it shows. I've seen this fire in Budapest, and it's the same - I was surprised to find that some of the castmemebers were also in Berlin, because there, the ensemble was so zombie-like that they took away the whole magic of the show. Here, they went absolutely crazy, slobbering and growling, drunk on the high of a very good show. Just the biting scene in Tanzsaal was worth the exorbitant admission price, though I'm sure some of those gestures were not exactly legal ;) The dancers were particularly good, though alas I didn't see Ákos Tihanyi as the Black Vampire (Ross McDermott was likewise very good). I did catch Dávid Baranya as the White Vampire, to my delight - he's still up to his cackling, wig-changing, very bendy ways, and there was a bonus Hungarian, Csaba Farago, who made the Roten Stiefel dance solo a piece of poetry. (I saw a total of 4 people I fangirl in the ensemble alone. I'm starting to ascend to Takarazuka-like levels of having favourites on each rung and branch of the theatre ladder.)

Now, for the actual cast with roles that have names:

Rebecca was one of the few roles where I saw different performers in the two shows I saw. Eva Maria Bender, I'm afraid, is just too young for the role - she devoted her entire energy to sounding old, which resulted in squeaking, and had none left for the fire and thunder that should be in Rebecca. Heike Schmitz, on the other hand, struck the perfect note, owning the stage. The only thing that I didn't like was the loud sobbing and sniffling as Rebecca walks out, but I think it's part of the stage directions - in Warsaw they let Rebecca leave the stage in tragic silence. She really is the one person who shows the human side of tragedy in this show, and I think it's a needed part.

Stefan Büdenbender was Koukol both times, and I was surprised by how young, energetic and eager he played the role. I've seen Koukols that moved better, but he was absolutely charming. He was one of the people in whom I saw a difference between their performance in previous German productions and in this one.

In no-one was it more visible than in Gernot Kranner. He's been playing Professor Abronsius for a dozen years, I've seen him on numerous boots and once live at the anniversary concert, and yet here was the first time (okay, two times) that he knocked me flat. He was absolutely crazy, wild, drawing out each comedic moment for all it was worth. There must be something in the water... (Possibly paprika.)

I got to see the second Magda twice, but since it was Timea Kecskés, I did not object. She really is a perfect Magda, strong and weak and just ruthless enough not to be a victim.

Jerzy Jeszke as Chagal was, expectedly, vocally excellent. Acting-wise, he was on crack, on a par with Gernot and Kevin. He was having a ball, very visibly, and I got a bonus laugh when in the first scene, he cursed out the villagers in Polish, calling them dirty :> He was one of the people I was eager to see, and I was not disappointed.

I'd heard middling things about Nele-Liis Vaiksoo, and I was doubtful about early audios that showcased some vocal slip-ups, but I was enchanted by her headstrong, passionate Sarah. She's now in my top three, I believe, right next to Zsanett and Malwina. Chemistry with everyone, too. The one thing someone should point out to her is that she has no idea how to do a Jewish prayer.

Alfred was the other role where I got to see two performers. Krisha Dalke was - okay, I guess, with a good pop voice and a nice performance. The one jarring note was the way he was with Sarah; it was jock-like, the kind of teenage boy lust that's not delicate but blunt and American Pie-like. I prefer my Alfreds more innocent.

And boy, did I get it in the form of Riccardo Greco in the matinee performance. He's young and handsome and strong-voiced, and he played Alfred with perfect sweetness. There was adoration for Sarah, fascination with Krolock, exasperated fondness for the Professor. I'll be keeping an eye on him - he's bound to go places.

Especially the way he behaved after he was bitten. This was the first time I saw an Alfred bend backwards at a right angle and howl. He would not shut up, up to and including howling and yelling when he was already outside the auditorium! (Oh, and at the stage door, when he immediately offered to be bitten by Kevin, he cemented his place as one of my favourites.)

Coming up to the vampires, apart from Sascha Krebs and Máté Kamarás in Vienna, I had yet to see a German-production Herbert I would even tolerate. I'm happy to report that Florian Fetterle was exquisite. He got it. He got the precise mix of eighteenth-century fop and beast of prey. Each gesture was studied, each relation to other characters thought out, even his walk was the right catwalk prance. Oh, and he had the legs. I cannot stand a Herbert who has ugly legs (or worse, trousers that do no show off his legs).

And finally, Kevin.

I first saw Kevin Tarte's Krolock in photos, and thought he looked gorgeous. He has the face for it, the bone structure, the height and body to carry off a high-collar cloak with panache. Then I got a DVD where he played Krolock. It was the Hamburg proshot, a gorgeous, crystal-clear multi-camera video recording of Tanz der Vampire with the worst cast ever.

He was atrocious in it. He squeaked and shouted, and he played Krolock very bored. And very, very gay. Strutting and limp-wristed, with an old-man voice. He didn't even bother to sing. Because of that, when I heard I would be seeing him twice in Oberhausen, I was crushed. I had travelled so long for that?

I believe I have now solved the mystery of that proshot, at least in regard to Kevin. My impression is that Kevin is a born parodyist, a comic with a knack for imitating. And in Hamburg, on that particular night, he was doing an impression of a very bored Thomas Borchert. And camping it up to eleven just because Borchert is so very, very, very straight.

In Oberhausen, his foil, the man to whom he holds up the mirror, is Jan Ammann - young, passionate, bell-voiced, utterly delighted with his role, vibrating with his hunger for audience applause, and more than a little crazy in his interpretation. And oh, does Kevin rise to the challenge of rivalling him.

I wasn't charmed with his Gott ist tot like I usually am with Krolocks I like. He came on at an utterly ridiculous prance, and he was just all over the place - with the hands, with the cloak, so over the top that I was giggling. (Delighted giggling, mind you.) The problem with that was that I was sitting in the outer seat of what was the first row he came to when he came off the stage.

There is no experience quite like over six feet of growling vampire in very tight trousers glaring straight at you. The claws stopped six inches away from my nose, then he settled for flouncing his cloak, throwing it over my head as he swept past. Score, I believe.

It only got better from there. I could not believe that voice, though I recorded an audio I might post soon. His gestures were perfectly elegant, and his cloak control - my weakness - was gorgeous. He managed a great chemistry in Totale Finsternis with Sarah, and while this was definitely an impetuous Krolock, an intelligent and overconfident and over-the-top one who liked to show off, it was a definite Krolock. He owned the show just like a Krolock should.

(He also crawled on the ground in Unstillbare. Ah, happy memories.)

Getting to meet him and get a photo at the stagedoor was just icing on the cake :) I've since tracked down clips of him in Stuttgart that have a similar fire, and I need a full bootleg. Preferably of Oberhausen, because oh, this show is good.

In conclusion: if you're putting on a musical, add Hungarians. They make everything better :D

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fantasticheria.livejournal.com

Thanks for the great review!

And, your explanation for Tarte's awfulness on the proshot really makes sense. I never thought it from that point of view, but it does explain a lot. I'd really like to see / hear him doing Krolock well, because he sounds so great in everything else I've heard him singing.

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