"Curtains" up and it can stay like that!

November 08, 2011

"Curtains" up and it can stay like that!

“Curtains” - Landestheater Coburg, 5th November, 2011

"Curtains", Kander & Ebbs's final collaboration, finally made it on a stage in Germany and since I have liked the Broadway cast recording (being a fan of Kander & Ebb's other shows as "Cabaret", "Kiss Of The Spiderwoman" and "Chicago" anyway) since it came out and enjoyed the clips you could find on places as youtube and me thinking it not being very likely that another theatre closer to home would do it in the near future the decision was made to go all the way to the Bavarian town of Coburg. The things I do to feed my theatre addiction....

Based on the original book and concept by Peter Stone, the musical is a send-up of backstage murder mystery plots, set in 1959 Boston, Massachusetts and follows the fallout when the über-untalented female star of Robbin' Hood of the Old West is murdered during her opening night curtain call. It is up to a police detective who moonlights as a musical theater fan to save the show, solve the case, and maybe even find love before the show reopens, without getting killed himself.

Cast List:

Lieutenant Frank Cioffi	Jens Janke
Niki Harris	Marie Smolka
Georgia Hendricks	Ulrike Barz
Carmen Bernstein	Kerstin Kluge
Aaron Fox, composer	Alexander Franzen
Sidney Bernstein, producer	Boris Stark
Christopher Belling, director	Niklaus Scheibli
Bambi Bernét	Jana Kristina Lobreyer
Daryl Grady	Frederik Leberle
Johnny Harmon, Stage Manager	Stephan Mertl
Bobby Pepper	Jörn Ortmann
Jessica Cranshaw	Betsy Horne
Randy Dexter	Oliver Floris
Sasha Iljinski	Roland Fister

So after a wonderful afternoon discovering the town of Coburg I was off to the Landestheater - a beautiful builiding with an even more beautiful auditorium.

Not sure whether it was sold out but there were a few empty seats but they might have from subscribers not appearing as seats around sold.

So 19:30 the curtains rose and another one to be straight away at the end of the show in the show and the show could begin. It was a most amazing evening.

The show is directed and choreographed by English born Jean Renshaw and musical director is Roland Fister who is also conducting and playing Sasha this evening. They and the rest of the creative team and the cast have definitely put on a gem onstage bringing in some wonderful ideas for the various scenes as some slow motions or some other stagings as when one dies which work so well with the irony and parody of the show.

The orchestra did also a fine job most of the time, just during some of the bigger show numbers I had wished for some more drive and energy and occassionally they were too loud for me - or the performers not loud enough that they got drowned by the orchestra - at least where I sat.

The German translation (by Wolfgang Adenberg) was done imho pretty well, not all of the Broadway jokes were (properly) translated (as we were told at the cast presentation after the show that was made on purpose) but this didn't bother me, unlike these two people I overheard during the interval who were from the "oh so great" magazine Blickpunkt Musical saying that the audience would be too stupid anyway to understand these as we might not have laughed at all of them. Seriously who do these people think they are to dare to insult me, as I am part of the audience? Cannot wait for their reviews - they are usually so badly written in that magazine anyway that I should have a laugh (not that I think I am better but I know it)!

While I liked the overall result and all musical numbers the show could have needed a few cuts as it has with a running time of three hours (officially, it turned out to be 3 1/4 hours at end) several lengths which could have been easily shortened. I just e.g. need one, two scenes with Cioffi and Niki and not three, four.

Anyway, Jens Janke as Frank Cioffi is a very charming and geeky detective, looking a bit like a younger Colombo in his trench coat and his hat, who performs especially the funny and comedy moments very well (but then I was not surprised as he was just most hilarious as the professor in “Tanz Der Vampire”). As e.g. when Cioffi tries to finds out where one bullet came from, running around and getting more and more hyper when he gets closer to solve that mystery had me in stitches, but then the whole scene is staged so well.

In his “love” scenes though with Marie Smolka as Niki or in when he tries to sell his ideas of how to improve the show I had wished for more heart and more passion I’d expect from a theatre lover though. He played some of these scenes with the same hyperness which was often just OTT. Still the rest of the audience seemed to enjoy this.

Personally I am not of fan of his singing voice though it suits this role (unlike when imho he killed the role of Bobby in "Crazy For You" in Kiel last year) and he had the chance to show off a bit his apparent great tap dance talent (seen better tap dancer on a musical stage though) during "Tough Act To Follow".

Marie Smolka at his side as the naive ingénue Niki Harris was cute to watch. The only thing I did not like was that she sang with her “normal” singing voice so it did not match her speaking lisping voice. After seen LSOH several times I know it is possible, so a minor issue for me but that did not harm the overall impression too much with her being a delight as the blond one.

Ulrike Barz who is from the in-house opera ensemble (but with some musical theatre training) as is an enjoyable Georgia Henricks who can mainly convince. Her acting is not the strongest imho. Her Georgia could be a lot more confident, her doe eyes glances do not help either that she looks far too insecure too often. Yes, her character wants her husband back, so there would be some but at the same time with the game she is playing I would expect her to be a lot more energetic which Ulrike unfortunately is not. When she is to be she is usually mainly just loud. Her singing though is spotless with a lot of emotions and sensitivity given out and her “Thinking of Him” is one of my personal highlights in the show.

Kerstin Kluge as Carmen Bernstein was of the ladies the biggest surprise. Being actually from the opera choir of the theatre I was more than stunned how well she acted the brassy tough-as-nails theatre producer being absolutely hilarious and entertaining giving the role just enough depth and edge to be most believable particulary her "It's A Business" was such an anthem.

Jörn Ortmann as Bobby Pepper was for me a disappointment. As the choreographer, dancer and male lead and apparently ex and renewed boy friend of Georgia he was too much a baby faced mummy’s boy. I also didn’t rate the few solo lines he had to sing highly, hard to believe that he has a musical training not being very spot on and misses vocal power. He also sounded so bland and I didn’t buy that he loves Georgia. I had expected more a Adam Garcia type of man (but one who can sing) with the right confidence but what I got onstage was more the nerd. The same is the case for Oliver Floris as Randy Dexter. While he certainly is a fantastic dancer, though the choreography could only partly tease that out, his acting was a letdown. Luckily this role is rather small and unimportant.

Jana Kristina Lobreyer as Elaine “Bambi” Bernét, the rather spoilt daughter of Carmen Bernstein, was a bit too much tomb boy for me and not the ambitious dancer she is to be. Vocally, as apparently another musical performer guest, she was also not convincing though her “big” dance number with Bobby was pleasant.

Johnny Harmon, the stage manager, was pictured by Stephan Ignaz as a camp wanna be performer peacock. It was funny for me the first thirty minutes but after that it just got annoying when he came onstage in a tutu or in an evening gown on high heels causing laughter (the rest of the audience seemed not to mind and he definitely did play the way they outlined the character in this production but for me it did not add anything to the character. Knowing a few stage managers none of them actually is like that (might be different on Broadway), so I would have wanted more a more gruff and raucous stage manager and not this persiflage of a failed/wanna be actor turned into stage manager.

Boris Stark, Niklaus Scheibli and Frederik Leberle as the general manager, director and critic respectively did decent jobs. It was certainly a good decision to cast two actors for roles which required stronger acting than singing skills.

The rest of the opera choir was only rarely onstage but often in the booth and a good job noted here. The showgirls were portrayed by the in-house ballet – female and male but this while it could have easily looked trashy it didn’t do at all. Even the male ones looked rather stylish and performed the choreography by Jean well – I just wished while the choreography looked mainly good, it could have been occasionally a bit bigger and brighter and more glam, just simply more ”Broadway”. It lacked often the power of some of the big dance numbers in some musicals and while certainly not having the number of people it could have been done with the not so common dance routines seen in dozen others shows. BORING.

The stage design and the lighting looks rather simple (though am sure it is not) but works highly effectively with “just” a large white stage staircase for the stage scenes on a revolving stage displaying a two more stairs on the back to be used for backstage/offstage scenes and the odd tinsel curtains, some chairs once in a while, a fake silver shimmering piano but this show just did not need more.

Well did not need more? It actually did - it needed and it had a most amazing Alexander Franzen als Aaron Fox, the not yet ex-husband of Georgia. First of all, he was totally wasted in that role being not but what he made out of it was utter blissfulness. There are very few singers (he is not just a musical performer or just an opera singer, he is fully trained in both and you can hear that) whose acting is also of storming talent, his Aaron was so convingly one of a heartbroken but not totally desperate man yet who wants to fight and uses maybe the last chance to get his wife back. It is such a shame that he only has really one number (and the odd reprise) showing of his strong beautiful baritone giving me goosebumps for all the best reasons.

I can only recommend this show for anyone interested in something new, even if it is not Kander & Ebb's strongest show but it is great entertaining with a mainly wonderful cast - you will not regret it.