Once Upon A Time There Was A Good Theatre...
"Es War Einmal" (Once Upon A Time) - Schmidt Theater, Hamburg, 11th November 2012
After a rather dull October in regards to theatre the November is a lot more interesting including the opening of the new kids/family musical at the Schmidt Theater.
I hadn't been to the theatre for nearly five months (shocking!), the longest I had ever been away from it but with all shows on in the last months there none interested me.
Somehow the Schmidt Theater has pretty much lost its appeal for me having discovered other great theatres as the Altonaer Theater or the Kammerspiele and I am afraid with the new kids show that has not changed.
But from the beginning, actually since the show is about Grimm's fairy tales, I should better say once upon a time there were Martin Lingnau and Heiko Wohlgemuth who gave this theatre the great Villa Sonnenschein and also the last kids show of the robber Hotzenplotz coming up with the idea of writing a new show not using one source but no, several - all Grimm's fairy tales, though just the most common ones (what's wrong with The Goose Girl, The Seven Ravens or Jorinde and Joringel?).
Cast at show visited (all parts are alternated with other performers)
Marco Knorz - The Little Tailor
Elena Zvirbulis - Snow White/The Sleeping Beauty etc.
Timo Riegelsberger - The Bad Wolf etc.
Franziska Kuropka - The EvilWitch/Rapunzel etc.
Markus Richter - King/Dad etc.
It's evening, three kids are to go to bed but not without their father to tell/read them a story, as their mother is out, one of the "Valiant Little Tailor".
With the fairy tale book have gone missing he tells it as well as he remembers it - not too well.
It largely follows the path that the tailor, after he killed the seven flies and made his "seven at one blow" belt, is to fulfil tasks the king gives him so that he can marry the king's daughter Snow White .
First he is to rescue the Sleeping Beauty, which he fails meeting the bad wolf in Sleeping Beauty's castle (even kissing him thinking the princess is just ugly!) and runs back to the castle.
The king is upset about the little tailor's failure but gives him another chance. Now the little tailor shall rescue Little Red Riding Hood who has gotten lost in the forest (what she apparently does three times a week).
The tailor meets again the wolf who has a massive stomach pain. Thinking he'd find Little Red Riding Hood in the wolf's belly the tailor helps the wolf but he actually rescues Sleeping Beauty.
Convinced he completed his first task at last he returns with Sleeping Beauty to the castle but as the king wanted the little tailor to wake up her with a kiss he argues the little tailor hasn't completed the task but gives him a third chance which is rescuing Rapunzel out of her tower.
But once again he fails as Little Red Riding Hood has rescued her already.
The king does not want to give the tailor a fourth chance, three is enough, but Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood manage to change the king's mind - the tailor is to bring Little Red Riding Hood home- a task apparently no-one has managed before.
They really do get to Little Red Riding Hood's home but instead of finding her grandmother there is a bewitched frog (with a Spanish accent) who wants to be kissed.
Little Red Riding Hood refuses to kiss him so the tailor does it. But the frog does not turn into a prince but the bad wolf who has eaten the grandmother.
The tailor is asked again and rescues the grandmother and inserts a zipper into the wolf - just in case he eats a person again though it hopefully shall not happen as the wolf promises to become a vegetarian (yes good decision may I (who has been one for nearly 20 years) say so. ;-) ).
The tailor returns to the king who is excited that all is sorted again in his country but has to confess the tailor cannot marry his daugher as she has run away being scared of the king's former wife - the evil witch.
So the tailor is off to find Snow White. Travelling across the country bumps into the disguised evil witch who gives him an apple to give to Snow White as a present once he has found her and into various dwarves (each with a different German accent) who show him the way to Snow White (why would protective dwarves do that?? :S ).
When he finally meets Snow White and tells her how sad her father is she agrees to return to the castle with the tailor and is off packing. The tailor is excited and without thinking suddenly takes a bite from the apple and drops dead - of course the apple was poisoned.
Thinking that it is Snow White who is dead at last the evil witch appears, but she trips over the tailor lying on the ground who spits out the apple bite and fights the witch throwing the rest of the apple at her which surprisingly ends up in her mouth.
The witch is beaten, Snow White and the tailor return to the castle and get married at last.
All's well that ends well.Well.... Or maybe not.
So far so good about the plot. Premiere was on Saturday, of course not on public sale again and the reviews of it in the local were largely most positive which I can only partly agree with.
What massively bugged me was since I know pretty much all the other shows Heiko Wohlgemuth and Martin Lingnau wrote is the amount of stuff that was recycled for this show especially in regards to the dialogues including plenty of the jokes, clichés and apparent social criticism. There are lines in the show which are used one to one, word by word exactly the same.
It was not amusing anymore after a while. For others who do not know shows so well it might be fun to hear certain jokes but when you have heard them before in other shows by the creatives and/or the theatre it is not.
And I think that is the difference between me and the reviews in the papers and the ordinary crowd writing posts in the theatre's guestbook Certainly it was largely well done in weaving all the various fairy tales into one story though I must say I actually expected a lot more mayhem and with each chapter following pretty much the same kind of idea - tailor solving a task usually rescuing someone - with a good time of stage time (show is just 1 3/4 hours in total including interval) taken up by the original story being told in the typical Schmidt Theater style - it got repetitive too.
And it continues with the interpretation of the characters.
As brilliant as Franziska Kuropka is as the evil witch (loved the idea of giving her character pantomime touches with the whole her requesting from the audience of boo-ing at her), the witch could also be called Mechthild, the character who runs the nursery home in "Villa Sonnenschein", the witch often feels, no not only feels but speaks and acts like a carbon copy.
The same goes for the tailor. As much as I enjoyed seeing Marco Knorz onstage finally again, been too long, when he sings of the misery of the life of a tailor it is heart-wrenching and -warming and am reminded why I fell in love with his performance a few months ago, but the interpretation of the character too often reminds me of Felix from Villa Sonnenschein again.
I want each character to have its more or less unique personality and not a copy of someone's else even if it is from another show the kids most likely won't know and the adults maybe neither.
The frog, spoken by Timo Riegelsberger and played mostly by Marco Knorz, could have also been called Julio, the plant from Villa Sonnenschein, speaking with a (terrific and convincing) Spanish accent. Interesting directing decision as it is the bad wolf who was turned into the frog and the wolf has no Spanish accent.... What bewitching does to creatures....
There were several other moments in the show when I was reminded of other shows I saw at the Schmidt Theater or the Tivoli in the last years - the show actually turned eventually into some kind of reminiscing show waiting for the next line that I knew already. Usually I did not have wait very long.
The music, most of the reviews called catchy, were for me uninspired. No song was really memorable. A few days later I can hardly recall one of the songs. Too often I was reminded of the worst melodies of kids's songs I so could not stand in primary school (I was already into chart/pop music at a very young age which is most probably to be blamed on my then rather young parents) many moons ago.
There are also just so many ballads/slower songs I can take in a musical, and in this show there was certainly (at least) one too many.
The interaction of the audience, so typical for the Schmidt Theater family shows was also a bit lame which was largely just getting a reaction from the total audience as in answering a question one of the characters asks while being onstage, the boo-ing or clapping. The involvement as last year with the whole audience being a forest, embarrassing adults, actually just using the auditorium as part of the scenery etc. was a lot a more entertaining and crowd pleasing.
I also wished for more darker moments as, let's face it, Grimm's fairy tales are rather dark and cruel. Considering how many dark moments the show has there are too little but with the age advise being from 4 years onwards (and after having plenty of crying children at "Räuber Hotzenplotz" last year) that might be an intentional decision.
The set, most bright and colourful, is effectual and practicable.
The wardrobe turns into a hedge, a loft bed into Rapunzel's tower or the of the valiant little tailor's home, an attic. Especially the little touches as the roses on the hedge were too cute, so was the frog.
The lighting and the sound gave the set its perfect support delivering a convincing package.
The costumes are largely nice (what were they thinking though when designing the costume for "The Sleeping Beauty looking like a recycled bed sheet?? and some of the wigs when three of them are kids - oh dear...) though some are clearly inspired by the Disney's movie versions (ARGH!).
At least the cast can entertain even if they remind of other characters in other shows.
Besides Franziska Kuropka as the hilarious evil witch and the adorable Marco Knorz as the little tailor there are the three others of whom especially Timo Riegelsberger as the bad wolf in his other roles can convince with having the most precise comic timing and such a good ear for articulation and emphasis.
Markus Richter as the king is slightly reminding me of his constable in "Räuber Hotzenplotz", still nice to see, and Elena Zvirbulis is in all her role such a whirlwind, even if occasionally a bit too OTT and blonde for me.
Overall while it certainly may be an entertaining show for most I am personally disappointed with it especially after last season's most amazing "Räuber Hotzenplotz". I most probably will return to see the alternates at least once or twice but there won't be as many visits as last year.
 |
| Illustration: (THE) Jan Radermacher |
I hadn't been to the theatre for nearly five months (shocking!), the longest I had ever been away from it but with all shows on in the last months there none interested me.
Somehow the Schmidt Theater has pretty much lost its appeal for me having discovered other great theatres as the Altonaer Theater or the Kammerspiele and I am afraid with the new kids show that has not changed.
But from the beginning, actually since the show is about Grimm's fairy tales, I should better say once upon a time there were Martin Lingnau and Heiko Wohlgemuth who gave this theatre the great Villa Sonnenschein and also the last kids show of the robber Hotzenplotz coming up with the idea of writing a new show not using one source but no, several - all Grimm's fairy tales, though just the most common ones (what's wrong with The Goose Girl, The Seven Ravens or Jorinde and Joringel?).
Cast at show visited (all parts are alternated with other performers)
Marco Knorz - The Little Tailor
Elena Zvirbulis - Snow White/The Sleeping Beauty etc.
Timo Riegelsberger - The Bad Wolf etc.
Franziska Kuropka - The EvilWitch/Rapunzel etc.
Markus Richter - King/Dad etc.
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch - dad and his kids |
It's evening, three kids are to go to bed but not without their father to tell/read them a story, as their mother is out, one of the "Valiant Little Tailor".
With the fairy tale book have gone missing he tells it as well as he remembers it - not too well.
It largely follows the path that the tailor, after he killed the seven flies and made his "seven at one blow" belt, is to fulfil tasks the king gives him so that he can marry the king's daughter Snow White .
First he is to rescue the Sleeping Beauty, which he fails meeting the bad wolf in Sleeping Beauty's castle (even kissing him thinking the princess is just ugly!) and runs back to the castle.
The king is upset about the little tailor's failure but gives him another chance. Now the little tailor shall rescue Little Red Riding Hood who has gotten lost in the forest (what she apparently does three times a week).
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch - the evil witch with the Sleeping Beauty's parents |
Convinced he completed his first task at last he returns with Sleeping Beauty to the castle but as the king wanted the little tailor to wake up her with a kiss he argues the little tailor hasn't completed the task but gives him a third chance which is rescuing Rapunzel out of her tower.
But once again he fails as Little Red Riding Hood has rescued her already.
The king does not want to give the tailor a fourth chance, three is enough, but Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood manage to change the king's mind - the tailor is to bring Little Red Riding Hood home- a task apparently no-one has managed before.
They really do get to Little Red Riding Hood's home but instead of finding her grandmother there is a bewitched frog (with a Spanish accent) who wants to be kissed.
Little Red Riding Hood refuses to kiss him so the tailor does it. But the frog does not turn into a prince but the bad wolf who has eaten the grandmother.
The tailor is asked again and rescues the grandmother and inserts a zipper into the wolf - just in case he eats a person again though it hopefully shall not happen as the wolf promises to become a vegetarian (yes good decision may I (who has been one for nearly 20 years) say so. ;-) ).
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch the good witch/fairy with the Sleeping Beauty's parents |
So the tailor is off to find Snow White. Travelling across the country bumps into the disguised evil witch who gives him an apple to give to Snow White as a present once he has found her and into various dwarves (each with a different German accent) who show him the way to Snow White (why would protective dwarves do that?? :S ).
When he finally meets Snow White and tells her how sad her father is she agrees to return to the castle with the tailor and is off packing. The tailor is excited and without thinking suddenly takes a bite from the apple and drops dead - of course the apple was poisoned.
Thinking that it is Snow White who is dead at last the evil witch appears, but she trips over the tailor lying on the ground who spits out the apple bite and fights the witch throwing the rest of the apple at her which surprisingly ends up in her mouth.
The witch is beaten, Snow White and the tailor return to the castle and get married at last.
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch - the evil witch and Sleeping Beauty |
So far so good about the plot. Premiere was on Saturday, of course not on public sale again and the reviews of it in the local were largely most positive which I can only partly agree with.
What massively bugged me was since I know pretty much all the other shows Heiko Wohlgemuth and Martin Lingnau wrote is the amount of stuff that was recycled for this show especially in regards to the dialogues including plenty of the jokes, clichés and apparent social criticism. There are lines in the show which are used one to one, word by word exactly the same.
It was not amusing anymore after a while. For others who do not know shows so well it might be fun to hear certain jokes but when you have heard them before in other shows by the creatives and/or the theatre it is not.
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch - the little tailor |
And it continues with the interpretation of the characters.
As brilliant as Franziska Kuropka is as the evil witch (loved the idea of giving her character pantomime touches with the whole her requesting from the audience of boo-ing at her), the witch could also be called Mechthild, the character who runs the nursery home in "Villa Sonnenschein", the witch often feels, no not only feels but speaks and acts like a carbon copy.
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch the little tailor and the bad wolf |
I want each character to have its more or less unique personality and not a copy of someone's else even if it is from another show the kids most likely won't know and the adults maybe neither.
The frog, spoken by Timo Riegelsberger and played mostly by Marco Knorz, could have also been called Julio, the plant from Villa Sonnenschein, speaking with a (terrific and convincing) Spanish accent. Interesting directing decision as it is the bad wolf who was turned into the frog and the wolf has no Spanish accent.... What bewitching does to creatures....
There were several other moments in the show when I was reminded of other shows I saw at the Schmidt Theater or the Tivoli in the last years - the show actually turned eventually into some kind of reminiscing show waiting for the next line that I knew already. Usually I did not have wait very long.
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch - Servant, king and the little tailor |
There are also just so many ballads/slower songs I can take in a musical, and in this show there was certainly (at least) one too many.
The interaction of the audience, so typical for the Schmidt Theater family shows was also a bit lame which was largely just getting a reaction from the total audience as in answering a question one of the characters asks while being onstage, the boo-ing or clapping. The involvement as last year with the whole audience being a forest, embarrassing adults, actually just using the auditorium as part of the scenery etc. was a lot a more entertaining and crowd pleasing.
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch - the little tailor and the bad wolf |
The set, most bright and colourful, is effectual and practicable.
The wardrobe turns into a hedge, a loft bed into Rapunzel's tower or the of the valiant little tailor's home, an attic. Especially the little touches as the roses on the hedge were too cute, so was the frog.
The lighting and the sound gave the set its perfect support delivering a convincing package.
The costumes are largely nice (what were they thinking though when designing the costume for "The Sleeping Beauty looking like a recycled bed sheet?? and some of the wigs when three of them are kids - oh dear...) though some are clearly inspired by the Disney's movie versions (ARGH!).
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch the little tailor, king and Sleeping Beauty |
At least the cast can entertain even if they remind of other characters in other shows.
Besides Franziska Kuropka as the hilarious evil witch and the adorable Marco Knorz as the little tailor there are the three others of whom especially Timo Riegelsberger as the bad wolf in his other roles can convince with having the most precise comic timing and such a good ear for articulation and emphasis.
Markus Richter as the king is slightly reminding me of his constable in "Räuber Hotzenplotz", still nice to see, and Elena Zvirbulis is in all her role such a whirlwind, even if occasionally a bit too OTT and blonde for me.
Overall while it certainly may be an entertaining show for most I am personally disappointed with it especially after last season's most amazing "Räuber Hotzenplotz". I most probably will return to see the alternates at least once or twice but there won't be as many visits as last year.
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch the little tailor and Little Red Riding Hood |
 |
| ©Oliver Fantitsch - the evil witch and the little tailor |
