This Show Is Sunshine In My Life!

Villa Sonnenschein, Schmidt Theater, Hamburg, season 2013

Yesterday saw my last 'Villa Sonnenschein' show this season (read more about the show itself in previous posts >>here )  as am skipping the actual final show tonight due to various reasons. 

But what a final show it was, no what an amazing season (even if unfortunately eye-opening too though that has nothing to do witht the show itself). From the first show in January to the last and all inbetween were most special with fondest memories seeing wonderful casts with the various alternates but one I avoided most probably nearly all possible combinations. 

It is unbelievable how much fun this show after all these years and so many shows I have seen since 2006 it still is and how fresh it still feels. Lines heard so often still make me laugh and smile, sometimes things/lines are changed, so there is new stuff to be discovered, things go wrong usually unnoticed by newbies but since know the show too well... ;) 

One highlight were the new puppets for some of the cast. Well the doc puppet looks like too many hours spent in a tanning salon and a cosmetic surgery on the lips going wrong, but overall they add to the fresh feeling of the show. 

A lot of freshness was also brought in with the four new cast members replacing beloved people but with their performances they all could fill the gaps most easily left. 

Katrin Taylor is most probably the best Melanie there ever was/is. Not only has she the most perfect voice (particularly the vocal range) of all to sing the songs but also her way to play the part is just exactly I picture Melanie to be: sweet and caring but also strong-willed and powerful . 

Regina Lemnitz as Carlotta is a most stunning diva, never felt that part so real and believable before. She is certainly a true actress. 

Wonderful is also Heiko Fischer, his senile Hubert is lively, I prefer Burkhard Heim though, but is Gustav is just so entertainingly grumpy and crabby that it is FUN to watch him, and Johanna Haas is a lovely add to the show.

Soooo good, no not good, great is also the return of Carolin Spieß as Mechthild after not being part of ensemble last year. For me Carolin just simply IS Mechthild, the one and only. Not more, not less. 

She finds the right balance between the evilness and the comic-ness of the part, her comical timing is just spot on and her "Hamburg-ian" voice for the sun is the sweetest ever. 

And then there are Kai Bronisch and Marco Knorz, my dream team as I started this season to call them, well, of course there are. 

What can I say about them I haven't? Not much I suppose (I just saw shows with Marco as no fan of his alternate and only one with Kai's alternate) adoring every single show I saw with them. 

Watching Kai who has done the show now for so many years you can feel that he still has so much fun doing it, suppose the short runs every year help, and I am always looking forward to what new lines he might come up with - Kai definitely deserves the award for the most funny moments and memories of this season with just small bits and pieces not going according to plan, sometimes just one word wrong, and I would be in stitches as when he e.g. said instead of the word " vision" "version". 

Marco delivered at every single show most rivetting performances who can convince not only vocally totally, touching me every time when he sings his one solo number "Es Tut So Weh" (deliberately brought a box of tissues with me yesterday as made jokes about it before and put it on the table in front of me (theatre is not an ordinary one but has also tables and serves drinks during show) - sat front row - and yep, I needed a few during the show) so poignantly and lachrymosely, but also his performance, wonderfully already last season, but this season he has become even more confident and made the role a lot more his own detaching a bit from guide to find what suits him. Preeminent! 

I could actually go on and on swooning over the cast, the show etc. but I better stop now. Fortunately it is now official that the show will return in 2014. I cannot wait to add a few more shows (preferably with my dream team) - I just need to survive the next 11 months! ;-)