A Cheery Day's Evening

Mai 06, 2013

A Cheery Day's Evening

Gala Concert of the St. Pauli Kurorchester

on the occassion of Norbert Aust's 70th birthday

(& some "Es War Einmal" before)

Oh dear, time flies by so quickly at the moment, that I have had hardly any time for this blog and some post drafts still waiting for completion. I have just been too busy once again with many weekends away, my birthday in April, vacation etc.

Last weekend was actually the first weekend for weeks I spent besides a short trip to Lübeck on Saturday evening to see Evita in Hamburg so that I had time for this special event - not really "theatrical" but involving a for Hamburg important theatre man.

After a rather spontaneous decision seeing "Es War Einmal" once more in the afternoon and realising I still cannot understand people raving about it (read >>here about my first visit of the show) as for me the past family shows at that theatre were so much more fun (cannot believe that the show will even come back this Christmas season - no alternatives? Or is it really that successful despite the empty seats around me yesterday?).

I largely like the cast, I am pleased that Marco Knorz developed his little tailor interpretation away from being a Felix copycat being an even more adorable hero, Elena Zvirbulis is so funny in all her princess roles and Markus Richter as the king is fab, kids' show certainly seem to bring out his talents, though I really want to see his alternate now.

I finally got to see Hakan T. Aslan as the bad wolf/king's minister who is especially as the minister so entertaining, so camp, so hyper - so different to Timo Riegelsberger but just as enjoyable.

I am just still not a fan of Franziska Kuropka's evil witch, she just sounds like a clone of her Mechthild in "Villa Sonnenschein", same voice, same laughter, same accentuations, never thought I'd say that but I find her alternate Annic-Barbara Fenske (whom I was not a fan of in Räuber Hotzenplotz) a lot more intriguing, but the show stays one with lines, jokes etc. heard hundred times before, so while others may laugh, I hardly do (and that has nothing to do with having no sense of humour), with music so uncatchy, so uncreative IMHO that you must wonder what happened to the creative team since Räuber Hotzenplotz.

After killing 2 hours including feeling most uncomfortable sitting in the Schmidt Theater's bar for an hour (though nice just to sit there unregarded having a coffee and reading a book) it was then time for the concert in honour of Norbert Aust who turned 70 last week.

Norbert Aust is one of the managing directors of the Schmidt Theater so that is the theatre link and "his " theatre and the St Pauli Kurorchester organised this event.

First you got the typical speeches, from Corny Littmann, the other managing director to Olaf Scholz, Hamburg's mayor, Barbara Kisseler who is senator for culture, and the man himself Norbert Aust.

He was also awarded with the Biermann-Ratjen medal for his outstanding contribution to Hamburg's culture.

The 50 mins actual concert was largely a dignified event. The St. Pauli Kurorchester (St. Pauli Resort Orchestra), founded about 10 years ago and conducted by Christian Willner delivers largely well known songs, from TV title songs, old(er) rock and pop songs to more modern stuff with a rather symphonic influence.

They were supported by various performers, well three throughout most of the show - Nik Breidenbach, Marco Knorz and Henryk Reimann - plus Terrél Woodbury performing "Mambo No 5" and Inga Löding (? - didn't know her and didn't catch name properly when introduced) performing "You'll Never Walk Alone" (still cannot get over some people's comments around me I head when song introduced as the unofficial hymn of the FC St. Pauli football club without saying title so not having a clue guessing what song it could be... And some called themselves fans of St. Pauli prior to show).

Opening the concert though was Corny Littmann with the support from Nik, Henryk and Marco, giving his interpretation of "Das Herz Von St. Pauli" which became well known in the movie of the same title starring St. Pauli legend Hans Albers. The concert certainly did deliver a good mix, old 50s German songs, a Beatles medley, certain songs I didn't need as "Mambo No 5" as the actual performance was actually a bit, well, naff, others though were most welcome so charmingly performed by the orchestra throughout and at most numbers the three guys giving all - it was certainly a worthwhile evening - and I want to see Marco Knorz now in "Anything Goes" or "On The Town". ;-)