Books are a uniquely portable magic.
Es War Einmal (Once Upon A Time)
30th Brothers Grimm Festival, Hanau, 24th May 2014 (premiere)
Once upon a time there was a play called "Der Zauberlehrling" (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) which, written by Frank-Lorenz Engel, had its world premier as the Christmas family play at the Komödie Winterhuder Fährhaus in Hamburg in 2005 starring a young Jan Radermacher in the title role.
I didn't see it back then as not around, neither the two follow ups the years after even though back in Germany but I didn't really follow much German theatre scene then still going to London (way too) often.
The play tells of Laurent, a sorcerer apprentice who is forced to work for the witch Maldixa with his father locked up in her cellar.
Laurent seems to be a poor apprentice even failing the easiest magic tricks, but one evening, when Maldixa goes out, the audience learns the truth he actually has been practising.
Though when he tries a spell to rescue his father it goes all wrong and he ends up time travelling 500 years ahead into current days - right into a kids book shop where he bumps into Lena, whose mother owns the shop and who has sneaked into it to read what she loves.
Befriending quickly Lena wants to help Laurent to return to his time and rescue his father before Maldixa notices he has disappeared.
But just when by fluke the fairy Griseldis appears who can conjure people when seeing pictures of them and them getting the idea to turn Maldixa into a good person with the help of a magic potion for which they need several ingredients there is a chance for Laurent.
So for each ingredient a character from either a fairy tale or some other known (kids) book appears as Rumpelstiltskin, puss in boots, Dracula or Heidi and Peter causing some fun, trouble or excitement but of course in the end "all's well that ends well".
I didn't see it back then as not around, neither the two follow ups the years after even though back in Germany but I didn't really follow much German theatre scene then still going to London (way too) often.
With not many musicals around the country I want to see and there just being so many plays in this city I have recently started to watch more plays outside of Hamburg and when learning that the already mentioned Jan Radermacher a few months ago won this writing contest at the annual Grimm festival I considered going to see at least the show he wrote the book for.
Somehow I overlooked the news that he was directing another play called "Es War Einmal" shown there so just a few days ago I decided to see that play's premiere as I was going to see another show close by the day after...
Somehow I overlooked the news that he was directing another play called "Es War Einmal" shown there so just a few days ago I decided to see that play's premiere as I was going to see another show close by the day after...
So on Saturday I was off to Hanau's amphitheatre - nicely located within the park of the Philippsruhe castle.
Cast:
Laurent, The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Marius Schneider
And not only that.
But not only that.
The book itself is actually rather lame IMO, yes, there are the odd funny moments as but the overall concept of the show makes it repetitive and way too little turmoil.
E.g. puss in boots appears, Laurent, Lena and the others have to fight for the ingredient (one of puss' whiskers) but there is not much else! I want funny mayhem, a lot more cross overs of the different story lines but a certainly funny or witty one liner, more mystification, more references to the message, more just more and more and more and...!
And that is where the actual production occasionally falls flat but when the substance is already weak the creative team can just add so much to not make it completely fail.
There are certainly decent production values with some good directing, choreographing and staging ideas (as said directed by Jan Radermacher and Bart De Clercq is in charge of choreography), proper pace and especially a convincing cast.
There is enough magic, there is enough accentuation on the character drawings as much as there is to work with in the first place but for me personally there is just not enough suspense and actual substance to support the messages in the piece itself to surprise and appeal.
I do not know maybe I have seen too much in the last decades to enjoy this as the reviews I have read today and audience reactions are largely positive..
Anyway, as having already mentioned the cast, particularly Hans B. Goetzfried as Rumpelstiltskin is totally stealing the show being so hilariously grumpy, choleric and grouchy and for me the trip to Hanau was worth alone to see him.
I was also pleased to see David Wehle on stage again whom I hadn't seen for years and being a wonderful Winnetou catching the so familiar character's spirit so well.
Janina Steinwender as Lena is a sweet bouncy girl managing to walk the thin line to not get too annoying with her hyperness.
Nadine Buchet as the fairy Griseldis is occasionally a bit too blond for me though not sure that is done intentionally but fortunately there is also enough charm and warmth.
Madeleine Niesche is a brilliant evil witch with her sharp voice and her attitude.
Patrick Dollmann could especially impress as the Count Dracula and Katarina Schmidt was a lovely Heidi.
Who didn't really work for me though was Marius Schneider as Laurent. I even cannot really say why I just could not warm to him as his performance felt always a bit too factitious, too bogus and the lines often sounding as if just memorised and not coming naturally.
The set also can only partly satisfy. I understand that the set (design by Tobias Schunck) has to accompany all four shows but especially in the scenes in Maldixa's castle the staircase is a bit too massive.
The book shop on the other side of the revolving stage is though done with a lot of bright details including even space hoppers (something I hadn't see for YEARS!).
Costumes by Ulla Röhrs are also satisfactory and suit the centuries or tales the different characters emerge from.
Well overall an afternoon at the theatre that can only meet my expectations of a fun theatre trip to some extent. I would not rush to see it again if shown at a theatre near me.
For pictures of the show:
http://www.festspiele.hanau.de/imp/059471/index.html
Trailer of the show: http://youtu.be/iHCBjf80lRs
Cast:
Laurent, The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Marius Schneider
Lena - Janina Steinwender
Griseldis/ Lenas Mum - Nadine Buchet
Rumpelstiltskin - Hans B. Goetzfried
Maldixa, the bad witch and fairy - Madeleine Niesche
Heidi/ Mother Hulda - Katarina Schmidt
Peter the goatherd/ Winnetou/ Pop singer - David Wehle
Puss in Boots/ Count Dracula/ Laurent's Father - Patrick Dollmann
As the name of the festival implies the focus is or at least used to be on Brothers Grimm stories, so I had expected one that was, similar to the Schmidt Theatre's "Es War Einmal" a mishmash of various Grimm's tales but already when reading what characters there were it appeared the show was rather far away.And not only that.
The play "Es War Einmal", announced as a "Erstaufführung" which is normally a premiere in a different country (occasionally also used for a premiere at a different location - obviously they wanted to make it sound more special, actually some press said it is a world premiere - errr NO), turned out to be nothing else but the play "Der Zauberlehrling" (or Laurent, Der Zauberlehrling as it is called on the publisher's website these days where you can even read the whole script) but some changes to the script as the ending with the apparent key message and new music (by Markus Syperek being unspectacular but passable) .
As said I had not seen the original play but liking Jan Radermacher in other shows I looked into the stuff he had done and with that script being available online I noticed that in the first few minutes and actually felt fooled a bit.But not only that.
The book itself is actually rather lame IMO, yes, there are the odd funny moments as but the overall concept of the show makes it repetitive and way too little turmoil.
E.g. puss in boots appears, Laurent, Lena and the others have to fight for the ingredient (one of puss' whiskers) but there is not much else! I want funny mayhem, a lot more cross overs of the different story lines but a certainly funny or witty one liner, more mystification, more references to the message, more just more and more and more and...!
And that is where the actual production occasionally falls flat but when the substance is already weak the creative team can just add so much to not make it completely fail.
There are certainly decent production values with some good directing, choreographing and staging ideas (as said directed by Jan Radermacher and Bart De Clercq is in charge of choreography), proper pace and especially a convincing cast.
There is enough magic, there is enough accentuation on the character drawings as much as there is to work with in the first place but for me personally there is just not enough suspense and actual substance to support the messages in the piece itself to surprise and appeal.
I do not know maybe I have seen too much in the last decades to enjoy this as the reviews I have read today and audience reactions are largely positive..
Anyway, as having already mentioned the cast, particularly Hans B. Goetzfried as Rumpelstiltskin is totally stealing the show being so hilariously grumpy, choleric and grouchy and for me the trip to Hanau was worth alone to see him.
I was also pleased to see David Wehle on stage again whom I hadn't seen for years and being a wonderful Winnetou catching the so familiar character's spirit so well.
Janina Steinwender as Lena is a sweet bouncy girl managing to walk the thin line to not get too annoying with her hyperness.
Nadine Buchet as the fairy Griseldis is occasionally a bit too blond for me though not sure that is done intentionally but fortunately there is also enough charm and warmth.
Madeleine Niesche is a brilliant evil witch with her sharp voice and her attitude.
Patrick Dollmann could especially impress as the Count Dracula and Katarina Schmidt was a lovely Heidi.
Who didn't really work for me though was Marius Schneider as Laurent. I even cannot really say why I just could not warm to him as his performance felt always a bit too factitious, too bogus and the lines often sounding as if just memorised and not coming naturally.
The set also can only partly satisfy. I understand that the set (design by Tobias Schunck) has to accompany all four shows but especially in the scenes in Maldixa's castle the staircase is a bit too massive.
The book shop on the other side of the revolving stage is though done with a lot of bright details including even space hoppers (something I hadn't see for YEARS!).
Costumes by Ulla Röhrs are also satisfactory and suit the centuries or tales the different characters emerge from.
Well overall an afternoon at the theatre that can only meet my expectations of a fun theatre trip to some extent. I would not rush to see it again if shown at a theatre near me.
For pictures of the show:
http://www.festspiele.hanau.de/imp/059471/index.html
Trailer of the show: http://youtu.be/iHCBjf80lRs
