Post by vampbear on Jun 7, 2005 8:03:57 GMT -5
I went to Berlin last month and whilst there I saw 'Die Drei Musketiere' :-) This was such a terrific show with good music, performances, scenery, costumes, that I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening:-)
Having only heard them on the original 'Elisabeth' CD, I was very pleased that both Uwe Kroeger and Pia Douwes were on. Both were excellent with stage presence, good acting and great voices. Having now seen them on stage I can understand how each has such a good reputation.
I particularly liked Uwe's Richelieu, you could see in his face and in his voice his enjoyment at stirring things up and plotting. He was a strong 'vision' in cardinal red
Up against these two strong performers, Rochefort had a difficult time in making much of an impression!
We didn't see the main D'Artagnan, but saw Marcus Hezel instead who was excellent, and being cute too didn't hurt ;D He had lots of energy on stage, and good interactions with Constance. He filled the shoes of the hero very well.
As to the show itself, as I have come to expect from german musicals, much attention to detail and to design is included in the production. The costumes are a mixture of old and new, detail from the time period but with a modern twist that worked really well. As the music was upbeat and modern in the style that is popular in germany, the costumes did complement this well.
The staging was terrific. Unlike the 'Woman in White' in London which has almost no physical scenery but relies almost soley on the projections, here the projections complemented the physical staging. The projections are by the same people that did WIW (and also, incidentally, the helicopter projection for the current 'Miss Saigon' tour in England (its brilliant!)). My favourite was the ship, this enormous ship in a storm with the projection providing the black sky and the relentless driving rain, and the lightning which hit the mast. And the billowing black sheets of the water too. It was a very effective scene. I also liked the way that the actors' hair was visibly wet and their clothes also looked wet.
The music was great, and I even understood some of the lyrics! It is not totally sung through, there is a fair amount of dialogue too. Some of the dialogue was funny, at least the german-speaking audience thought so! Alas I could not understand those parts
but I did get the visual humour also within the show. Understanding the basic plot in English in advance does help.
My favourite song has to be 'Wer kann ohne liebe sein?', 'who can be without love?' with the 3 lead women. It is beautifully sung and very melodic.
'Maenner' sung by Milady (Pia) had a lot of James Bond in it!
I really liked the german pronunciation of 'Constance', it sounds much nicer and more romantic than the english! Its more like 'Constanza', and suits the song D'Artagnan sings having discovered her name in the inn.
The tickets are not cheap, but then you can see that the money has been well spent on high production values. Can't wait to get my hands on the forthcoming CD.
If I could get to Berlin more, then I would certainly go to see this show again (and again!).
Having only heard them on the original 'Elisabeth' CD, I was very pleased that both Uwe Kroeger and Pia Douwes were on. Both were excellent with stage presence, good acting and great voices. Having now seen them on stage I can understand how each has such a good reputation.
I particularly liked Uwe's Richelieu, you could see in his face and in his voice his enjoyment at stirring things up and plotting. He was a strong 'vision' in cardinal red
Up against these two strong performers, Rochefort had a difficult time in making much of an impression!
We didn't see the main D'Artagnan, but saw Marcus Hezel instead who was excellent, and being cute too didn't hurt ;D He had lots of energy on stage, and good interactions with Constance. He filled the shoes of the hero very well.
As to the show itself, as I have come to expect from german musicals, much attention to detail and to design is included in the production. The costumes are a mixture of old and new, detail from the time period but with a modern twist that worked really well. As the music was upbeat and modern in the style that is popular in germany, the costumes did complement this well.
The staging was terrific. Unlike the 'Woman in White' in London which has almost no physical scenery but relies almost soley on the projections, here the projections complemented the physical staging. The projections are by the same people that did WIW (and also, incidentally, the helicopter projection for the current 'Miss Saigon' tour in England (its brilliant!)). My favourite was the ship, this enormous ship in a storm with the projection providing the black sky and the relentless driving rain, and the lightning which hit the mast. And the billowing black sheets of the water too. It was a very effective scene. I also liked the way that the actors' hair was visibly wet and their clothes also looked wet.
The music was great, and I even understood some of the lyrics! It is not totally sung through, there is a fair amount of dialogue too. Some of the dialogue was funny, at least the german-speaking audience thought so! Alas I could not understand those parts
but I did get the visual humour also within the show. Understanding the basic plot in English in advance does help. My favourite song has to be 'Wer kann ohne liebe sein?', 'who can be without love?' with the 3 lead women. It is beautifully sung and very melodic.
'Maenner' sung by Milady (Pia) had a lot of James Bond in it!
I really liked the german pronunciation of 'Constance', it sounds much nicer and more romantic than the english! Its more like 'Constanza', and suits the song D'Artagnan sings having discovered her name in the inn.
The tickets are not cheap, but then you can see that the money has been well spent on high production values. Can't wait to get my hands on the forthcoming CD.
If I could get to Berlin more, then I would certainly go to see this show again (and again!).
@ Vampbear I can easily imagine how you felt when the audiance laughed about the jokes because that happens to me when I join dutch musicals and I´m afraid I don´t understand all of the lyrics. 
