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katherine_b at 07:01pm on 22/02/2004
katherine_b at 07:01pm on 22/02/2004I would have preferred "Sounds of Silence"!!!!
I cannot believe I wasted good Euros and 150 minutes on the crap I saw tonight!
*deep breaths*
Okay, I'll try to explain. Not long after I arrived in Berlin, I saw a poster for "Die Nacht der Musicals", which I wrote about here I got a great seat and have been looking forward to this for two weeks!
Open Letter to the Director of "Die Nacht der Musicals"
My dear Sir,
I'm sure you are a man, as no woman could have put on the spectacle we saw tonight, and I'm equally sure you must be dear to someone, although not to me! If you happen to see this, I believe I should be entitled to a full refund, if for nothing else than false advertising!
As I said above, I have been waiting for tonight for some time, having had some experience of musicals in Germany and never having been disappointed by the very high quality on show. I now know better.
May I suggest that next time you use a stage, you make use of the curtains that are hung at the front of the stage for the purpose of hiding it from the audience until such time as you are ready to reveal all. A stage lying open to all viewers makes one feel as if one is in a school hall, particularly when various technicians are crossing back and forth. Or perhaps that was your intention.
I should also respectfully suggest that you create your own program, rather than nick one from a professional show with the same name and inserting two sheets of paper containing a list of songs you want the audience to believe you are going to perform and very poor-quality photocopied pictures of your artists. It would also help if ALL the artists who appear on the 'cast sheet' actually do turn up on stage.
Of course, it would also be useful to look through the program that you intend to use to ensure that it accurately reflects your show, rather than assuming it will. My already disappointed feeling were only further heightened by the realisation that your show would not contain songs from Prince of Egypt, A Chorus Line, The Lion King, Der Gloeckner von Notre Dame, Die Schoene und das Biest, Elton John's Aida, Tarzan, Porgy and Bess and Miss Saigon. As a number of these appeared in your poster to advertise the show, this is where my accusation of false advertising enters the picture.
After such discovers, I was already disposed not to like this show when it began. The first songs were supposed to be two from "Chicago" - All That Jazz and Nowadays, which are great songs. But, my dear sir, since when is All That Jazz sung by a man? And what happened to Nowadays? Maybe it was too embarassed by the awful overacting of the singers to come out. I know I was squirming! It only confirmed my suspicion that we were watching a high-school concert!
I haven't seen Tanz der Vampire, so I can't comment except to say that the man who sang the song (oh, and according to the program, there were suppposed to be two songs, not just one!) was excellent. Then, however, we came to "Grease" and You're The One That I Want. I have to say that, after tonight's performance, that is most certainly NOT the one I want! I would suggest that, if you are going to have songs sung in English, the singers are able to sing in that language and do not constantly make errors that render the song incomprehensible even to a native English speaker.
I give Maria Harpner full marks for her rendition of Ich Gehoer Nur Mir and admit that the "Mozart" songs were wonderful, although why there were three when there was only meant to be two is something I find a little difficult to understand. Was it to make up for Nowadays? Or perhaps the Falco Mix that I couldn't find anywhere.
And now we return to Chicago. Had you perhaps realised that a person of the wrong gender had sung All That Jazz and so sent out a woman to sing MR Cellophane, changing it to MRS Cellophane? Admittedly, Maria Harpner sang it very well, but that's not the point! Is it wise to play around with songs that, since that musical has recently been done as a wonderful film, are now known to all and sundry?
The "Rent" songs shared the same problems as the song from "Grease" - I only knew they were singing in English during the second chorus!
During the Pause that followed these songs, I considered up and leaving to go and see a film that would soon start in the same building, but I paid too much for the ticket to miss half a show, much as I feared regretting that decision.
Harald Tauber did do the Rocky Horror Show songs very well and made an excellent Frank'n'Furter, particularly as he somehow got his English completely right here, which he couldn't do during Grease or Rent. Das Phantom der Oper was also very well done and I was starting to think maybe it was worth my money after all.
But then you had to ruin it with the songs from "Hair", didn't you? Had to make them sing in English again! The only reason I understood the words was because I knew the songs! And the same with "West Side Story", which is a shame, because I love America and Tonight. But did I sleep through Something's Coming?
Er, where did it say anything about Stars from "Les Mis". Steven Scheschareg did a fantastic job with it, and it's obvious he's performed that role before, but couldn't you have listed it on the program? And did Nikolett Fueredi have to sing Part Of That World from "Arielle"? I'll just assume that has been made into a musical, as I haven't heard about it. But the woman can't sing in English to save her life. Couldn't you have saved ours and skipped that song?
Again, Steven was awesome with This Is The Moment and Dangerous Game from "Jekyll and Hyde", but I'd now discovered that he's American and so should be able to sing in correct English! And I would have liked Don't Cry For Me Argentina better if Nikolett hadn't sung it. Heaven preserve me from ever seeing Evita in English if she's in the title role!
Maria Harper did Cabaret very well, but was let down by your second-rate sound system. Tell me, was she singing to a record? 'Cos it certainly sounded like it. And while we're at it, was it necessary to have the music so loud that the singers were drowned out half the time? Or else that one of the speakers popped on and off and was most distracting?!
I greeted the Mamma Mia Mix with glee, as it was the last song, until I realised that it was also going to be in English. And then, God help me, they did an encore!
I have two words for you: English coach! It would have made this evening so much nicer!
Yours sincerely,
Katherine Bruce
I cannot believe I wasted good Euros and 150 minutes on the crap I saw tonight!
*deep breaths*
Okay, I'll try to explain. Not long after I arrived in Berlin, I saw a poster for "Die Nacht der Musicals", which I wrote about here I got a great seat and have been looking forward to this for two weeks!
Open Letter to the Director of "Die Nacht der Musicals"
My dear Sir,
I'm sure you are a man, as no woman could have put on the spectacle we saw tonight, and I'm equally sure you must be dear to someone, although not to me! If you happen to see this, I believe I should be entitled to a full refund, if for nothing else than false advertising!
As I said above, I have been waiting for tonight for some time, having had some experience of musicals in Germany and never having been disappointed by the very high quality on show. I now know better.
May I suggest that next time you use a stage, you make use of the curtains that are hung at the front of the stage for the purpose of hiding it from the audience until such time as you are ready to reveal all. A stage lying open to all viewers makes one feel as if one is in a school hall, particularly when various technicians are crossing back and forth. Or perhaps that was your intention.
I should also respectfully suggest that you create your own program, rather than nick one from a professional show with the same name and inserting two sheets of paper containing a list of songs you want the audience to believe you are going to perform and very poor-quality photocopied pictures of your artists. It would also help if ALL the artists who appear on the 'cast sheet' actually do turn up on stage.
Of course, it would also be useful to look through the program that you intend to use to ensure that it accurately reflects your show, rather than assuming it will. My already disappointed feeling were only further heightened by the realisation that your show would not contain songs from Prince of Egypt, A Chorus Line, The Lion King, Der Gloeckner von Notre Dame, Die Schoene und das Biest, Elton John's Aida, Tarzan, Porgy and Bess and Miss Saigon. As a number of these appeared in your poster to advertise the show, this is where my accusation of false advertising enters the picture.
After such discovers, I was already disposed not to like this show when it began. The first songs were supposed to be two from "Chicago" - All That Jazz and Nowadays, which are great songs. But, my dear sir, since when is All That Jazz sung by a man? And what happened to Nowadays? Maybe it was too embarassed by the awful overacting of the singers to come out. I know I was squirming! It only confirmed my suspicion that we were watching a high-school concert!
I haven't seen Tanz der Vampire, so I can't comment except to say that the man who sang the song (oh, and according to the program, there were suppposed to be two songs, not just one!) was excellent. Then, however, we came to "Grease" and You're The One That I Want. I have to say that, after tonight's performance, that is most certainly NOT the one I want! I would suggest that, if you are going to have songs sung in English, the singers are able to sing in that language and do not constantly make errors that render the song incomprehensible even to a native English speaker.
I give Maria Harpner full marks for her rendition of Ich Gehoer Nur Mir and admit that the "Mozart" songs were wonderful, although why there were three when there was only meant to be two is something I find a little difficult to understand. Was it to make up for Nowadays? Or perhaps the Falco Mix that I couldn't find anywhere.
And now we return to Chicago. Had you perhaps realised that a person of the wrong gender had sung All That Jazz and so sent out a woman to sing MR Cellophane, changing it to MRS Cellophane? Admittedly, Maria Harpner sang it very well, but that's not the point! Is it wise to play around with songs that, since that musical has recently been done as a wonderful film, are now known to all and sundry?
The "Rent" songs shared the same problems as the song from "Grease" - I only knew they were singing in English during the second chorus!
During the Pause that followed these songs, I considered up and leaving to go and see a film that would soon start in the same building, but I paid too much for the ticket to miss half a show, much as I feared regretting that decision.
Harald Tauber did do the Rocky Horror Show songs very well and made an excellent Frank'n'Furter, particularly as he somehow got his English completely right here, which he couldn't do during Grease or Rent. Das Phantom der Oper was also very well done and I was starting to think maybe it was worth my money after all.
But then you had to ruin it with the songs from "Hair", didn't you? Had to make them sing in English again! The only reason I understood the words was because I knew the songs! And the same with "West Side Story", which is a shame, because I love America and Tonight. But did I sleep through Something's Coming?
Er, where did it say anything about Stars from "Les Mis". Steven Scheschareg did a fantastic job with it, and it's obvious he's performed that role before, but couldn't you have listed it on the program? And did Nikolett Fueredi have to sing Part Of That World from "Arielle"? I'll just assume that has been made into a musical, as I haven't heard about it. But the woman can't sing in English to save her life. Couldn't you have saved ours and skipped that song?
Again, Steven was awesome with This Is The Moment and Dangerous Game from "Jekyll and Hyde", but I'd now discovered that he's American and so should be able to sing in correct English! And I would have liked Don't Cry For Me Argentina better if Nikolett hadn't sung it. Heaven preserve me from ever seeing Evita in English if she's in the title role!
Maria Harper did Cabaret very well, but was let down by your second-rate sound system. Tell me, was she singing to a record? 'Cos it certainly sounded like it. And while we're at it, was it necessary to have the music so loud that the singers were drowned out half the time? Or else that one of the speakers popped on and off and was most distracting?!
I greeted the Mamma Mia Mix with glee, as it was the last song, until I realised that it was also going to be in English. And then, God help me, they did an encore!
I have two words for you: English coach! It would have made this evening so much nicer!
Yours sincerely,
Katherine Bruce
doesn't do my feelings justice
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