![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angelofmusicMusical: Tanz der Vampire (Vámpírok Bálja)
Production: Live
Theatre: Madach Színház, Budapest, Hungary
Date: 06/01/2008
I have to admit I didn't go into this expecting much at all. I'd seen the show in Berlin, and it had crushed my Vampires love. There, the sets and music and everything were phenomenal, but there was no spark. Vampires is meant to be wild, energetic, fun and pretty much the kind of show that makes you addicted. In Berlin, the cast were so constrained by rules and directions that there was nothing. Not even the faint glow where a spark might have been (except occasionally when Jack Rebaldi was on stage and chewing the furniture)
However, the minute the curtain went up and Knoblauch started, it was like I was seeing the show for the first time all over again. The energy was there. They were tearing the set apart, and they were loving every. single. minute of it. That was what started me grinning and I didn't stop once during the whole show. I wonder if they were wondering about the idiotically grinning nutter in the third row ;)
What amazed me most was the set. I've seen three varieties live now, plus DVDs, and this one topped them all. Berlin's was extraordinary, but considering this one was probably done on a tenth of the budget, I was blown away. Rotating platform, making use of internal and external angles on the inn and keeping one side of the inn as inside and the other one definitively as outside.
One of my favourite parts of the inn aspect was the fact that from the external side, they lit the outside blue, but had yellow lighting showing through the inn windows - they made it feel like inside and outside. They made it feel like an actual inn in a cold region, complete with moon and stars backdrop.
Likewise, their work on the castle was amazing. With false perspective, they made it seem so much bigger and ominous, looming above the action. And the castle had more than three rooms! There was the portrait gallery, the bedroom, the library, the bathroom, the grand lobby and ballroom!
Oh, and the concept design for the bathroom and library sequence was fantastic. A rotating device, so that the whole set was interconnected on the outside of a cylinder with action taking place inside and out. I loved the fact that at one point, the platform revolved while Alfred stood mooning over Sarah and you saw her through a doorway, being dressed by Koukol.
Plus, the fact that Herbert knows the castle well enough to go through a door and be able to sneak out of a secret passage in the library, rather than having Alfred just stumbling across him. That was what a Herbert's meant to do :) It gives so much more scale and depth to a castle that is meant to be huge already.
Now, onto the cast:
We saw Sándor Nagy as Von Krolock, and really, this is von Krolock if he was turned when he was still a teenager. He's rash, impetuous, eager, hungry and occasionally, trips over his own feet. Plus, the fact he has a voice that heads straight for your knickers is no small bonus :) He managed to get tangled in his cloak during Einladung and flailed off into the night, and in Totale, he was so impatient and wanting to bite. Plus, he's the most pettable VK ever. You just wanna grab him and ruffle his hair. Plus, father/son dynamic was more along the lines of father turned when 18, son turned when 30, so when they collide in the Ball, VK responds like a stroppy teen with someone taking up his space, pushing Herbert and hissing :D
(He is counterpointed by the big bear of a Krolock in the shape of Egyházi Géza, who was the main Krolock in this run. He's a more mature, sophisticated and knowledgeable Krolock, compared to Sanyi's bouncing, giddy excited Krolock)
Speaking of Herbert, Pirgel Dávid really was one of the most dignified and still impatient Herberts ever. While Haldor in Berlin was drag-queen Herbert, this one was Bitch Herbert, but with balls. Unashamedly male and with more pride that he knew what to do with, he was fantastic. Plus, clearly frustrated by his father's tendency to find the first hot girl he can and bite her. The whole biting sequence had him eye-rolling and drumming his fingers on his hips, and sighing. He's more like the father in the relationship, a very indulgent older father.
My favourite characters aside, the Sarah was lovely and tempestuous, and while the Alfred wasn't the best looking in the world, he and the Professor had such a charming dynamic. Finally, there was some level of care behind the bluster, with the Professor fretting over Alfred and Alfred taking care of him.
Chagal, Magda and Rebecca were fantastic. Like in Poland, they got the mixture of dynamics right for them, and I do so love seeing a Rebecca with a big heart and big attitude. Magda especially was adorable. Vampire Magda, realising that she seemed more perky in the chest region, was so cute, especially fluffing herself up and jiggling with glee. And oh, Koukol. He was perfect! He's clearly having fun with the role and loves getting a laugh from the audience and knows just how to do it.
On the whole, I spent the whole show in a world of squee. It seemed the cast where there as well, and it was only after that we realised it was the 50th show, which meant cake and celebration :)
Production: Live
Theatre: Madach Színház, Budapest, Hungary
Date: 06/01/2008
I have to admit I didn't go into this expecting much at all. I'd seen the show in Berlin, and it had crushed my Vampires love. There, the sets and music and everything were phenomenal, but there was no spark. Vampires is meant to be wild, energetic, fun and pretty much the kind of show that makes you addicted. In Berlin, the cast were so constrained by rules and directions that there was nothing. Not even the faint glow where a spark might have been (except occasionally when Jack Rebaldi was on stage and chewing the furniture)
However, the minute the curtain went up and Knoblauch started, it was like I was seeing the show for the first time all over again. The energy was there. They were tearing the set apart, and they were loving every. single. minute of it. That was what started me grinning and I didn't stop once during the whole show. I wonder if they were wondering about the idiotically grinning nutter in the third row ;)
What amazed me most was the set. I've seen three varieties live now, plus DVDs, and this one topped them all. Berlin's was extraordinary, but considering this one was probably done on a tenth of the budget, I was blown away. Rotating platform, making use of internal and external angles on the inn and keeping one side of the inn as inside and the other one definitively as outside.
One of my favourite parts of the inn aspect was the fact that from the external side, they lit the outside blue, but had yellow lighting showing through the inn windows - they made it feel like inside and outside. They made it feel like an actual inn in a cold region, complete with moon and stars backdrop.
Likewise, their work on the castle was amazing. With false perspective, they made it seem so much bigger and ominous, looming above the action. And the castle had more than three rooms! There was the portrait gallery, the bedroom, the library, the bathroom, the grand lobby and ballroom!
Oh, and the concept design for the bathroom and library sequence was fantastic. A rotating device, so that the whole set was interconnected on the outside of a cylinder with action taking place inside and out. I loved the fact that at one point, the platform revolved while Alfred stood mooning over Sarah and you saw her through a doorway, being dressed by Koukol.
Plus, the fact that Herbert knows the castle well enough to go through a door and be able to sneak out of a secret passage in the library, rather than having Alfred just stumbling across him. That was what a Herbert's meant to do :) It gives so much more scale and depth to a castle that is meant to be huge already.
Now, onto the cast:
We saw Sándor Nagy as Von Krolock, and really, this is von Krolock if he was turned when he was still a teenager. He's rash, impetuous, eager, hungry and occasionally, trips over his own feet. Plus, the fact he has a voice that heads straight for your knickers is no small bonus :) He managed to get tangled in his cloak during Einladung and flailed off into the night, and in Totale, he was so impatient and wanting to bite. Plus, he's the most pettable VK ever. You just wanna grab him and ruffle his hair. Plus, father/son dynamic was more along the lines of father turned when 18, son turned when 30, so when they collide in the Ball, VK responds like a stroppy teen with someone taking up his space, pushing Herbert and hissing :D
(He is counterpointed by the big bear of a Krolock in the shape of Egyházi Géza, who was the main Krolock in this run. He's a more mature, sophisticated and knowledgeable Krolock, compared to Sanyi's bouncing, giddy excited Krolock)
Speaking of Herbert, Pirgel Dávid really was one of the most dignified and still impatient Herberts ever. While Haldor in Berlin was drag-queen Herbert, this one was Bitch Herbert, but with balls. Unashamedly male and with more pride that he knew what to do with, he was fantastic. Plus, clearly frustrated by his father's tendency to find the first hot girl he can and bite her. The whole biting sequence had him eye-rolling and drumming his fingers on his hips, and sighing. He's more like the father in the relationship, a very indulgent older father.
My favourite characters aside, the Sarah was lovely and tempestuous, and while the Alfred wasn't the best looking in the world, he and the Professor had such a charming dynamic. Finally, there was some level of care behind the bluster, with the Professor fretting over Alfred and Alfred taking care of him.
Chagal, Magda and Rebecca were fantastic. Like in Poland, they got the mixture of dynamics right for them, and I do so love seeing a Rebecca with a big heart and big attitude. Magda especially was adorable. Vampire Magda, realising that she seemed more perky in the chest region, was so cute, especially fluffing herself up and jiggling with glee. And oh, Koukol. He was perfect! He's clearly having fun with the role and loves getting a laugh from the audience and knows just how to do it.
On the whole, I spent the whole show in a world of squee. It seemed the cast where there as well, and it was only after that we realised it was the 50th show, which meant cake and celebration :)
