The Danish Royal Theatre have set up an impressive performance of Cabaret with extravagant costumes one minute and grey and minimalistic settings the next. It runs until end of May and you can get tickets on the Theatre's website. You can also read more about it in Danish.
It shows the contrast between the bone chilling politics, which started showing their faces in Berlin in the 1930'ies and the glamour that existed in the nightclubs of that time.
The music expressed less variation. It tells us the story of the time and the place, but there is nothing light-hearted about the music in the club compared to the world outside. It makes the life of the entertainers seem like they were part of the evil scheme to cover up what really went on in Germany in those years.
This becomes very explicit in one scene, where Nazi-soldiers are violent to one of the characters while the Conférencier dances in front of them in a very sparkly suit. It reminds me of the musical Chicago, where a lawyer makes his living from having murderesses acquitted through use of "Razzle Dazzle".
With more focus on the darkness and cruelty of Nazism, this performance is very different to the show I remember seeing many years ago. It is more like a horror story. Shivers are sent down the spine when a blond Hitler Jugend boy sings "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" with his voice of an innocent child.
This Sally Bowles character is not an attempt to copy Liza Minnelli's version from
the film and her role is much smaller in this rendition. Two songs that
reveal the character in the film: "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time" have been taken out of this performance and she is not as charming as Liza Minnelli was. She simply comes across very careless.
It is unclear to me why the Clifford Bradshaw character lets Sally stay in his room. She is pushy and obnoxious and Clifford is not even straight. But I suppose it is just one of those cases where love makes no sense.
I find the other love story of the play between the widowed gentleman and the spinster landlady more engaging. The duets are very sweet and their voices suit each other. When that romance starts to become difficult because he is Jewish, it is heartbreaking.
Not all the songs are translated and even some lines are in German or English. If you don't understand one (or more) of these languages at all, I would recommend you read the story before you watch the show.
If you go to see it, expect the darkness of the nineteen thirties and not the light-heartedness of the Cabarets of the time.
Monday, 27 April 2015
Monday, 23 February 2015
Nordic Noir goes south of the border
Last night the first episode of the new Danish crime series "Murder without Borders" was broadcast. Three prostitutes are found killed in Copenhagen, Berlin and Antwerp, respectively. As you would expect from the name it takes an international team of investigators to work on the case.
I assume the reference to "Doctors without Borders" is chosen because of its catchiness and not because the murderer(s?) acts from humanitarian motives, but that is yet to be revealed. A twist like that could make the criminal plot more interesting. The characters seem promising though.
The Copenhagen lead investigator (male) has history with the German lead investigator (female) and at first he is reluctant to take the case. As his pregnant wife persuades him to get on the case, I would expect some extracurricular drama on that front.
Another theme that echoes from "Broen" is the collaboration between a Danish male police officer with people skills and a Swedish female officer with hard skills. As opposed to Saga in Broen, this lady is it-savvy and seems to be functioning normally on a social level. I look forward to seeing more of that smooth Scandinavian duo.
The Belgian team promises to be entertaining as tension between the passionate female lead and her arrogant male assistant is thick. They are quick to criticise each other and clumsy performance by the Belgian team seems likely to be a theme, which could easily evolve into a farce.
The case they are working on is not as intriguing, and I struggle to see how many episodes the team can spend solving it. The viewer already knows who did it and why, unless some unforeseen twist presents itself. The personal drama in this series is much more promising, in terms of entertainment, and I am looking forward to seeing how the collaboration evolves.
I assume the reference to "Doctors without Borders" is chosen because of its catchiness and not because the murderer(s?) acts from humanitarian motives, but that is yet to be revealed. A twist like that could make the criminal plot more interesting. The characters seem promising though.
The Copenhagen lead investigator (male) has history with the German lead investigator (female) and at first he is reluctant to take the case. As his pregnant wife persuades him to get on the case, I would expect some extracurricular drama on that front.
Another theme that echoes from "Broen" is the collaboration between a Danish male police officer with people skills and a Swedish female officer with hard skills. As opposed to Saga in Broen, this lady is it-savvy and seems to be functioning normally on a social level. I look forward to seeing more of that smooth Scandinavian duo.
The Belgian team promises to be entertaining as tension between the passionate female lead and her arrogant male assistant is thick. They are quick to criticise each other and clumsy performance by the Belgian team seems likely to be a theme, which could easily evolve into a farce.
The case they are working on is not as intriguing, and I struggle to see how many episodes the team can spend solving it. The viewer already knows who did it and why, unless some unforeseen twist presents itself. The personal drama in this series is much more promising, in terms of entertainment, and I am looking forward to seeing how the collaboration evolves.
Saturday, 10 January 2015
Madrid
Going to Madrid in September is a great idea, when you live in a colder country. It was my last chance of the year to wear shorts and t-shirt.
It is a nice city. Many people don't speak English, but that doesn't stop them. I was impressed at how many conversations I had, without understanding the words, but everything worked out perfectly in the end. Whether it was trying to get a taxi to take me somewhere or ordering food in a restaurant.
I tried using my best Italian, but that wasn't much help. It was like they understood my English better, yet they didn't feel comfortable speaking it. I also looked up some Spanish words on my phone and managed to pronounce some of them well enough to be understood.
One day I went to the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and went on the tour. It was impressive, and we even got to see the locker rooms and sit on the bench.
It is a nice city. Many people don't speak English, but that doesn't stop them. I was impressed at how many conversations I had, without understanding the words, but everything worked out perfectly in the end. Whether it was trying to get a taxi to take me somewhere or ordering food in a restaurant.
I tried using my best Italian, but that wasn't much help. It was like they understood my English better, yet they didn't feel comfortable speaking it. I also looked up some Spanish words on my phone and managed to pronounce some of them well enough to be understood.
One day I went to the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and went on the tour. It was impressive, and we even got to see the locker rooms and sit on the bench.
So Madrid is definitely well worth a visit and I'll probably be going there again some day.
Stockholm - the city of friendly salesmen
I went to Stockholm this spring because my second cousin was celebrating her confirmation. It's a nice city to visit over a weekend. We went shopping, sailed around Skærgården and had nice food.
The great thing about shopping in Stockholm is - besides the obvious novelty of the selection that comes from going to another city - that the salespeople in the shops are interested in what you are looking for, and they try to help you. They are very friendly.
They'll even have an opinion on what kind of jeans will look good on your ass, which could come across offensive to some politer cultures (like the British) but as we are Danish, we'd rather take honesty than politeness.
So if you have the chance to go to Stockholm for the weekend, do it! But do it while it is warm. In general, stay out of Scandinavia in the winter (unless you are skiiing).
The great thing about shopping in Stockholm is - besides the obvious novelty of the selection that comes from going to another city - that the salespeople in the shops are interested in what you are looking for, and they try to help you. They are very friendly.
They'll even have an opinion on what kind of jeans will look good on your ass, which could come across offensive to some politer cultures (like the British) but as we are Danish, we'd rather take honesty than politeness.
So if you have the chance to go to Stockholm for the weekend, do it! But do it while it is warm. In general, stay out of Scandinavia in the winter (unless you are skiiing).
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