A new entry, finally!
Soooooo, last weekend, last Saturday to be exact, I was at the theatre. I hadn't been there for years, so it was good to go back there again.
My granny got a theatre coupon for her 75th birthday, so she bought four tickets for a concert of our local brass-band. She only found two other people to go with her, so I took the fourth ticket. I don't care about brass-bands all that much, but the theme of this concert was 'film music and musicals'. That IS something for me.
The track list was as follows:
1) Die tollkühnen Männer in ihren fliegenden Kisten Theme
2) Mary Poppins Medley
3) Somewhere (West Side Story)*
4) The Phantom of the Opera Selections*
5) Ich gehör nur mir (Elisabeth)*
6) Moment for Morricone
7) Pappa ante Portas Theme
8) Beatles Medley
9) James Bond Selections
10) Grease Medley
[ 11) Encore: Thank You For The Music ]
* sung by the Bremer vocalartisten
The show wasn't sold out, but there were quite a lot of people, many more than I had expected anyway. Our seats were at the front, so we could see most of the things on stage. The plants weren't in our way... By the way, why use plants as props? I'm sure many people would have been able to see more if they hadn't been there. Besides, props definitely weren't needed, there were enough instrument(alist)s to fill the stage!
Still, I was quite impressed by the performance. For a community as small as ours we have a decent brass-band. No audible mistakes were made. Sure, they had problems with the sound every now and then, e.g. the conductor's mic was working properly during 'Act One'. Also, they should have hired somebody to mix the sound. When the Bremer vocalartisten were singing, the brass-band was so loud that you could hardly hear the singers at times. So again, hooray for sitting in row 1/2 (we changed after Act I).
As for the vocalartisten's performance, I was very much impressed with Michelle Donner. That night, she played Christine in Phantom, Elisabeth and Sandy in Grease. She always seemed in character, even if she had to switch from one role to another really quickly. And she seems a very good actress, her facial expressions while singing showed that she knew what she was doing. Her voice was the most pleasant one as well. The other three singers were okay, but none of them impressed me in any way. I can't remember their names now, but the blonde one looked ridiculously insignificant as Phantom. You just couldn't figure out why this phantom would be a menace!
The other girl was okayish as Maria, so was her Tony. I did get a goose skin during their 'Somewhere', but I blame it on the song. Still, it was one of her better moments during the concert, esp. because the brass-band wasn't too loud; you could actually hear her!
The highlights of this show? Whenever Michelle Donner was on stage. I wouldn't give her a first cast in Phantom or Elisabeth I don't think, but I'd like to see her on stage in a professional production, possibly in Grease!
Overall, it was a good night. Might go again if they come up with another good idea. :)
