Mamma Mia - The Movie

Seen on Thursday.

Well, when I heard about the movie for the first time I was really sceptical how it would be. The trailers seemed a bit ridiculous to me. I really liked the musical and so I wasn't sure if the movie would be viewable or just be sort of painful.

Now I am glad that we gave it a try.
I think they all did a very good job!
Of course the singing wasn't perfect but I never would have guessed what great singing voices some actors have.
The scenery in the movie is of course a lot better than on stage and you are closer to everything.
I am not totally sure but maybe I like the movie even more than the musical.

Everyone was great in his/her role.

Plot:
Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) live with her mother Donna (Meryl Streep) on a small greek island and is about to marry her boyfriend Sky (Dominic Cooper). But Sophie doesn't feel to be ready for this major step without knowing who her father is. So she reads her mother's diary and invites her three possible fathers - Bil (Stellen Skarsgard), Sam (Pierce Brosnan) and Harry (Colin Firth).
When Donna finds out that those three are on the island everything starts to go upside down.

A great movie with a lot of fun and heart!

Website: Mamma Mia

keep on rockin'

What a show!
No, not just a show!
It was an experience!

I never witnessed such a cool and awesome perfomance before!
The three times I had seen it before were already great but this finish was just unbelievable.
(1st, 2nd, 3rd)

This time I finally saw Serkan Kaya as Galileo. It's true, he is the best!
Scaramouche was played again by Silke Braas - she is a pretty cool Scaramouche too. Jessica Kessler couldn't play in the great final performance because of an laryngitis. Get well soon!
I guess the rest was the first cast. Martin Berger as Khashoggi (fabulous!) and Brigitte Oelke as Killer Queen (perfect!).

The show was unbelievable! The actors put in some extra jokes and improvisations. It was a huge party for everyone!
The audience was wonderful too. Right from the beginning, when the lights went out and we were told to turn off the cellphones etc., the crowd started screaming like the stars were already on stage. Wow! What a start!
And the atmosphere stayed so till the very end.
At the start of every single song the people screamed and clapped their hands like at a concert and sang along. Some even spoke the text partly along. Really cool!

After the pause free glow-sticks were given out. An awesome view to see everybody in the theater waving with the lights.
Before the second part began people stomped the 'Wee Will Rock You'-rhythm and shook the whole theater.

During the second part the audience went completely 'Bohemian' and at the end everybody sang along the 'Bohemian Rapsody'. It was overwhelming!

This time there was even another song as encore - 'The Show Must Go On'. Again the complete audience was singing, clapping and jumping.

Here some videos from youtube-user Miaka01.




Afterwards Serkan thanked everybody and the actors pulled the custome and make-up staff and the techies on stage. A real noble gesture.

You could see the joy in the actors eyes for having given us such a great performance but also a bit of sadness about having reached the end of an era.



Hope WWRY will be back in Vienna soon!

As I mentioned last time - I think it's a great way to keep Freddie Mercury's and Queen's music and legacy in people's minds!

Never forget - THE SHOW MUST GO ON!


Websites: We Will Rock You (at), Raimund Theater
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MC listened to: Queen - Hammer To Fall
via FoxyTunes

Tutankhamun - The Musical

Seen on Saturday in Gutenstein.

Gutenstein is well known for great productions of Ferdinand Raimund's plays; this year they have the world premiere of the brand new musical about Tutankhamun (ger.: Tutanchamun), the famous Pharaoh.

Great production! Fantastic stage design! Awesome actors! Overwhelming choreography! Great music!

This musical is really worth being seen!

The story starts with the death of Pharaoh Akhenaten (ger.: Echnaton) and Tiye's (ger.: Teje) - King Tut's grandmother - decission to make Tutankhamun the new emperor of Egypt.
The story shows the envy of the military leader and the administrator - who both wanted to become Pharaoh after Akhenaten's death; the way they let him sign several orders for their own benefit and the resulting povery of the Egypt people.
When Tutankhamun sees the troubles of his people he starts questioning decissions and changes his line.

The way King Tut died is left beside and i think that's good so, because of all the myths about his death.



A fine piece of work!

More pictures can be seen on the website.

Website: Tutanchamun - The Musical
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MC listened to: Smash Mouth - All Star
via FoxyTunes

still rockin'!

Thanks to Julia's parents we had the pleasure of seeing 'We Will Rock You' again yesterday. (The third time for me!)

Fantastic as always!

Again we saw a different cast as the last time. Galileo was played by Sasha Alexander Lien (like on the first time I saw it) and Scaramouche was played by Silke Braas instead of Jessica Kessler. She has a great soft voice and was a wonderful Scaramouche too, but to be honest I liked Jessica more because she plays Scaramouche more saucily and thereby the complete character is a bit funnier.

This time there were a lot of kids and teens. It was really nice too see that musicals like this one habe the ability to bring young people to the theater. So the wonderful music of Queen and Freddie Mercury's legacy won't be forgotten too soon. (Keep up the great work!)
In the row in front of us there were three young girls who really had a great time. They always screamed and clapped their hands full of joy - even the actors recognized them during the encore and smiled at them. It was a great picture to see everybody smiling with sparkling eyes!

The audience was really disappointing this time. Through the complete musical they were always very enthusiastic and always screamed and applauded joyfully but in the end they just stood up for one song and then sat down again very quickly and just clapped hands sitting. I really didn't understand that. I would have expected a more party-like behavior.
And the actors would have really deserved that!
They were awesome as always!
At least there were loud standing ovations after the finish.

I am really looking forward to the final performance of WWRY on 13. July. I guess then we will see the complete first cast.
And I hope that it will be a loud rocking party!

Websites: We Will Rock You (at), Raimund Theater
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MC listened to: Queen - Headlong
via FoxyTunes

rocked again!

Seen on Sunday.

WOW!
As fantastic as the last time!
Just can't get enough of it!

The cast was a bit different this time. Galileo was played by Carl von Wegberg. He has a great voice too! But as so often the first set you see seems better than the following changes. But to be honest that's just subjective, and you only recognize things you liked in the other set better and don't really see the things that are maybe even better now.

I really hope that I get the chance to see it once more!

Websites: We Will Rock You (at), Raimund Theater
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MC listened to: Queen - I Want It All
via FoxyTunes

'Grease meets Hair' @ Magna Racino

On Saturday we were at the Magna Racino in Ebreichsdorf for 'Dinner & Show' again.



For more about the Racino visit my previous post about it.

Like the last time we went to the gambling area first.
This time I was really lucky and tripled my stake.
Good start for a great evening! :-)

At our last visit we saw a great ABBA revival band and this time we saw the fantastic hits from the musicals 'Hair' and 'Grease'. As special addition we also saw some hits from 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Saturday Night Fever'.
The show was very good again, except for the 'Grease' part. It was not the best work and the male voices didn't really fit and it partly seemed like they were making fun of the musical.

Dinner was served in the same order like the last time.
First the appetizer - smoked Dornauer Arctic char tartar with it's caviar and sour cream - and the starter - lemon risotto with king prawns (sorry no pic).





After that delicious start we saw the first show part 'Hair'...






...and in addition 'Jesus Christ Superstar'.



Now we were served the main course - double from the Waldviertler angus with baked calf and mashed potatoes with black truffle and green asparagus (again forgot to take a photo).
Fantastic!

Now to the second show part 'Grease'...






...and 'Saturday Night Fever'.



As I said before 'Grease' wasn't the best performance but they made it up with 'Saturday Night Fever'. They really did hit the high notes the Bee Gees had predetermined.

After the show it was time for the dessert - a variation of apple and coconut. Tasted great!







The show was great and the dinner was excellent again!

I am really looking forward to be there again on 12. April to see 'Sammy, Frank & Dean - The Rat Pack'!

Websites: Magna Racino,
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MC listened to: Grease - Grease Is The Word
via FoxyTunes

We Will Rock You

Don't know what to say!
The term 'WOW!' just doesn't explain it quite enough!

It's more then a musical, more than a show. It's a unique masterpiece!



Can you imagine a world without REAL music? Where everything is computer-generated and to be downloaded via the internet? A globalised world of GA-GA, ruled the a company called Globalsoft? Where music instruments are banned?
Me neither!
Galileo (Sascha Alexander Lien / first cast: Serkan Kaya) and Scaramouche (Jessica Kessler) are on the journey of their lifetime. They are on a crusade to find the last hidden instruments to revive the one and only real and true music - ROCK!



The story is great and the music is fantastic, wonderful, breathtaking!
The hits written by Queen really shake the walls of the good old Raimund Theater and make you really feel alive!

We would watch it over and over again. And we WILL! :-)

The producers:

Ben Elton,
Robert de Niro,
Brian May,
Roger Taylor



Websites: We Will Rock You (at), Raimund Theater
Pictures taken from musicalvienna.at
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MC listened to: Queen - A Kind Of Magic
via FoxyTunes

Fame - The Musical

Saw it on Friday at the Stadthalle in Vienna.

Good show! Fantastic music!

The musical is not an adaption of the movie 'Fame'. The musical plays some years after the movie as you can hear from one of the teachers when she says: 'Nobody is interested in basic knowledge. Since the damn movie we are just the Fame-High-School!'

I think there could have been a better storyline. One student has problems with reading and another quits school to become famous in L.A. but dies in the end because of drug abuse. I missed a real continuous thread and so it felt a bit like there was no solid line to follow.

It's worth to be seen anyway.

Website: Stadthalle