Grimm (musical)
Grimm! - Die wirklich wahre Geschichte von Rotkäppchen und ihrem Wolf | |
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Music | Thomas Zaufke |
Lyrics | Peter Lund |
Productions | 2014 Next Liberty Graz (Austria) 2015 Neuköllner Oper Berlin (Germany) |
Grimm! is a musical written in German language by Peter Lund (lyrics), with music by Thomas Zaufke and choreography by Neva Howard and is subtitled Die wirklich wahre Geschichte von Rotkäppchen und ihrem Wolf (The really true story of Little Red Riding Hood and her wolf). The musical was premiered on December 7, 2014 in Graz on children and youth theater Next Liberty. Close in time the German premiere took place as a co-production with the Berlin University of the Arts at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin on March 19, 2015.
Synopsis
The Little Red Riding Hood, a 14-year-old girl who is tired of her nickname and wants to be called Dorothea, lives in a village community that is cobbled together from various fairy-tale characters. However, one thing unites the villagers: The fear of the forest and the wolf. Next to the Little Red Riding Hood there lives mother goat and her children, the three little pigs and also the old farm dog Sultan with his son Rex. Everybody in the village already has had bad experiences with wolves - or at least do that. The Wolf lives in the forest, and the forest pulls the Little Red Riding Hood towards magical, despite or even because of all these horror stories. There will come a day when the curiosity prevailed, and the young girl goes - against all warnings - in the woods, where she met Grimm, the wolf. He appears to her but not as bad as him have described all the villagers.
Grimm is a hermit, and Little Red Riding Hood is fascinated by his freedom-loving nature and he is extremely attractive to her - what is mutual. The wolf had only contact with pig Wild, a wild boar, and granny owl. Pig Wild is initially convinced by the idea that wolf and man can not have a friendship or even relationship. However, she is in love with a pig from the village itself, which is also a sow. Only granny owl is equally open to forest and villagers because she knows the life here and there. Granny owl has maternal feelings for Little Red Riding Hood, and the girl decides under her influence to take Grimm to the village in order to put an end to all the rumors. She not suspect, what happens, because the village turns out to be conniving bunch.
They live in democratic structures and care about the village idyll, so they go into defense mode. The old yard dog Sultan, the mayor of the village wants preserve some dark secrets. The clever Pig would also like to be the mayor, and when he realizes that by and by all the villagers begin to give up their prejudices against Grimm, he starting an intrigue against the wolf; he would kill him best. False accusations of him almost lead to a disaster.
World premiere
Grimm! was premiered at the Children's Theatre of Opera Graz (Next Liberty) on 7 December 2014. The German premiere took place at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin on March 19, 2015.
Ensembles and productions
Ensemble in Graz
December 7th 2014 to April 27th 2015[1]
Cast
- Director: Helge Stradner
- Conducted by Maurizio Nobili
- Accompanist: Saša Mutic
- Stage: Marlies Piper
- Costumes: Isabel Toccafondi
- Choreography: Benjamin Louis Rufin
- Image & Video: Bernd Ertl
Actors
- Sigrid Spörk (Rotkäppchen)
- Christof Messner (Grimm, der junge Wolf)
- Franz Gollner (Sultan, der alte Hofhund)
- Florian Stanek (Rex, sein Sohn)
- János Mischuretz (Schweinchen Schlau)
- Eleftherios-Vinzenz Chladt (Schweinchen Doof / Schweinchen Wild)
- Alisca Baumann (Dicklinde, Schweinchen Dick)
- Jutta Panzenböck (Gisela Geiß / Großmutter Eule)
Musicians
- Philipp Pluhar (drums / percussion)
- Maurizio Nobili (keyboards, percussion, conductor)
- Saša Mutic (piano, keyboards)
- Andriy Skorobogatko (piano, keyboards)
- Karl Rossmann (trumpet, flugelhorn, electric guitar)
- Gernot Strebl (saxophone, flute, clarinet)
- Reinhard Ziegerhofer (double bass, electric bass)
Ensemble in Berlin
March 19th to April 14th 2015 with students of Universität der Künste, Berlin[2]
Cast
- Director: Peter Lund
- Conducted by Hans-Peter Kirchberg / Tobias Bartholmeß
- Choreography: Neva Howard
- Stage and Costumes: Ulrike Reinhard
Actors
(in alphabetical order)
- Kiara Brunken (Schweinchen Wild)
- Devi-Ananda Dahm (Dorothea, Rotkäppchen)
- Sophia Euskirchen (Oma Eule)
- Fabian-Joubert Gallmeister (Schweinchen Schlau)
- Anthony Curtis Kirby (Rex)
- Dennis Hupka (Didi, (Schweinchen) Doof)
- Katharina Beatrice Hierl (Gisela Geiß)
- Jan-Philipp Rekeszus (Grimm)
- Dennis Weißert (Sultan, der alte Hofhund)
- Feline Zimmermann (Dicklinde, (Schweinchen) Dick)
Musicians
- Piano: Hans-Peter Kirchberg / Tobias Bartholmeß
- Guitar: Jo Gehlmann / Hossein Yacery Manesh
- Trumpet, piccolo trumpet: Rainer Brennecke
- Reeds: Sidney Pfnür / Karola Elßner
- Synthesizer: Markus Meyer Mitter / Tobias Bartholmeß
- Drums: Stephan Genze
- Bass: Max Nauta
Songs
- Bleib im Dorf
- Sei ein Wolf
- Die Geschichte vom Alten Sultan
- Du bist nicht allein auf der Welt
- Leben mit Wolf
- Der Wolf muss weg
- Ja, ich bin Grimm!
- Blut geleckt
Awards and nominations
In August 2015 the performance in Graz was nominated in four categories for the German Musical Theatre Award by the German Musical Academy.[3] On October 26, 2015 Peter Lund was awarded in the category Best Book, and Christof Messner was honored as Best Actor.[4]
Reviews
"Lund and Zaufke have created an interesting new family musical which, despite some difficulties, works quite well. The score is wonderful, packed with some great moments, with all sorts of musical influences.“ (Grimm! – Oper Graz, Ludovico Lucchesi Palli, musicaltheatrereview.com, February 2nd 2015))
See also
Notes
- ^ New: Grimm!, Oper Graz, December 2014. Access: March 11, 2015.
- ^ Grimm, Neuköllner Oper, March 2015. Access: March 12, 2015.
- ^ Das sind die Nominierten für den Deutschen Musical Theater Preis 2015 In: musicalradio.de, August 20, 2015.
- ^ Der Deutsche Musical Theater Preis 2015: Die große Zeremonie In: musical1.de, October 27, 2015.
External links
- BZ Berlin und Youtube, Interview with some actors, movie by Jan Lindenau and Mareike Kürschner
- RBB Kulturradio, Grimm - Das Musical an der Neuköllner Oper, Interview with Peter Lund, RBB Kulturradio, March 18, 2015