Grimm! continues in rep at the Oper Graz, Austria
Grimm! continues in rep at the Oper Graz, Austria until April 2015.
Star rating: 3 stars ***
The Oper Graz, in a co-production with Next Liberty, the youth theatre located next door, presents the premiere of a new family musical penned by Peter Lund (book and lyrics) and Thomas Zaufke (music) entitled Grimm! Die Wahre Geschichte Von Rotkäppchen Und Ihrem Wolf (Grimm! The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood and Her Wolf).
In a similar way to Into the Woods, though a bit more family friendly, the show combines various Grimm stories but tries to depict the villains as good people rather than as baddies. It plays with the idea that one shouldn’t have prejudices towards people.
Unfortunately, there are two problems that arise from the very beginning of the show. The first is that a lot of the tales are rather unknown, and the second relates to the fact that most of the piece deals with the story of Little Red Riding Hood or Dorothea, as she prefers to be called. This works really well, while the other stories make the show a bit too confusing to follow.
The cast consists of Sigrid Spörk, as Dorothea, who impresses with her childlike qualities. However, even though she is a decent singer, she doesn’t get to demonstrate that until towards the end of the production.
Christof Messner as the Grimm, the wolf, delivers a wonderful performance on all levels. I particularly enjoyed his rendition of his jazzy, solo number. Jutta Panzenböck as Gisela Geiß/Großmutter Eule is also divine.
The rest of the cast consists of Franz Gollner, Florian Stanek, Janos Mischuretz, Alisca Baumann and Eleftherios-Vinzenz Chladt. The band consists of Maurizio Nobili as musical director (and on piano), Philipp Pluhar on drums/percussion, Karl Rossmann on trumpet and e-guitar, Gernot Strebl on saxophone, flute and clarinet and Reinhard Ziegerhofer on counterbase and e-bass.
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.
Director Helge Stradner does a decent job here, considering the difficulty of the show. The show features sets by Marlies Pfeifer, costumes by Isabel Toccafondi and choreography by Benjamin Louis Rufin. I am confident that it will continue to have a successful run.
Ludovico Lucchesi Palli
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