Jan Ammann – Musical was performed at the Theater Akzent, Vienna.
After having performed in Vienna as part of the successful Musical Moments tour in 2012, the acclaimed musical star Jan Ammann (Show Boat, Rebecca, Tanz der Vampire) presented his programme Musical, a firework of musical tunes reflecting his career so far.
He was reunited with two performers from the forementioned tour: Carin Filipcic (Rebecca) and Andreas Bieber (Ich war noch niemals in New York, Elisabeth), as well as the fabulous Michaela Schober (Rebecca).
Most of the evening consisted of musical selections consisting of 3–4 songs from specific shows. The first block consisted of numbers from Jekyll & Hyde. Even though Ammann’s rendition of ‘This is the Moment’ was solid (and can be heard on his debut album Musical), my favourite track was ‘Take Me As I Am’ with Schober. This was the first of a few duets they performed together and each one was a highlight. Their voices blended really well together.
Another duet I really enjoyed was part of the Rebecca section, ‘Jenseits der Nacht’, which was performed with a lot of energy. Also impressive was ‘Zeit in einer Flasche’, sung by Schober, a powerful ballad that can be heard on her debut album Musicals From the Heart which showcases her strong vocal abilities. Ammann himself offered energetic performances of ‘Gott warum?’ and ‘Kein Lächeln war je zu kalt’. This was where his acting skills shone as well. It was Carin Filipcic, though, that surprised with the title track, which demonstrated a darker side of her voice, which was wonderful.
Other material came from the show Elisabeth, with the first song Ammann sang being ‘Kein kommen ohne gehen’, which was included in the 20th anniversary production of the show. It was followed by the duet ‘Wenn ich tanzen will’ with Filipcic. Even though the timing wasn’t always perfect here and the lyrics were a bit shaky, they delivered the song beautifully. A song that I was hoping to see in this section was ‘Die Schatten warden länger’ which was performed with Bieber. The latter originated the role of Rudolf in Elisabeth in 1992. Together with Ammann, he delivered an emotional version.
Ammann’s guests also performed songs from other shows, not necessarily ones he had appeared in. This included ‘Electricity’ from Billy Elliot sung by Bieber, with a German and and English verse. Schober offered another gorgeous song from her own album called ‘You’ll Be in My Heart’. Filipcic sang one of her signature songs, ‘Gold von den Sternen’, with great clarity and beauty as always.
The final part of the evening consisted of songs from Tanz der Vampire. Many of these compositions are associated with the charismatic baritone. It therefore came as no surprise that there were standing ovations at this time. My three higlights were the very dramatic ‘Die unstillbare Gier’, the powerful ‘Totale Finsternis’ with Schober, as well as ‘Einladung zum Ball’. Bieber offered a very strong take on the ballad ‘Für Sarah’.
As an encore Ammann performed two songs from his new programme and album Farbenblind. Unlike his previous album which consists of show tunes, this record features songs written by Germany’s top composers such as Thomas Zaufke or Rainer Bielfeldt, with some of the best lyricsts, including Edith Jeske and producer/manager Andreas Luketa. Each song tells a personal story of Ammann’s life. Here he performed the title track as well as the homage to his fans, ‘Weil das mein Leben ist’. He returns to Vienna with this set on 26 January 2015.
Ammann has a rare vocal ability to tell stories through singing and acting and this was visible throughout the evening. It was a bit of a shame that he didn’t include a few anecdotes about the shows he has done, but other than that it was an emotional rollercoaster ride of songs from his career with some very talented guests.
They were joined by Marina Komissartschik on piano and a five-piece band.
Ludovico Lucchesi Palli
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.