Review TdV Vienna – 07.06.-10.06.18
If you are wondering why I have been pretty absent from Tumblr last week – it’s because I was on my long awaited Vienna trip/Tanz der Vampire week. I originally had planned to see the show twice, on Thursday and Sunday. But somehow I got incredibly lucky and managed to get last-minute tickets with student discount for all the other shows during my stay, meaning I saw it 5 times (!!!) in 4 days.
And as promised I will review the show(s) for you, but since I had so little time in between, I couldn’t write up one for each performance right away. Also considering I already posted a general review of the Vienna show HERE, I will just review the roles/actors I haven’t mentioned/seen before, as well as sharing highlights from the individual shows that were particularly memorable.
I also have quite a few pictures, therefor I will put all this under a read more so you don’t have to scroll endlessly. Enjoy!
Cast lists:
Drew Sarich – Graf von Krolock I know, I have written about Drew already. I promise to keep it short. But I couldn’t write this review without mentioning how abolutely incredible Drew was once again. His Krolock is the most layered character out there in my opinion, he manages to make you feel all kinds of emotions with his portrayal. He managed to make me tear up during ‘Unstillbare Gier’ in every. single. performance. 5 times in a row! And the first and last time I was even full on sobbing and had difficulty breathing for a few minutes after the song was over - it was insane. I pray to god he will return to this role some time in the future, I can’t imagine this being the end of Drewlock.
Abla Alaoui – Sarah Chagal Abla was an incredibly sweet Sarah. I really loved her voice, might actually prefer it to Dianas even. Acting wise they are both amazing, and while they make different choices, I couldn’t say one was better than the other. I really liked the way Abla played the transformation in the end – it started out with small jerking movements and grew more prominent up to the revealing of the fangs. It was a very nice touch and made that whole scene that much more interesting. I also really enjoyed her chemistry with both Daniel Eckert and Drew Sarich (more during the highlights 😉).
Daniel Eckert – Alfred Daniel was an incredible Alfred. He was really sweet and he has a great voice, he and Raphael Groß are definitely my favourite Alfreds. Because even if I still want the Graf to succeed, they both managed to make me care about Alfred a little more and made me actually like ‘Für Sarah’ :D He was also very funny next to the Professor, which not every Alfred manages to do.
Christopher Dederichs – Alfred Christopher is also a good Alfred, and I did enjoy his performance a lot; but his voice wasn’t quite on the same level as the other two in my opinion. He still delivered on most songs, but ‘Für Sarah’ wasn’t quite as captivating. This is also due to personal preference, but I never imagine Alfred with blond and curly hair, so that took some getting used to. But all in all a great performance that I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing again 😊
Dawn Bullock – Rebecca Chagal I love Dawn as Rebecca. She is hilarious and has great comedic timing, and her voice is perfectly balanced between rough and melodic. Maciej Salamon – Yoine Chagal He was also a great Chagal, especially the comedic moments were great with him, but I think Nicolas Tenerani is definitely the better singer and showed more diversity in his singing technique – Maciej always ‘growled’ his lines which made Chagal not as complex a character as he was during Nicolas’ performance. Marle Martens – Magda Marle is an incredibly strong singer, and I was blown away by the effortlessness with which she sang. I found a new appreciation of ‘Tot Zu Sein Ist Komisch’ thanks to her.
Highlights: There are quite a few things I discovered in these shows, some of them are planned/regular moments, some just happened in one show (I will name the specific show in brackets).
· In one show, Chagal (Nicolas Tenerani that day) tries to nail the piece of wood to the door, but it wouldn’t stay on – so he just took it down and carried it back out again XD (June 8th)
· During ‘Nie Gesehen’, Rebecca searches for Chagal in her sleep, and when she wakes up, she checks under the sheets first before searching the room for him XD
· After singing ‘Gott Ist Tot’, Drew turns to look back at the moon and bares his fangs
· I never noticed that Alfred and Magda are flirting quite a bit during ‘Wahrheit’ – Magda is dropping some vegetable to have him picking it up as an excuse to start a conversation, and Alfred is totally into it!
· When Abronsius is ‘whispering’ to Alfred during Wahrheit, Rebecca wants to know what he’s saying reeeally badly and even tries to ask Magda and Chagal if they understand, only to be VERY annoyed when they don’t.
· One time, Rebecca (Tanja Petrasek) wasn’t on stage on time after ‘Rote Stiefel’ – she wasn’t there when Chagal said ‘…er hat sie geholt, hat sie uns entführt’! She came on stage right after though and just started with her line, I don’t think people noticed. (June 9th, evening show)
· When the professor and Alfred try to interrogate the villagers after Chagals death, the village idiot sits there picking his nose, and that’s why he doesn’t notice everyone else leaving XD
· After biting Magda, Chagal is howling like a wolf and then he has the hiccups; hilarious!!!
· Raphael had a hilarious way of singing ‘…das Schloss von diesem GRAFEN!’ (June 7th/9th)
· When the vampires are amongst the audience in Finale I. Akt, there were quite a few screams from surprised/terrified audience members XD
· When Drewlock seduces Alfred, he smells at the sponge, and for some reason his voice sounds really weird singing the next few words (‘…ich weiß, was du fühlst und denkst…’); it almost sounds as if he were high! (from Sarah’s scent?)
· Drewlock reacting to Herbert and Alfred meeting – glorious! During the lines “dies ist mein Sohn Herbert…” he is grinning as if to say ‘oh you poor boy, you have no idea what’s coming for you’ and when Herbert sings “Endlich jemand, der mir die Langeweile nimmt!”, he is putting a hand over his heart as if to say ‘awww, my precious boy has found a toy’ XD
· During the ‘intro’ at the beginning of act 2, there is a lonely bat flying towards the castle, vanishing through a window – that looks exactly like the one Graf stands in front of at the beginning of ToFi!
· While he is walking down the stairs during ToFi, Drewlock is stroking his bottom lip with his thumb while he is observing Sarah!
· Drewlock touching Sarah’s hair and then smelling his own hand during Totale Finsternis – that was another great detail that made his vampiric nature tangible
· In one show, Filippo forgot the lines during the beginning of ‘Carpe Noctem’ – I had to giggle a bit, but I don’t think it was very noticeable for people that don’t know the song by heart :P (June 8th)
· I noticed that the cover black vampire, Jordan Hinchliffe, was wearing an open black vest, while Arltan Andzhaev (main cast) is always shirtless. (June 8th/9th)
· In one show, the white vampire (Jasper Caransa) almost kissed Sarah (June 9th, evening show)
· After the nightmare bite, Arltan ‘shares’ some of Sarah’s blood with Herbert
· The Professor sniffed at both oatmeal bowls and gives the one that smells awful to Alfred (I am guessing that’s the one Koukol spat into 😉)
· In the crypt, Abronsius mimics breasts when he says ‘denk an Chagal’s Tochter’
· Chagal kissed Magdas foot when she stopped him from joining her in the coffin during ‘Geil zu sein ist komisch’ (June 9th, evening show)
· Herbert (Charles Kreische) had a small mishap once, his sleeve caught in his neckline. But Charles was great, stayed in character and ripped it free with a dramatic eyeroll :D
· When Krolock comes down from the pulpit in Tanzsaal, one of the vampires falls to her knees and kisses his hand
· Before the Sarahlock bite, Drewlock looks to Herbert as if to get reassurance. Only when Herbert slightly bows in response, he holds his hand out for her.
· Drewlock gave ‘Sarabla’ a kiss on the cheek before biting her (you read correctly – A KISS!!) It was Ablas last show as Sarah playing with Drew, and it was a sweet little gesture that had her giggling for a moment <3 (June 8th)
· When Sarah falls after the Graf lets go of her, all the vampires move towards her and only stop when Krolock hisses at them, as if to say ‘don’t you dare touch her, she’s mine!’
· Herbert flirting with another (male) vampire during the Ballsaalszene, dancing almost the entire thing with him, winking and waving at him
· When Graf and Sarah were towards the back of the stage, Drewlock had another taste of her by running his finger through the blood on her neck and sucking it off his finger… (not sure if this was a one time thing – noticed it on June 9th, matinee show)
· Krolock also flirting with (female) vampires during that whole scene – one moment that stands out is when there are only a few of the vampires left (shortly before they discover the human’s reflections). He changes partners, and when met with one specific female vampire he kisses his index finger and wiggles it at her (flexing and extending, not moving it side to side like some diva) – she basically turns into a teenie with a crush (as do I), giggling and legs turning to jelly. I asked Drew about it, and she is indeed supposed to be one of the many conquests the Graf had before Sarah.
· Towards the end of Tanzsaal, Drewlock starts picking his teeth, he apparently still has Sarah stuck in his fangs. When the humans ‘dance into’ Krolock, he demonstratively flicks a piece off his fingers XD
Pictures:
Last, but definitely not least, I have a bunch of photos from the stage door and all the treasures I collected etc.
On the day of my last show I brought my own fangs and I had SO much fun posing for pictures with them – every single person I met at the stage door was super sweet and kind enough to play along 😊
This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I will treasure these memories forever <3