Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Theatre: Heute Abend Lola Blau
Marc had a work function tonight so I took myself off to the local New End Theatre to see Tonight Lola Blau. Its a fictional story of a Viennese Jewish Diva and her times and trials fleeing Austria, working in the US and then eventually returning to Austria to perform again. The work is based on the composer's experiences - Georg Kreisler - although the marketing campaign has been fairly clever to give the perception that Lola really existed... Fortunately there was a Q&A session at the end of the show with the producer and performer (Morag McLaren) which led to a lot of "aaaaaaahhhs" in the audience. It was that sort of audience.
At best it covers the dislocation of migrating and wanting to belong and it told a great story from that point of view. During the songs details about the Austrian collaboration with the Nazis and statistics about their thoughts were projected on the screen. Thought provoking stuff for the audience - which seemed to be made up of American tourists and the local Hampstead Jewish Community.
It didn't surprise me to learn that Robyn Archer made a name for herself with the English language production as well (almost thirty years ago now). Morag was good but didn't bark as much as I would imagine Robyn would. I am not sure if this is a good thing. A bit of barking might have given the songs a bit more bite. The production has not received great reviews but I thought it was a nice diversion from a night in front of the television. I notice that BBC2 had another documentary on Auschwitz.
One thing that the Q&A session with the artists and the audience revealed was how much everyone hates Prince Harry. Ambivalence towards intolerance is at the heart of what this show is about (and the Nazis weren't the only guilty ones there) and so there was plenty of vitriol for the third in-line to the throne. That perception has stuck with the Royals and it will be one that will be hard to get rid of...
Marc had a work function tonight so I took myself off to the local New End Theatre to see Tonight Lola Blau. Its a fictional story of a Viennese Jewish Diva and her times and trials fleeing Austria, working in the US and then eventually returning to Austria to perform again. The work is based on the composer's experiences - Georg Kreisler - although the marketing campaign has been fairly clever to give the perception that Lola really existed... Fortunately there was a Q&A session at the end of the show with the producer and performer (Morag McLaren) which led to a lot of "aaaaaaahhhs" in the audience. It was that sort of audience.
At best it covers the dislocation of migrating and wanting to belong and it told a great story from that point of view. During the songs details about the Austrian collaboration with the Nazis and statistics about their thoughts were projected on the screen. Thought provoking stuff for the audience - which seemed to be made up of American tourists and the local Hampstead Jewish Community.
It didn't surprise me to learn that Robyn Archer made a name for herself with the English language production as well (almost thirty years ago now). Morag was good but didn't bark as much as I would imagine Robyn would. I am not sure if this is a good thing. A bit of barking might have given the songs a bit more bite. The production has not received great reviews but I thought it was a nice diversion from a night in front of the television. I notice that BBC2 had another documentary on Auschwitz.
One thing that the Q&A session with the artists and the audience revealed was how much everyone hates Prince Harry. Ambivalence towards intolerance is at the heart of what this show is about (and the Nazis weren't the only guilty ones there) and so there was plenty of vitriol for the third in-line to the throne. That perception has stuck with the Royals and it will be one that will be hard to get rid of...
