Bielefeld / Landes Theatres Altenburg: 25 Sep 2011 - 1 Nov 2015 (Various dates/seasons not continuous) Opened Gera: 7 Oct 2012 / 21 & 23 June 2013
This production must surely go down as the weirdest ever staged. It seemed to be set in some kind of futuristic chess tournament, with over the top costumes and sets. It often looked great, but almost as often it looked a bit tacky.
Sung in English, but with German dialogue, it removed several songs and added extended sections of dialogue. Although reviews seem to have been very mixed, it was a great success, apparently the most successful musical they had staged in recent years.
It seems to have been a joint production between theatres in Altenburg and Gera and played a number of dates in both cities.
Videos
The Cast
Florence Vassy: Roberta Valentini Frederick Trumper: Alex Melcher Anatoly Sergievsky: Veit Shepherd Meier Svetlana: Karin Seyfried Molokov: Frank Bahrenberg Walter de Courcey: Michael Pflumm Arbiter: Jens Janke The Chorus: Julia Dietsch, Jessica Kruger, Alexander Janacek, Andreas Luch, Michaela Duhme, Christine Fitz, Anna Grah, Milena Hagedorn, Alina Kuttke, Rebecca Soumagne, Stefan Lehmann, Jörn Seelhorst
The Creative Team
Director: Kay Kuntze Sets and costumes: Duncan Hayler Choreography: Götz Hellriegel Dramaturgy: Jón Philip Linden Musical direction: William Ward Murta German adaptation: Ulrich Bree & Markus Linder