Groots en meeslepend wil ik leven opens with Steven de Jong confessing his love for operetta. From there, he easily moves the story along to his audition for Franz Lehar’s Der Zarewitsch in Vienna, where he meets Rudolf—Empress Sissi’s son—falls in love with him, and solves two murders in the process. De Jong sings, plays piano and plays all the parts himself, including the puppet Rudolf.
While I’m not particularly fond of opera or operetta—I still prefer my classical music without the singing—I thought that Groots en meeslepend wil ik leven was perfectly excellent. In fact, it was hilarious. You don’t expect an operetta-crimi, littered with faux-German and characters like Lorelei of the Kriminalpolizei. Also, the setting. A big, cardboard box that evolves from a graveyard into a bier stube into a palace garden and what not. Pretty absolutely awesome.
Groots en meeslepend wil ik leven can be seen across The Netherlands and in Antwerp until November 10th, 2013.
- Seen live
- Steven de Jong, “Groots en meeslepend wil ik leven” on september 17th, 2013 at Theater Kikker, Utrecht