Disney classics
New musical “Hercules” celebrates world premiere in Hamburg
The musical “Hercules” can now be seen in Hamburg. photo
© Markus Scholz/dpa
Hamburg has a new Disney musical and is celebrating its world premiere with “Hercules”. Songs, stage design, costumes, great actors and humor – the spectacular production has hit potential.
Disney is a guarantee of success – and especially when it comes to bringing the animated classics to the big stage, Stage Entertainment has “The Lion King”, “Aladdin”, “Mary Poppins”, “Tarzan” and “Frozen” plenty of experience. Nevertheless, the premiere of “Hercules” is special: it is the first production to have its world premiere in Hamburg is celebrating and will only then move on to the major theaters around the world.
The media premiere on Saturday evening – the evening before the world premiere – shows that the musical could be a great success with an all-round successful overall package. The stage design, with huge columns, amphoras and an LED background that atmospherically underlines the scenery in mosaics, transports the audience into the world of Greek mythology. Five muses tell the story with powerful voices as a gospel quintet, leading the audience through the evening – and Hercules through his life.
Monteiro and Jorolan convince in the main roles
It begins in golden-white Olympus, where Hercules’ parents Zeus and Hera sit enthroned and celebrate the birth of their son. But then Hercules’ uncle Hades appears from the underworld and wants the baby dead. In his dark underworld populated by the undead, he hatches a nasty plan. Detlef Leistenschneider brilliantly embodies Hades, who, as a crazy and manic god, sends his assistants Karl and Heinz to destroy Hercules. But because they fail and Hercules survives on earth as a human with divine power, he forces the mortal Meg to seduce and kill the hero. He, on the other hand, wants to return to his parents on Olympus, but to do so he has to perform a truly divine deed.
Benét Monteiro, who most recently impressed as Hamilton in the musical of the same name, also shows his quality here. With a gentle and powerful voice he sings of his strength, his love, his longing. Initially hated because he accidentally destroys everything, after his heroic deeds Hercules eventually becomes a celebrated star who has to carve autographs and gets his own statue. Monteiro meets an old acquaintance on stage – Mae Ann Jorolan was also there in “Hamilton” and impressed in Hamburg as Hercules’ lover Meg. Kristofer Weinstein-Storey, who played Genie in “Aladdin,” brilliantly embodies Phil, who trains Hercules before the final battle – good versus evil. Hercules learns that it is not physical strength that is divine, but sacrificing one’s life for another.
Impressive costumes and stage sets
Funny dialogues for young and old, the actors’ enthusiasm for playing, fast-paced dances, imaginative choreographies and stagings such as races and fights against monsters make the musical an entertaining pleasure. There are details to discover everywhere, on stage and also in the colorful costumes.
Speaking of costumes: 266 costumes, made from more than 2.5 kilometers of fabric in eleven countries, are used. “Hercules” is also a show of superlatives in other ways. The design of the stage itself was like a Herculean task: the bridge of the underworld weighs three tons, is 18 meters long and hangs on eight ropes. The portal to the underworld is decorated with 32 skulls from the 3D printer. The eight gigantic columns, which are placed on turntables and dynamically change the stage design, are also 3D prints. Each column measures seven meters and consists of seven individual parts, each of which takes two days to print.
As for the film, the music was written by eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken and David Zippel. The duo composed seven new songs for the musical. One of them is a duet between Hercules and Meg, another is a solo for Hades. Last but not least, the rousing, sometimes groovy songs play their part in making “Hercules” a real hit.
The first figures from Stage Entertainment certainly indicate this. Press spokesman Stephan Jaekel said: “We are more than satisfied with advance sales and have already exceeded the magical 100,000 ticket mark.”