SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER – A DANCEY GAME OF CHESS
Josef Meszáros 26. February 2018 zdroj www.scena.cz
(…) The principal and stager at Brno City Theatre, Stanislav Moša, can handle any show, from original musicals and music projects tailor-made for the ensemble up to top-flight musical pieces from abroad, often managing to achieve Czech premieres of the latter works. It wasn’t the case this time with Saturday Night Fever, but unlike the institution that put on the Prague production, Brno City Theatre has a new sound system, and when we add a clear orchestral interpretation, gifted soloists and most of all the inventive choreography, all amplified by the purity of great lighting effects, one can expect a peerless experience. (…) In his version of the production, director Stanislav Moša not only emphasizes the desire of members of the young generation to escape from family problems and social disillusionment, but also deals with various social existential questions right from the word go. A young person has enough strength to absorb all the influences of his or her surroundings, and they can also arrive at solutions a lot faster than older people - solutions which are often straightforward and unexpectedly clear, but sometimes a bit clouded by rashness and lack of experience. (…) Marco Salvadori has mastered the whole arc of the role, playing a keen, diligent employee and obedient son who changes into a mature leader before our eyes. He doesn’t just accept victory in a dancing competition once he evaluates another duo’s performance as being better. On top of that, he is hit by the death of his friend. (…) Kristýna Daňhelová is appropriately mysterious as Stephanie, showing the full glory of her mature acting skills to the audience. She refuses Tony firmly even though her heart is keen enough, and manages to get on okay with awkward teenagers. In the end, she throws away her layer of introversion and lets her unconcealed feelings for Tony run free against the sound of the disco beat. (…) Those playing Gloria and Monty – Viktória Matušovová and Aleš Slanina – get a special acting opportunity as, in a way, both of them guide the spectators through the story. (…) The costume artist, Andrea Kučerová, played with the details of the hippie-style clothes: flared trousers, wide collars, deep open-necked shirts for men. The set by Christopher Weyers depicts an industrial urban exterior. (…) The bridge pillars and the bridge symbolize an arch of security and support that one needs in one´s life at a time when it’s necessary to look for connecting lines. (…) The flashing disco floor makes you want to dance, but it mainly represents a chess board upon which young people manage to untangle the complex web of relationships existing between one another. The whirl of dance numbers featuring attractive choreography by Igor Barberić gives every spectator hope regardless of whether they are young or rather looking back nostalgically to when they were. (…)
BRNO’S VERSION OF SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER GETS THE AUDIENCE DANCING
Kateřina Šebelová 18. February 2018 zdroj www.epochtimes.cz
(…) Kristian Pekar gives an unbelievable performance in the role of Tony, a teenager who is looking for his place in the sun. He’s an ordinary boy with rhythm in his body, trying to struggle through life. His weekend escapes to the disco club are his only joy. Kristian Pekar portrays him excellently, maintaining a fine balance between the two aspects of the character – on the one side he’s a boy who’s lacking in self-confidence and beset with internal doubts, while on the other he’s a narcissistic show-off and one of the stars at the local disco. Pekar’s singing and dancing are flawless, and indeed all of the production’s great dancing performances show professionalism as well as a sense of rhythm, making for a very lively show. Stephanie (Svetlana Janotová) is a good dance partner for Pekar, showing once again that she can definitely dance and sing with the best of them. The great self-confidence she lends the character adds the requisite spice to the performance. Daniel Rymeš doesn’t disappoint either in the role of Tony’s friend, the self-conscious and hesitant Bobby C., who ends his life in an unhappy way. Dagmar Křížová is one of the pleasant surprises of the production in the role of Annette. I also thought the bar singer Gloria was played very well by Viktória Matušovová. Her vocal range is always a remarkable experience, and it’s no different with this musical. Aleš Slanina is also entertaining in the role of the extravagant DJ Monty. With Saturday Night Fever, the Brno City Theatre ensemble offers a dynamic show with precise interpretations of songs and even more impressive song and dance numbers, accompanied by the immortal disco rhythms of the Bee Gees, which will certainly get under your skin. (…)
THIS KIND OF DISCO CAN BE RECOMMENDED
Luboš Mareček 26. January 2018 zdroj www.mestohudby.cz
Saturday Night Fever offers everything you could want from a disco musical – fabulous renditions of hit songs, excellently choreographed dancing in shiny costumes, and three exceptional performances from those in the main roles. (…) Brno´s production of the musical wasn’t created for the purpose of analysis or publicity. It is mainly about the romantic, family and work-related troubles of the main hero, (…) as well as the large amount of dance, disco music and songs that the show contains. (…) One merit of Moša´s production is its detailed simulation of the atmosphere of the 1970s in America, or – if you wish – a theatrical manifestation of the times when the disco dancing craze was at its height. (…) Another highlight of Moša´s production is Igor Barberić´s choreography. (…) Its original style bonds the production together and is inventive yet modern, even though it works with references to the past and also features several Latin-American dance classics. The choreographer’s ambitious ideas were given flawless shape by the whole ensemble, and the soloists in particular, who turned the evening of the first premiere into a real experience. The uncrowned king of the evening was Kristian Pekar in the main role of Tony Maner. He sang and danced very well indeed, but it was his acting that was the most precious part of the performance. You won´t see a cheap imitation of the iconic John Travolta here. (…) Pekar has found his own, exceptionally convincing path to portraying the character, and gives one of the best performances of his tenure at this theatre. When you watch Mr Pekar in action, you simply can’t believe that Saturday Night Fever wasn´t written specifically for him. The theatre’s ladies also enriched the evening with stellar performances. Viktória Matušovová was unbelievably confident in the role of disco goddess Gloria as far as singing was concerned, receiving a healthy dose of well-deserved applause for her efforts. Seeing this young actress perform makes you look forward to every one of her demanding singing appearances. Dagmar Křížová also turned her solo musical part as Annette into something special. Her performance mixed great singing with a well thought-out and structured dose of emotions. Throughout the show, the songs express the characters’ feelings so well that one must applaud the producers for leaving them in English and not creating literal Czech translated versions. You are sure to enjoy the original songs in this action-packed show even if you haven’t yet mastered English. (…)
FEVER IN BRNO (…)
Jiří P. Kříž 25. January 2018 zdroj Právo
(…) Some of the visitors to the premiere of Brno´s Saturday Night Fever were in tears from refreshing their fading memories of the times when they were young, of those long disco nights, of idols such as Travolta or the brothers Gibb (the Bee Gees). Scenographer Christoph Weyers worked together with visual projection artists Petr Hloušek and Dalibor Černák to create a perfect illusion of the Brooklyn Bridge, which is integral to the story. (…) Director Stanislav Moša and choreographer Igor Barberić serve the audience with only the best delicacies of Czech acting and dance musical cuisine. (…)
BRNO CITY THEATRE IN THE SWIRL OF SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
Jaroslav Štěpaník 22. January 2018 zdroj www.novinky.cz
(…) The main thing that Brno’s Saturday Night Fever offers plenty of, and with a “Quality Label”, is music, and most of all dance. (…) The first half is a showpiece that briefly introduces a group of friends, particularly the main hero Tony. He would like to get away from the greyness of everyday life by dancing, which is in fact all he lives for. He is recognized and admired as a dancer by the people around him. The core of the second part is his developing relationship with Stephanie. She also wants to escape from her environment, but uses different means, i.e. posing and putting on airs, until she finally throws away hypocrisy and everything starts moving towards a happy end. An impressive shortcut and twist in their journey to adulthood is the victory of another couple in a dancing competition, through which Tony comes to realize that there are better dancers out there than him; he acknowledges this in a surprisingly knightly fashion. Brno´s production excels mainly in the ensemble dance and vocal numbers, which are the pillars of any musical’s construction. The arrangement and choreography of the individual numbers, with excellent performances by the dancers and singers, garner regular and well-deserved applause. The solo performances also hit the spot: Kristian Pekar was distinctive and excellent, and Svetlana Janotová was an equally great partner to him during the premiere. Viktória Matušovová (Gloria) provided a superb singing accompaniment to the plot, the quartet of friends also sounded very good, Daniel Rymeš’s singing performance was most impressive and Dagmar Křížová handled the role of the unsettled, hesitating and unhappy lover Annette very nicely. Saturday Night Fever is a piece that never fails to warm people of every generation up to the right temperature, from the youngest kids up to those who remember the times when it all started. It can be expected that the show will become a firm favourite with theatregoers due to its fresh and always youthful swirl of music, dance and rhythm, the welcome relaxation it brings, and the memories it evokes in those of us who were born a bit earlier than the rest.
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, OR THE BEST MUSICAL I HAVE EVER SEEN AT MOŠA´S THEATRE
Vratislav Mlčoch 22. January 2018 zdroj www.babocka.vram.cz
(…) A Czech script, English songs, an emphasis on the social environment. (…) The young generation, straight-jacketed, chained and caged by society as well as their own families, is looking for escape and self-realization wherever possible. (…) Songs are always more beautiful in their original language as even the best translation cannot possess the same quality. And the musical’s songs are really beautiful, sung purely and clearly, and well, you certainly know the majority of them. However, the main focus is on dance, and my God, the dance numbers are beautiful too. There is no need for phrases like “the show will get better when things settle down” here. That kind of stuff was clearly dealt with during rehearsals. The synchronization of movements, excellent choreography, the dazzling colours of the costumes, the minimalist but narrative and changeable stage and, last but not least, the orchestra with its excellent musicians – well, it was an unbeatable show. I take my hat off to the whole production team and to Kristian Pekar in particular, whose portrayal of Tony did the same for the musical as Travolta’s did for the film. He hardly leaves the stage, dances like mad and yet is still able to give a full-on singing performance. (…) And one more thing, they leave the best bit till the end - you are already standing and clapping when suddenly the whole group starts performing again, leaving you breathless. This group of Moša´s is unstoppable.
