Review: DER DUFT VON WIRKLICHKEIT at STELLA Theater Prückl

At the end of the 1920s, Berlin experiences an artistic heyday, the era of the great UFA sound films, and people flock to the cinemas. After Hitler's "seizure of power" in 1933, UFA came under the pressure of Propaganda Minister Goebbels. Jewish artists are dismissed, and their films are banned. The young music student Fritz is supposed to collaborate with the famous composer Werner Richard Heymann to adapt a planned new music film for propaganda purposes. But soon, it becomes clear: Heymann won't be coming. Instead, the stars from the screen devise an unusual plan. It is a journey between fiction and reality, accompanied by Heymann's unforgettable melodies.

When you get permission to use Heymann's material, you had better write an excellent book to present its immortal and familiar music. Werner Bauer created a charming yet honest story about Fritz (Martin Schranz), a balancing act between fiction and reality. Fritz stumbles through Heymann's material, and the movie's protagonists jump off the screen and into the real world (in Fritz's perception) to turn the young musician's world upside down. While Fitz is finding confidence for the first time in his life, the world is getting darker with the NS- Regime rising and lifting the world out of its cracks. As an old rule says, before it gets better, it has to get worse, and after the sun rises again, closing this dark chapter in the history of the world, movies go back to what they were before, something where dreams come true. This little piece of theatre jewelry found its way to Vienna, with the STELLA THEATRE, a perfect place to tell this charmingly entertaining story. Isabella Gergor (Director) used every inch of the theatre and soaked the audience into the story. If you are in the front row, you are closer than you possibly ever have been before.

Nini Stadlmann (Claudine) is a true silver-screen diva, and you have no choice but to fall for her lighthearted performance, followed by Sebastian Brummer as Victor, the French beau, trying to win the shows ladies, one after the other, with his french accent and flamboyant attitude, will make you giggle more than once. Victoria Sedlacek as Antibe, Elisabeth Halikiopoulos, and Paul Graf are rounding up this rather enthusiastic and highly entertaining cast. With Frizz Fischer (Piano and Musical Director), Der Duft von Wirklichkeit is a highly entertaining piece of (OFF)Musical- theatre (with far too much dancing for my taste) that you better not miss.

It's running until the 30th of April at the STELLA THEATRE, located in the basement of the famous Café Prückel (also worth a visit) in the heart of Vienna.

Director: Isabella Gregor
Choreography: Lisa-Marie Rettenbacher
Costume Design: Julia Pschedezki
Stage Design: Ivo Ivancsics
Musical Direcor: Frizz Fischer

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