HOMO! SLAVA! MUSTA SAARA! PIECES FROM THE MUSICAL TRILOGY OF SAISIO AND TUURNA at The Finnish National Theatre

I had the honor to visit the Finnish National Theatre on 31st of March for a special one-time event of HOMO! SLAVA! MUSTA SAARA! Songs from the Musical Trilogy of the lively, talented composer Jussi Tuurna and excellent, imaginative writer Pirkko Saisio.

At this particular event audience members were able to hear their favorite tunes from as early times as 2011 that haven't been played since on a big stage. I myself had only seen MUSTA SAARA (SARAH THE BLACK) last Fall of the mentioned Trilogy, which actually was my very first review for this site! But boy, was I positively surprised and a little sadly taken back by the fact that I hadn't had the chance to see SLAVA! or especially HOMO! which stole my interest in its very first musical scene: witty and clever A little duet between the Priest and the conscience was nothing less than a proper, joyous broadwaylike blast! "Yeayeayeayeayeayea...", amazing!

The show had some wonderful scenes from each musical theatre piece. Some themes I noted alongside with the similarity in the music-- because it is a Trilogy-- were the Biblical references in each. Also of course the storylines themselves are pretty similar: they tell of an identity, a willingness to be something, to find meaning to oneself in a middle of chaos.

The great orchestra (Ville Leppilahti, Topi Korhonen, Esko Grundström, Sara Puljula and Tommi Asplund) and the man behind the music, the wonderfully eccentric Jussi Tuurna were on stage the whole time. We also enjoyed of some hilarious, laid-back hosting by Katariina Kaitue and Jani Karvinen in the middle of the scenes. Later on in the evening we also got to hear words and background thoughts and stories from the writer Pirkko Saisio herself! I can't help but thank also the mentionable OUT'N LOUD choire that helped and sung greatly in various scenes, thank you!

The exciting show was full of a good spirit between the audience along with all of the performers who worked together to make us relive our most enjoyable musical moments, which to me included the Prologue and the Song of the Card Fortuneteller from MUSTA SAARA . I have to pin-point the fantastic scene of Kim Jong Un I hadn't seen before: Taru Still was amazing and the whole scene was almost unbelievable to me with all of its sound- and special-, also physical/choreographical effects. I also enjoyed of the performance of Ulla Tapaninen as the Fortuneteller that I already mentioned of. She was also so very steady and admirable in her performing though she had to start over with her song: she was open and the audience was too and we all loved her from the start to the end inspite of the little disturbance! I want to be like her when I get older (please tell that to her if you see her!)

Other performances I also enjoyed were from Petri Knuuttila as he sung of The Hidden Queen of Spades. He had some distinctive and rare charisma! Tiina Weckström was breathtaking in the Bells of the Fate and the sublte sounds of the bells in the background made the moment even more magical. I also noted how the lightning was golden when she sung that gold is raining from the skies. Ecce Homo rung in my head during the interval and the energetic Timo Tuominen got the biggest reactions from the audience for sure in his piece.

The lightning design was from the beginning very excellent and top-notch! All the colors and sub-colors told a great story and were very enjoyable. Thank you Ville Virtanen for the design and Jussi Laine and Jukka Väisänen for running them!

And thank you yet again, the whole of National Theatre! You sure are a warm, home-like place to many artists and lovers of art, and it does shine from the faces of the people who work with and visit you!

Article: Rosanna Liuski
Kudos to Mia Hyvärinen who emailed me the program afterwards!

ENSEMBLE Taru Still, Annika Poijärvi, Linda Hämäläinen, Riitta Keränen,
Katariina Kaitue, Kristiina Halttu, Panu Kangas, Petri Knuuttila, Ville Mäkinen,
Mikko Kauppila, Janne Marja-aho, Harri Nousiainen
ORCHESTRA Jussi Tuurna, Ville Leppilahti, Topi Korhonen, Esko Grundström, Sara Puljula and Tommi Asplund
HOSTS Katariina Kaitue and Jani Karvinen
LIGHTING DESIGN Ville Virtanen
SOUND DESIGN Sakari Kiiski, Jussi Matikainen
THE HEAD STAGEMAN Antti Kivikoski
LIGHTNING TECHNICIANS Jussi Laine, Jukka Väisänen
SOUND TECHNICIANS Raine Ahonen, Leo Lindgren, Mikko Pietilä, Matti Pollari, Petteri Salomaa
STAGE OPERATOR Antti Soininen
ORGANIZER Erik Rehnstrand
THE STAGEMEN Jaan Pöldsam ja Petri Pulkkinen
OUT ?N LOUD -CHOIR
Aleksi Vasko (choir conductor)
Mathias Creutz (T1), Raimo Gratseff (T1), Mikko Rantonen (T1), Waltteri Niemelä
(T1), Markku Norovuori (T1), Jani Verho (T1), Arne Tasa (T2), Jouni Piekkari (T2),
Simo Karhula (T2), Antti Vesivalo (T2), Makla Laine (T2), Petri Vainio (T2),
Pasi Risberg (T2), Risto Niemiluoto (B1), Rami Lindholm (B1), Jyri Komonen (B1),
Jussi Luomanen (B1), Kim Amberla (B1), Matti Collan (B1), Jarkko Pietikäinen (B2),
Raimo Niukkanen (B2), Heikki Laaksamo (B2), Ari Leskelä (B2)
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Kati Lukka, Tarja Simone, Heli Hynynen, Jari Kettunen, Anna Pelkonen

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