Review: AND THE SHIP SAILS ON at Capitol Musical Theatre, Wroclaw

If I had to describe this piece in one word, I would say elegance. In two words challenge I would say: elegant show. The three words: elegant freak show. And I love elegance, freaks, and good shows. Everything is there! The characters are divided into aristocracy, royals, staff, and intruders. The first two are real pieces of art, very diverse, and every one of them is extremely characteristic. The first act is like floating on the water of many stories, each extremely colorful, not only musically, but also visually. So we slowly drift with the characters and you can feel the great ambiance of the Italian film here. The atmosphere, which I am generally not a fan of because I lack action and meaning, but with this extraordinary and fantastic music everything is forgivable and you can drift endlessly. The person behind the musical compositions is Mariusz Obijalski and oh my goodness he did his job with a great dose of perfection and creativity. The music doesn't stop so we go with the flow (literally).

But not only music is a great asset because we have a lot of great visualizations and images that would make a great movie by the way. The endless blue flakes are making stage moments even more beautiful. Animations (Veranika Siamionava, Zachariasz Jedrzejczyk) are a beautiful complement to the visual experience.

Watching this show is like eating at an Italian fiesta, you get small doses of various dishes full of aroma and flavor, and treats on small plates are coming and coming. The songs change very fast and bring new sensations, slow, fast, sad, happy and when you think you have seen it all there is a rhino coming on stage and you witness the best song, in my opinion, of the whole show.

The first act involves juggling characters, motifs, and good music. It’s fast and sometimes it’s hard to catch your breath. A spectacle of velvet and lace from which one can really expect anything. The second act has a different dynamic, it's as if our Italian party is being crashed by an uninvited stranger. It's more intense but without morality (thank God!), the characters are at the service of the story, and there is no showoff or stardom. There are nineteen equal participants in the story and one collective hero. The dynamic between them is preserved and far from passing judgment. The ending doesn't matter, the journey is the goal. Thanks to the superb costumes (Martyna Kander), makeup and wigs (Magdalena Chabrowska-Oleksiak, Agnieszka Jasiniecka, Zuzanna Sak), set design (Mariusz Napierala), we can be even more in this story. The choreography (Mateusz Pietrzak) is vibrant and the movements are like a complement to this aristocratic freak show that you will really enjoy!

This is a superb production, lots of people involved, the main singers, dancers, and students of the Capitol Musical School, make this show varied, vibrant, diverse, very fresh with its crispiness.

The director, Wojciech Koscielniak, takes us to another world, it's a bit like the stories that grandmother told us at bedtime, and we remember them after many years. Full of magic, nostalgia, and uniqueness.

Show with English subtitles.

Photo: Krzysztof Bielinski