Tarzan

Opening night: April 15th, 2007
Seen: June 19th, 2007
Circustheater, Scheveningen

Last Tuesday we had tickets for the stage-musical Tarzan. It’s very rare when a musical opens in Holland right after opening on Broadway. Most of the time new musicals hit London or New York and several other major cities, before coming to our small country. Not Tarzan though, it’s the second production, after the original opened on Broadway.
I guess everyone knows the story of Tarzan, so I don’t have to explain. The music for this stageshow was written by Phil Collins and includes the beautiful song “You’ll be in my heart”.

From what I understand, the reviews in the US weren’t very good. So the Dutch producers, with Disney’s consent, changed about 40-50%. More action, more flying apes, more humor, and Phil Collins wrote extra music.
I was a bit reluctant to go – the Dutch reviews were quite positive, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. Manon & Sabine have been begging me to go ever since it opened, so I gave in.

I shouldn’t have worried though as the show was AWESOME! It grabbed you right from the start and we spent the evening in a mix of emotions. Surprised by all the things going on (I can’t be more specific or I’ll give away spoilers, you just have to go see for yourself), we laughed a lot and had goose bumps at other moments. It was great!

We were lucky to have almost the complete original cast – Kala (Tarzan’s ape-mom) was an understudy, but she was good! The actrice who plays Jane, Chantal Janzen, is Sabine’s favourite actress. She is perfect in every part she plays. The girl has everything, she’s gorgeous, her voice is beautiful and her timing is spot on, a great comedian and a true musical star.

Ron Link, Tarzan, got the part in a TV program, where the votes of the jury, public and Phil Collins were combined. As he had no theatre experience before, I was curious to see how he’d manage. *bows* My compliments. A true Tarzan, great body :), wonderful voice, and – very important – his Tarzan is a lovable, genuine character.

After the show we were walking to the car when we saw people waiting at the stage door, the girls looked at me… and I said, I have a pen, let’s go. While waiting for the cast we got to talk with another mom and her daughter. I told them I forgot my camera and they offered to take pics and send them by email – and they did. If you’re reading this: Thank you Bettina & Danique!

Chantal and Ron must have been tired, but they took the time to talk to the waiting fans, they gave autographs (M&S asked them to sign our program and the Tarzan bags we bought the girls), and everyone who wanted to have their picture taken was welcome to do so. Really nice people. Not sure if they grow tired of the fans waiting there every single night, but if they do, it wasn’t showing.
Needless to say they made Manon and Sabine’s day, so thank you Chantal & Ron 🙂

Unless there comes an offer I can’t refuse (sometimes my office gets a “2 for the price of 1” ticket offer), the next musical we see will be in London in August.
I can’t wait!