Jesus Christ Superstar - Vienna (Ronacher) style

What: Jesus Christ Superstar
When: 21st and 23rd April 2011
Where: Ronacher Theatre, Vienna

WARNING (two posts, two warnings...we're doing well...): Readers prone to allergic rashes from overt gushing may need to stop reading now (or go take an antihistamine in preparation)

We finally made it.
We got to Vienna.
And lost our hearts to Drew Sarich all over again.

It isn't often us fairies are rendered speechless and incapable of simple everyday tasks such as thinking, blinking and breathing, but that's exactly what happened to us on Austrian soil. We wouldn't have had it any other way though. Drew Sarich was, if even humanly possible, better than we had ever heard him before. But more about that heart breaker in a moment - we need to start from the beginning...

Our first view of Vienna was in the glorious sunshine, and for the entire time we were there we didn't have a cloudy day. Vienna is gorgeous;  beautiful, relaxed, stylish and sophisticated, and we managed to immerse ourselves in the cafe culture in TF style.  We shopped, we drank, we ate ice cream, schnitzel, sausages and strudel.  We tried to speak German, but gave up swiftly after one too many episodes of continually mixing up our please and thank yous like complete eejits.  Still, we managed to get around and found the Ronacher Theatre with relative ease  - we like to be prepared. Imagine, Tamsin doing her usual over-optimistic journey scheduling and us missing THE MAIN EVENT.  Shudder. Especially after the stress of obtaining the karten (German for tickets dontcha know) through an Austrian website with the aid of Google translate.  That was an adventure in itself.  However, once bought, the karten arrived within 3 days (Delfont Mackintosh take note, you with your last minute posting...).

We won`t bang on about the trip, nothing worse than hearing about other peoples holidays, yawnsville. Suffice to say we had an amazing time and would gladly live in Vienna any day. But, we WILL dissect the show.  Jesus Christ Superstar, in Vienna, with the one and only. Drew. Phew.

Well, where to begin?  It was evidently a sellout, with standing tickets also available, and both nights we went, it was packed.  The Austrians sure do love their MT -  and incumbent show "Tanz der Vampire" had been packed up to make way for a simple set. 

Stunning in its simplicity. It was staged as a concert rather than a musical, so a platform of scaffolding at the back of the stage and a large cross which divided the stage (and acted as a walkway) was the central focal point. No gimmicks, no big budget effects, no expensive costumes. Just simple, effective lighting which left the actors, the talented-to-extreme cast, to showcase their amazing talent. Gushy? Us? Oh yes. And this is just the beginning...

Drew Sarich...

OK.  We know we love Drew.  By now, anyone reading our musings knows we love Drew.  Drew Sarich is unbeatable in every way. We adore the man.

Read on.

We have seen him in Les Mis several times, went to an acoustic gig he did whilst here in London, and since he disappeared back to Europe we have scoured YouTube for snippets. Though never intentionally unkind, we might have been a little teensy bit critical of some of his recent choices in terms of musicals and roles. But in our defence we love him and know just how good and amazing he is...and want to see more of him in roles that do his amazing talent justice. Gethsemane has been studied by us in minute detail in the past.  Yet nothing, NOTHING, prepared us for his performance as Jesus.  If we are completely honest, we were rather leaning towards him playing Judas - he seemed to get the best songs after all.  And there is no doubt that he gives great Judas.  The evidence is out there. 

Evidence M'Lud. Hot Judas.    Watch & learn, Judas pretenders.


However - now we have seen him play the main man....... words fail us.  We swear that we possibly stopped breathing. For about 1 and a half hours, no interval. Gethsemane was, quite simply, the most amazing thing either of us have ever witnessed on stage.  STAGGERING.  Needless to say, vocally perfect - properly rock tenor too, no messing. Drew doesn't have to reach for notes; he hits them all perfectly - the high ones and low ones - with such precision it is almost unbelievable. There were screams. Anguish. Pain. Doubt. Anger. Sadness. Soulfulness. Beauty. It made us cry. And judging by the stream of mascara stained faces we saw when the lights were back up, we weren't the only ones. A well deserved and lengthy standing ovation, and he simply stood on stage, in character - still and unmoving, and waited to continue. A true professional.  There is a bootleg out in the ether from Thursday night, but the sound doesn't do him justice so we won't link it   For now, we must satisfy ourselves with our oft watched version from 3 years ago. 

Sheer brilliance..........

Vocally great, emotive.  Shame about the Valjean hair and beard, but we can see the beauty underneath....apologies LND haters.  This version is great - not as great as the one we saw, but pretty astounding nonetheless..... but if you like that, imagine THAT VOCAL..... (are you imagining???) OK, now we are pretty sure Drew Sarich has a picture growing old in his attic....because that video was 2008, and in 2011 he looks like THIS. 

And yes, that is eyeliner, so you can imagine the carnage in Fairyworld.  And we are not ashamed.
But it wasn't just Gethsemane..... the Temple, the Last Supper, Poor Jerusalem. The Crucifixion OH THE CRUCIFIXION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Burning crosses on stage and shivers from us.

Having seen cameras all round the theatre on Saturday night, we live in hope of a DVD. 
Because we need that performance captured so we can die happy.

Our only regret is that we genuinely think he may have spoiled us forever as far as JCS is concerned.  No one else will do after this - any other version of JCS will pale in comparison. We have seen some wonderful performances in our theatre lives.  Michael Ball in Hairspray. David Thaxton in Les Mis.  Lea Salonga.  John Owen Jones. Ramin Karimloo. Steve Balsamo.  Nick Jonas (kidding). 

Drew beats them all for us.  He is RIDICULOUSLY TALENTED.  For us he is the best. There is no other MT performer like him. Oh we know we sound like bad mad theatre groupies of the worst kind, but unless you see him and hear him for yourself you cannot possibly comprehend what you're missing out on. As if the talent wasn't enough, he comes in packaging that a red blooded fairy could have dreamed up...only he's real (see pictorial evidence above...). Believe it or not, even pictures don't do the man justice - he is that good looking. And charismatic. And so. Astonishingly. Handsome. But even with all the rest it's the talent that singles him out as bloody as near to perfection as a man can be.

Apologies for the capitals and the mega gush, but it was the kind of performance that made us want to scream at Lloyd Webber to get his Lordly ass on a plane and come see him.  We want everyone to see him, so you see - we are not selfish, keeping this little Austria based St Louis born treat all to ourselves.  The man is world class. You know what? Even if you don`t think you like him... if you get the chance, if he ever comes to a town near you, see him.
Once in your life.  That is all.  Do yourself a favour. Make a point of seeing him. He should be on every persons list of people to see before they die. We can now die happy women...only we'd like to see him a fair few more times before we die. Like, once or twice a week minimum. Live. A fairy can dream...

The Best of the Rest


OK, Drew aside.  The cast of this concert were pretty impressive and introduced us to quite a few names we will be looking out for in the future. Vienna - or the Ronacher - seems to attract charismatic and incredibly talented people like a magnet and this cast was a perfect representation of talent at its best. It almost felt as if we stayed in the Ronacher long enough, maybe some of their skill and magic would rub off on us. Remains to be seen, we guess...our bosses haven't noticed anything different about us as yet (other than a deep yearning to be back in Vienna NOW) but give it time...

Mischa Mang

Judas as part AC/DC, part Jack Black. Karina admits to having a little crush on this big bear of a man with a smile that would melt icebergs. Although not in brilliant voice the first time we heard him, on the second visit he was amazing. He has a rock voice which compliments Drew's brilliantly and made us sit up and listen, and wonder what else he is capable of. Yes, we'd like to see more of Mischa. As if his talent wasn't enough, after the show we were having a post-show post-mortem over a bevvie in a bar near the theatre and spotted Mischa posing for the camera of two ladies with a gorgeous smile and a pleasant word for them. What a lovely, lovely man.

Rob Fowler

Renamed 'Drew Junior' by us (although not necessarily younger than Drew, we're not pedantic) for one reason. This man has a jaw dropping voice. Very Drewesque, and distinctive. Amazing stage presence as well - your eye is automatically drawn to him (unless Drew is on stage, naturally...). He has a similar range and way of hitting the top notes without straining, which is a joy to behold. And he's a bit pretty too. We like him. Alot. Did a good Simon/Annas.

Alexander Di Capri

Another discovery, this man. As well as having a remarkable voice, his interpretation of Pilate was spot on. Going from a little bit bored and exasperated right through to increasingly frustrated and desperate with the King of the Jew's refusal to defend himself, we lived those emotions with him. Very moving.  Great nose too.

Caroline Vasicek

Sang a gorgeous Mary Magdalene. She has a pure, clear but soft voice. And something else she has in common with the rest of the cast was that her acting isn't compromised in favour of the singing. Both aspects were so strong, adding to the whole interpretation and making every single scene count. Well known fact that us fairies struggle with female voices - with Caroline we had absolutely no problem.

For  pics from the performance itself at the Ronacher, here's the link to the official photographers website. Very much worth a gander...Click here

A special mention should go not just to the rest of the cast that we haven't mentioned - they were all magnificent - but also to the Viennese audience. Standing ovations at the end of the performance which lasted for 6 curtain calls (and would have gone on longer, had the cast not decided enough was enough...). The audience was respectful, appreciative, polite and so incredibly well behaved. There was no interval - this was 1.5 hours of non-stop music, yet there was no moving around in seats, no wandering off to the loos, no eating and rustling sweetie wrappers, no whispering, no mobile phones,  no rubbish left in the aisles and even entering and leaving the theatre was done in an orderly, polite, unrushed fashion. Oh how we love Vienna. And Austria.

And there you have it, in a nut shell. One of our favourite musicals, in our new favourite town, with our all time favourite MT performer. We went for two years without hearing Drew live and have sworn it won't be another two before we see him again. No amount of words can fully convey our utter love and admiration for this man. Take our word for it. Just see him. And fall in love with him. He is so worth it.  End of gush.