Ich War Noch Niemals In New York (also known as 'What The Hell Was That?')

We truly didn't know what to expect when we managed to nab two tickets to 'ich noch niemals' (as we fondly call it). We'd only been in Vienna a matter of hours and were still acclimatising, and were possibly a little weary from our travels, hence seeing a musical seemed like a grand idea.
 And it was.
 Kinda.

Our seats were in the stalls and the 10euro price tag implied we might have a somewhat restricted view. We were sitting behind a delightful red velvet pillar. Tamsin missed the entire right third of the stage and Karina the same amount on the left, but what the hell. We also got told off for carrying our coats in to the auditorium.'Either wear them or put them in the cloak room!' said the rather firm usher. So we duly put our coats on and took them off under the cover of darkness, which lasted all of 10 seconds. Because...

This show is BRIGHT. It's colourful. It has songs (surprise surprise). LOTS OF THEM. And they all follow a perfect format, explained best by the following link .The Song That Goes Like This - courtesy of Spamalot Except they don't all end with a kiss. They generally end with sequins, a key change, jazz hands, and a bit of high kicking. Think Eurovision meets The Morecombe and Wise Christmas Special and you'll get the drift.

 Despite not being able to understand a word of what was going on we manged to use the medium of dance and bodylanguage to interpret the profound messages this musical proffers, as follows:

1) You can't be a career girl and find love.
2) Love comes in many forms
3) Eating makes you fat
4) Old people are wise
5) Young people are less so
6) Greek women are scary
7) New York is busy
8) You're unlikely to catch a cruise ship in a Jeep

The lead was played by none other than Mrs Sarich, Ann Mandrella. Fine set of lungs and very long legs which put our stubs to shame and set us into a pit of depression. At least we could hide behind our pillar. Good hair too. Man, sometimes being nice is so difficult ...why does she have to be talented AND beautiful??? She has Drew Sarich!!! Leave something for us!!!!She is good though and we say this through gritted teeth. Moving on.

The cast was huge. And every number a grand production where seemingly every cast member played a part. Even the duets had angelic choirs in the back ground. As said before, every song could have been a eurovision song contest entry. The set was lavish and had plenty of doors, which allowed for much Benny Hill stylee entrances and exits. Our Austrian audience members seemed to love this and the guffawing sometimes drowned out the action on the stage. This production has been going steady for two years or so and it would appear the audience loves the slap stick and the jokes almost as much as the formation dancing and key changes.
behold a wee taster of the show ...you know you want to...
On many occasions we found ourselves staring mouth open at the spectacle unfolding infront of our eyes. The show ended with a mega mix of the songs which finished us off pretty much, and ensured we were humming the title song constantly throughout our time away and even now it catches us unawares (as an example: breakfast. Bacon butties. Eating whilst humming the song. Have we been damaged?).
One week later later we still looked baffled and confused.