I saw a concert version of the musical Kristina från Duvemåla (Kristina from Duvemåla) on 7 September 2013 in Kinnarps Arena, Jönköping (Sweden).
First of all I have to add a note, saying that this will be a long entry, with a lot of personal opinions. I have been absolutely in love with this musical since I saw it for the first time in Gothenburg (in 1997?), and I love "The Emigrants" books by Vilhelm Moberg very much indeed! Part of my heritage comes from these parts of Småland in Sweden, which makes the musical and the story very dear to me (my mother's grandfather went to the same school as Vilhelm Moberg!) - and naturally I have high standards and high expectations ... maybe too high? Naw, I don't think so! :)
Anyway - this review will contain a lot of personal thoughts and feelings, just so you know!
This was a concert, it was not a regular musical, meaning it has been shortened. I have to say I was less bothered by that than I had expected, which felt good. The only thing I did react to was the shortening of "Duvemåla Hage" ("Path of Leaves and Needles"), and they had also removed "Kamfer och Lavender" (english translation?) - I enjoy both these songs a lot, and of course I would have loved to hear them in their entirety.
The performers were not wearing any costumes and they had no props - the orchestra was sitting at the stage, although the performers were able to move around and interact with each other.
There was an amazing choir, about 650 members of Sveriges Körförbund, which created a wonderful atmosphere in the huge arena - surely not only for the audience but for the performers as well!
The orchestra was conducted by Anders Eljas, which came as a very pleasant surprise! I have seen him before and I like him a lot, but I had no idea he was involved in this project.
Marianne Mörck was Fina-Kajsa in the original prodcution, a part she played in this concert as well. It was great seing her again, and she was also the narrator during the concert. This was a great set-up, she came in and read certain texts between the songs to hold the story together, and sometimes to move the story forward. For the very most part it was direct quotations from Vilhelm Moberg's books (yup, I know the books so well I can tell when it is a direct quotation and when it is newly written text!), which of course was something I appreciated a lot! Right from the start, when "Kristina från Duvemåla" was first staged, it was very important to stay close to Vilhelm Moberg and the original texts and stories, and it was fantastic to see them adhere to the same concept for just this one concert!
Åsa Fång played Ulrika. She was not one of my very favorites, but she did a good job. I think she overdid it a bit in the song "Aldrig" ("Never"), and you couldn't quite make out what the song was about, but she improved a lot during the second half of the concert. She did have a rather small part, and not that much to act out.
Bruno Mitsogiannis played Robert. He was quite sharp in the beginning, I don't know if it was a technical setting or not, but it was too sharp, and quite weird. Robert is not at all forward and driven, but a day dreamer, and that was not made very clear, according to me ... He, as well, improved a lot after the break, and I was quite impressed by his "Guldet blev till sand" ("Gold can turn to sand")!! I have heard others sing it better (e.g. Christer Nerfont and Peter Jöback), but it was without a doubt a very good performance - and the audience appreciated the song a lot!!
Christer Nerfont - Karl Oskar. My favourite performer ... :) He is undoubtedly the one with the most experience of "Kristina från Duvemåla" among the artists in the concert, as he was understudy to Peter Jöback in the original performance, both in Malmö and in Gothenburg - and I felt that did become obvious! I felt he was the one most in character, which is very important to me! I did like that he was his own Karl Oskar, he did not copy Anders Ekborg's interpretation of the part at all, but did his very own - I appreciated that a lot! Christer Nerfont's Karl Oskar was in general an angrier Karl Oskar, I was a bit doubtful in the beginning, but I think it works. Karl Oskar is not indifferent and withdrawn, he questions and he sets demands, and this became very clear in Christer Nerfont's interpretation.
Unfortunately I did not see a real connection beteween Nerfont's Karl Oskar and Sanna Nielsen's Kristina, and that is a very important feature in the books, and in the musical ... Pity we didn't get to see it in the concert, of course it is more different in a concert - but it is still an important part, and I would have liked to see more of it!
Sanna Nielsen played Kristina. I have very mixed feelings about her performance. I have to say I haven't really had an opinion on Sanna Nielsen earlier, I haven't seen her much - but I have to say she is a very talented singer and performer. However, she is not a musical performer! In my opinion, that is ... (I can compare her to Charlotte Perrelli, whom I saw in Malmöoperans production of "Evita" in 2012 - also a very talented performer, but not a musical performer ...)
Sanna Nielsen gave a wonderful singing performance in the concert, but to me she was nothing like Kristina from Korpamoen!! I saw an interview with Nielsen where she mentioned she hadn't seen the musical but had made some attempts to see parts of it on Youtube - and you could tell she hadn't seen it. Naturally you can't have too high expectations for just one single concert, but I still ask myself how much research had been done before the show - becuase I hardly saw anything of Kristina in Nielsen's interpretation.
The love between Karl Oskar and Kristina could overtake anything ("vi ä di goaste vänner ...") - I didn't see it. Nor did I see Kristina's enormous faith in God. And I do have to comment on Kristinas big solo song, "Du måste finnas" ("You have to be there"). It was an astounding song, Sanna Nielsen sang it to perfection, from a purely musical (that is, not musical theatre) perspective - which you could also tell from the audience's response - and I was impressed by Nielsen's ability to sing it beautifully - but it was not Kristina! I saw a lot of anger and frustration in Nielsen's interpretation of the song, which to me feels completely off! (sorry...) Kristina is not angry with God, she feels a great insecurity, and a great anxiety, she's on the verge of panic! What IF God does not exist, the faith that is the foundation of her entire life, her entire being - if this foundation is gone, how can she live on?!?!
But - Sanna Nielsen gave it her all and delivered a beautiful song (even though it was character-wise off the mark), and that is something I truly appreciate. She also got an immediate response from both Anders Eljas and Christer Nerfont, something I think she really deserved.
Along with Marianne Mörck there were five children on stage - Moa Eklöf, Alex Boozer, Emma Boozer, Nora Nilsson and Kasper Westerberg - and that was a lovely addage! The biggest part for the children was of course "Präriens Drottning" ("Queen of the Prairie"), a wonderful performance!
One little "mistake", I think, was letting Moa Eklöf sing both Anna's and Lill-Märta's solo-parts ... both children's names are mentioned in connection with what they are singing, and it was a bit strange that the same girl did both parts (especially since Anna dies before they travel to North America!) ... Moa Eklöf did do a wonderful job, but if you want to stay true to the story and the characters, this didn't make much sense.
Smaller parts, such as Nils, Märta, Brusander, Reverand Jackson and others had their places above the orchestra, but separated from the choir. These performers often played more than one part, but mostly it worked out fine ... with one exception.
Andreas Glans played Reverand Jackson, and he was at stage for "Tänk att män som han kan finnas" ("American Man") - but he was also the shoemaker Thomassen in "Vill du inte gifta dig med mig" (english translation?), which was quite confusing! You had to know that it was actually Thomassen's part (in Norweigan!) not to think it was Reverand Jackson singing ...
I also have to give huge credit to the amazing choir - they were absolutely astonishing! I loved the fact that they did get their own little tribute, as they were singing "Down to the sacred wave" a capella! Very nice indeed!!
And then I have to have a discussion on whether or not to actually play a charcter in a concert. And I'm probably going to be quite harsh here ...
If it is a concert like this one, which comes from a musical I think that as far as it is possible you should try to portray your character! I think it is different if you are in concerts like "Best of West End" or Peter Jöback's "I Love Musicals" (I have also seen e.g. "Musical Showstoppers" with various West End performers, and "Musical Highlights" with Christer and Cecilie Nerfont), where you pick certain famous songs from different musicals - but when you make a concert version of a musical I think you should portray a characther. Which was not always the case here ...
According to me Christer Nerfont was the performer that mostly managed to portray his character - but it was not uncommon for the performers to walk up to each other after a song, say a few words - and to me that's not really okay. Granted, after Sanna Nielsen's "Du måste finnas" ("You have to be there"), it felt okay. Depsite my ramblings on what the song should contain I could see that Nielsen gave everything she had, the audience was very impressed, and I think it is quite all right for Anders Eljas to come down to her and say a few words. But otherwise, and especially between songs that actually belong together in the musical, I don't think you should loose your character.
Even after all my thoughts and feelings this was all in all an AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC concert, which I enjoyed a lot, with a great and positive audience. The peformers were called back on stage and we did get a little extra number, a short version of "Överheten" ("Emperors and Kings")! :)
Cast:
Sanna Nielsen - Kristina
Christer Nerfont - Karl Oskar
Marianne Mörck - Fina-Kasja, berättare (narrator)
Åsa Fång - Ulrika i Västergöhl
Bruno Mitsogiannis - Robert
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