This is a translated version of this this.
My family had planned for a while a trip to Germany. My father have visited Germany a few times, and my mother had never been there. I had visited Germany once, and really loved it.
Flight left at 7:50 AM, so I knew, if I took my sleeping medication I would miss the flight, so I decided to be awake the night. We arrived at the airport at 6 AM, and it was surprisingly easy. My contact lenses had 12 hours of use time, so I could not wear them the whole day. That meant that I had to arrive to the airport without my false lashes, as they did not fit behind my glasses. It was awful, I look horrible without false lashes, but I survived. Next time I'm going to wear contact lenses that can be worn for 24 hours.
The flight itself was easy, only about two hour of flight. We were at 10 AM at Berlin, and went to the hotel right away. At the hotel I changed my clothes, I had been planning that my father would photograph me. I changed into my corset, miniskirt, Demonia's Charade 100 shoes and stay-ups. Unfortunately my father hadn't gotten any pictures that I would have liked to post to the Internet, and I did not get any selfies that I was satisfied with, so unfortunately you will get no pictures of me that time.
The same thing that happened last time happened again - people wanted to get pictures with me. :D
They were so fast that I could not count how many there were, but about ten people wanted to get a picture with me. I also get multiple comments how tall I was, which was funny.
Saturday passed pretty much of us walking around, but I was so tired from the night, so I could not walk a lot. I had visited most of the attractions of Berlin, and I saw new things. We visited Brandenburg Gate, and it was still really great looking.
The next day we went to a boat ride, and saw a lot of Berlin's attractions. The same thing that happened last time happened again - everyone around me was German. At the ride the announcements were in German and in English, but we sat at the middle of the boat so we could not hear anything. We saw a lot of attractions, much more than at the bus ride I was in the last time I visited Berlin.
After the boat ride we went for shopping, but only shops at the city center were expensive specialized shops. Unlike in Finland, there are no shopping malls at the city center, and we did not want to get on a bus since my father did not know where malls are.
Some picture I took front of cathedral.
The Cologne Cathedral is beautiful.
The third day was the departure for Cologne. The train travel was interesting, since the train was hour and half late. So the trip lasted for five and half hours instead of four. I was in the hotel for a while, until it was the time to see Tanz der Vampire, my reason to go to Germany. I heard about Tanz when Seinäjoki here in Finland had it's own production. My mother was reading about a review about the musical, and the review said "goth musical". Because words "goth musical" hit Trixena 14 years old very strongly, I demanded to see the musical. By just luck we got places from the first row, and the experience was just amazing - I still remember how in Finale one of the vampires invited me to the stage and how the dancers seemed to dance right in front of me.
At the first Cologne show I sat at the third row, on the side of the stage. Pretty good place, I saw and heard everything well. Actors were Pamina Lenn as Sarah, David Ansperger as von Krolock, Tom van der Ven as Alfred, Victor Petersen as professor Abronsius, Sara Jane Checchi as Madga and Christian Funk as Herbert. The casting was same the next say, but Sarah was played by Maureen Mac Gillavry.
The musical itself was great, and I was not irritated at all that the journey to Cologne had been so long. The orchestra was tremendous, the musical was visually beautiful and imposing, great chorus, great actors. I noticed that both of the Sarah's holded back their voices, and started singing properly at Draussen ist Freiheit. I don't know if they were asked to do so, since they both had pretty nice voices. Both of the Sarah's could sing, but Maureen Mac Gillavry sung a lot better.
The only thing I was disappointed of the musical was Alfred. Alfred is one of the main characters of the musical, and usually he has a good singer to perform him. Tom van der Ven was not a very good singer and was not at the level Germany's Alfred usually is. I still liked him, he looked young enough and he acted well.
As my favorite - surprise surprise - was David Ansperger's von Krolock. I did not know him as an actor and I did not know what he sounded like, but his version Unstillbare Gier gave me goose bumps. His versions of Unstillbare Gier and Totale Finsternis were just amazing.
I liked both of the Sarah's, but I liked Maureen Max Gillavry more. She sings very beautifully.
I was surprised when Sara Jane Checchi was a soprano. I had never heard Madga as a soprano, and it sounded really good. That's the reason why she sang Tot ist zu sein Komisch bit higher than usual. She sung better than both of the actors for Sarah, which was bit strange, considering that Madga is a lot smaller role.
I also liked Christian Funk's Herbert, because his Herbert was bit different what I have seen in Germany. Germany's Herberts are usually bit nice for a vampire. Funk's Herbert was a little bit scarier and dominant that I'm used for Germany's Herberts, and he got an awesome voice (listen Christian Funk's cover for Unstillbare Gier, you will not be disappointed).
The musical itself was pretty much the same as the DVD. Tanz der Vampire was revised in 2000, and and since it has been the same, except I noticed that some of the background vampires have different outfits. I found odd that when performed live things happen very fast, and if I did not know the musical from memory I would have trouble to keep up with the musical.
Also both show's had scenes, where it seemed like the actors could not hear the music and sung "guessing". Parts like this was with both of the show's, so that was bit confusing.
Even though I've watched the DVD and bootlegs multiple times, listened all four German recordings, the musical was really a different experience when live. The musical comes to Berlin again in few years, and I have to see it again.
At the end I have to tell you what happened during Draussen is Freiheit Reprise. I was sitting at corridor seat, and during the song Sarah and Alfred run through the corridor. Alfred's coat hit me in the face :DDD That was an experience. So thanks Tom <3
Poster was so nice, so I had to take a picture.
All the programs I have. On the top there's Seinäjoki's program, then there's Cologne's program and then Helsinki's program.
The CD's I own. First four are from Austria, and then there are Russia's and Belgium's recordings. I started to collect these, I'm still missing recordings from Hungary, Japan and Poland.
In Cologne's theater there was a mug for sale, but I did not like it. So I decided to buy this one instead. There are three different Tanz der Vampire mugs far as I know, and I liked this one the best.
I'm going to see Tanz der Vampire again but this time in Denmark. I'm going there in March to see their version. Super excited, and looking forward to see it and write about it.
Bonus pictures:
Here are some of the pictures I forgot to add to the original post.
