Disney’s Tarzan – the German premiere in Hamburg

A Disney musical – that’s about as far from Genesis as FC Everton is from the Champions League. Musically, worlds separate them, conceptually anyway, and yet there is a decisive connection. None other than Genesis drummer and singer Phil Collins is responsible for the music of the musical. In the late 90s, Phil Collins had produced and released his first full-fledged soundtrack for the Disney film Tarzan. At the time, opinions were divided on his Disney engagement. Four years later, he presented another Disney soundtrack, this time for Brother Bear. But Disney had bigger plans with Tarzan, so they asked Collins if he could write more songs for the Broadway production of the musical.

Phil described it as an honor to have been asked at all and wrote additional melodies and instrumental pieces to his five songs from the animated film soundtrack. In 2006, Tarzan finally celebrated its Broadway premiere. The response was mixed, and Tarzan was not a success on Broadway. However, the decision to bring Tarzan to Europe was made early on. Holland and Germany were set, and so Tarzan started in 2007 in Scheveningen near The Hague and has been a great success ever since. In the summer, the main actors for the German musical were sought through the casting show “I Tarzan, You Jane!” Phil himself was present at the finale.

The Theater Neue Flora in Hamburg was chosen as the location for the musical. The Phantom of the Opera had already been successfully performed there. In September and October 2008, extensive rehearsals took place, and in early October, Phil even convinced himself of the state of the rehearsals and stayed in Hamburg. On October 11, there was one of the fan previews. Such fan previews mainly serve as test shows to test audience reaction and eliminate last mistakes. Some readers and members of our website were present at this fan preview (see also the announcement for the fan preview). A week later, on October 18, 2008, the media premiere took place. Selected representatives of various online, television, and print media, as well as invited guests, were able to get an impression of the musical. Finally, on October 19, the musical celebrated its start as part of the grand gala premiere.

The Show

The theater is set in a diffuse, misty light, with green jungle vines clearly visible on the right and left, along with screens on both sides projecting a logbook. On the stage, you can see a ship on a transparent curtain at the same time, creaking and squeaking, and thunderstorm sounds fill the hall. It’s shortly before 8 pm, and a few minutes later there’s a loud bang. The curtain falls, the ship sinks, and Tarzan’s parents appear, threatening to drown with Tarzan. The scene is vertically arranged and gives a good foretaste of what’s to come. Nothing works without ropes this evening. Shortly after Tarzan’s family is stranded, the hall is flooded with monkeys from all sides, and the auditorium is primarily used as a flight space from now on. Monkeys fly in on their vines from everywhere, crowning the already well-working opener “Two Worlds”. It’s already clear here that the stage presentation focuses on the vertical. Thus, the main attraction of the stage show was presented right at the beginning.

The Music

Many elements and songs of the musical are already known through the American cast album, and Collins himself had also recorded the song “Everything That I Am”. The requirements of a musical were new territory for Phil Collins and are not comparable to the dramaturgy that, for example, his debut album Face Value had or previously a Genesis album like Foxtrot. Collins’ efforts to meet this requirement are unmistakable, but the music also has its lengths. Paradoxically, it becomes interesting during the musical whenever there are pure instrumental passages (here there is also a parallel to Genesis), where the drums dominate. The song material is naturally structured differently than on normal Collins solo albums. Some songs remind you of earlier Collins pieces. “Who Better Than Me”, for example, sounds like a successor to the song “Two Hearts”. Some songs suffer a bit from the translation; these work better in the English original. Overall, Collins captures the mood of the individual scenes aptly, and when experiencing the musical, you understand why Collins cares so much about this production. However, one or the other arc of suspense could have been better composed.

Conclusion

Two Worlds – that probably sums it up from the Genesis fan’s perspective. While Collins was still pounding out a large part of the show on the drums himself in 2007 and performing prog numbers with his Genesis colleagues, he has now brought a musical to the stage and thus created a pure concept album in the form of the cast album, similar to Peter Gabriel with OVO in 2000. The mockery and criticism he had to endure for it, especially from Genesis fans, should gradually fade or at least be put into perspective. Admittedly, a musical is something completely different from rock music in the style of Genesis, both artistically and conceptually, but it fits into the vita of a Genesis member to develop other interests and pursue them. In his versatility, Phil Collins definitely doesn’t have to hide behind Peter Gabriel. After Genesis, the fusion band Brand X, a solo career that was at least interesting at the beginning, two big band projects, two Disney film soundtracks, he has now composed a full-fledged musical that will almost certainly be a great success. You don’t have to like it, but many who have seen this show will see Phil’s work in a completely different light than before. The show, in any case, is breathtaking and suitable for all age groups. It has wit, drama, of course also its lengths, and above all, it is one thing: spectacular.

Autor: Christian Gerhardts
Fotos: © Stage Entertainment GmbH