Martyn Jacques, The Tiger Lillies - Shockheaded Peter: A Junk Opera (1998 Original London Cast)
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CD Details
Artist: Martyn Jacques, The Tiger LilliesEdition: Music CD
Format: Cast Recording
CD Release Date: 1999-09-14
Music Label: Elektra / Wea
Soundtracks:
- Struwwelpeter Oveture
- Story of Cruel Frederick
- Dreadful Story About Harriet and the Matches
- Bully Boys
- Story of the Man That Went Out Shooting
- Snip Snip
- Augustus and the Soup
- Fidgety Phil
- Johnny Head-In-Air
- Flying Robert
- Shockheaded Peter
Music reviews of Shockheaded Peter: A Junk Opera (1998 Original London Cast)
Music Review: An Extraordinary Grand Guignol Musical & Theatrical Treat!
Rating: 5 Stars
I just experienced a fabulous and most original Grand Guignol theatrical treat - the musical production of "Shockheaded Peter." This inventive musical adaptation of Dr. Heinrich Hoffman's grisly tales, (for children, no less?), of the "Struwwelpeter," (in German it means Slovenly Peter ), is grimmer than the Grimm Brothers at their grimmest, with touches of Lemony Snicket, Stephen King, Edward Gorey and Kurt Weill. Hoffman's book, written in the mid 19th-century and adapted for the stage, combines hilarious melodrama, farce, music hall, carnival freak show, and biting satire. Hoffman, who actually ran a lunatic asylum - no kidding (!) - was unhappy with the children's books available when his kids were young, and so he penned his own stories. Hence "Struwwelpeter," ten morality tales dealing with such travesties as thumb-sucking, fidgeting, playing with fire, and cruelty to animals. It is truly remarkable that these simple stories have been turned into an opera, of sorts, by a troupe of very gifted English actors, designers and musicians, the Improbable Theatre group. But everything about this production is remarkable - especially the music. I bought the CD immediately after the show.
The music, performed by the Tiger Lillies, is both macabre and gorgeous. The lyrics are darkly witty and dreadfully wicked. The trio call their songs, "blasphemous ballads, tragic tales and debauched ditties." This band includes, a ghoulish accordionist/falsetto singer and songwriter, Martyn Jacques, a double bass player and a drummer. They narrate the stories of young lives gone horribly wrong, through song and music, and are often accompanied by mimed action from the cast, grotesque puppets, marionettes, and an enormous monster. Dubbed a "junk opera," I take exception. Mr. Jacques' castrato-like crooning is phenomenal, and the bass player and drummer are extremely gifted. This is a class act all the way! Drums beat out unsettling rhythms, strange noises and cries come out of nowhere, and the throb of a stand-up bass keeps time like the heart in an Edgar Allan Poe story, one minute slow and stable, the next frenzied. Then there are the tension-building, heart-stopping pauses. The three musicians are accompanied, on occasion, by the actors playing a flute, bugle and cello. Influences of punk rock, Victorian music hall, gypsy style accordion folk music, cabaret and even Klezmer permeate the indefinable sound. The group has been together for eight years, and have a huge cult-like following in Europe. They have made several CDs.
This CD includes musical numbers: The Struwwelpeter Overture, Augustus and the Soup, The Story of Cruel Frederick, The Dreadful Story About Harriet and the Matches, Snip Snip, Bully Boys, Fidgety Phil, Johnny Head-in-air, Flying Robert and Schockheaded Peter. A wonderful album, one cannot help but dance at times to these bizarre tunes!
JANA
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