Two years ago, the dancer, choreographer and, since
\nrecently, stage director Razvan Mazilu, brought to the stage of the German
\nTheatre in Timisoara famous scores such as Cabaret or Money, Money, into a
\nshow that was hugely enjoyed by the public and critics alike: Cabaret by Joe
\nMasterhoff. Daniela Torok and Georg Peetz were nominated for the 2015 UNITER
\nAwards, in the ‘best supporting actress’ and ‘ the best supporting actor’
\ncategories, for playing Sally Bowles and the Conferencier respectively. A year
\nafter ‘Cabaret’, a musical about the life of cabaret theatre, in the autumn of
\n2015 Razvan Mazilu came to Bucharest with a piece of burlesque cabaret: Mon
\nCabaret Noir, a smaller production, created in an independent space,
\nTeatrelli. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here is Razvan Mazilu talking about his work: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I think that, in a previous life, I lived in the interwar period. And I
\nhave this sense of and intuition for performance. That is why I was attracted
\nby this title, ‘Cabaret’, which I staged in Timisoara. I’m very much interested
\nin this genre, and I research it all the time. I started this type of cabaret
\nwith the ‘Blue Angel’ at the Odeon Theatre in 2001, after the novel by Heinrich
\nManna and the film with Marlene Dietrich, which made her famous. It was then
\nthat I felt I would enjoy this area. Then, I had another encounter with cabaret
\nwith the one-man show Sell Me’, which I made together with choreographer
\nFlorin Fieroiu. It was a half-hour show in which I was dancing on cabaret music
\nperformed by Eartha Kitt and which I played in very unconventional spaces.
\nSince then, I have promised myself I would come back to this universe. I want
\nto do musicals, because it is the genre that best represents me and which I
\nhave tried with the audience. A musical synthesises dance, theatre and music,
\nin harmony with the sensitivity of today’s spectators. It is a genre that they
\nneed, a sort of intelligent, cultural entertainment, which can raise questions
\nand issues. It’s exactly what I did with ‘The Full Monty’ at the National
\nTheatre in Timisoara, or ‘Cabaret’ at the German State Theatre, which are
\nstories full of meaning, stories from which people can really learn something.
\n<\/p>\n
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\n
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In a world in which
\ntelevision intensively promotes light entertainment, the theatrical world runs
\nthe same risk. Razvan Mazilu has managed to set a professional direction,
\nalongside all the actors he has worked with. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
First of all, the issues and themes we have approached do not let you
\nembrace light entertainment or make bad taste art. The titles I have chosen are
\njust proposals, equally daring and deep-going, as they are all real
\nmasterpieces of the genre. They are well written and composed. In my turn, I am
\nwell aware of what I want from each and every project. All these elements take the
\nperformer to an upper level, enriching his or her means of artistic expression.
\nAn actor evolves while performing in a musical, because this is a complex and
\nvery elaborate show, which entails a huge amount of work. And I have always
\ntried to improve standards, in terms of both performance and virtuosity. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The story of the show Mon Cabaret Noir is
\ntightly linked to that of staging the musical Cabaret. Before starting
\nworking on the famous production, Razvan Mazilu left for Berlin, to do some
\nresearch. Searching for shreds of the cabaret of yore, prior to WWII, Razvan
\nMazilu discovered Anita Berber, a successful dancer, choreographer and actress
\nof the 1920’s, an avant-garde personality and rebel spirit, who had inspired
\nthe much more famous Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Razvan Mazilu: ‘Mon Cabaret Noir’
\nis a musical cabaret, which tells the story of the inter-war cabaret in Berlin,
\nbecause the main character, Anita Berber, was a dancer and choreographer who
\nworked in that Berlin-based underground cabaret during those years. It is a
\nmusical because I imagined it as a jukebox-like musical, which takes over some
\nmore or less famous songs, from the whole music history, from the 1920’s, to
\ncontemporary music. We have taken over some songs which best suit and complete,
\nfrom a dramatic point of view, the story I have created. It is called ‘Noir’,
\nbecause it touches upon some very bleak, dark corners of human personality.
\nFurthermore, the protagonist, Anita Berber herself, was steeped in shadows. Her
\npersona was made of both light and shadow. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Razvan Mazilu chose
\nto cast in Mon Cabaret Noir four very talented actresses, with strong and
\ncontrasting personalities: Alina Petrica, Anca Florescu, Ana Bianca Popescu and
\nIlona Brezoianu. To successfully play in a musical or a cabaret show, one needs
\ntalent, but also discipline and rigour, which are also the defining traits of
\nthe German Theatre company in Timisoara, which collaborated with Razvan Mazilu
\non this project. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here is choreographer Razvan Mazilu again: A cabaret actor should be able to sing,
\ndance, perform, act, tell stories, should be willing to understand that cabaret
\nis another performing genre, which entails another type of acting and speech on
\nstage. Actors should permanently be in a playful mood, be able to do
\neverything, to play and perform, to sit on their heads, to tell the text or
\nsing a song while sitting on their heads. They should be bold, and not bashful,
\nequally provocative, charismatic, able to smile beautifully and be open, in a
\npermanent relation with the audience. It’s clear that a permanent and
\ndirect relation between actors and the public is one of the unwritten laws of
\ncabaret shows. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dancer, choreographer and stage director Razvan Mazilu has brought to the stage of the German Theatre in Timisoara famous scores such as ‘Cabaret’ or ‘Money, Money’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44685],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-160858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-of-culture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n