"The Messiah" celebrates its premiere
«The Messiah» has arrived at the Weisser Wind—featuring slapstick, heart, and a modern take on the Christmas story. m&k was there and presents exclusive audio clips and scenes from the premiere.
The madcap comedy unfolds a mixture of timing chaos, humanity and subtle emotion that is perfect for the pre-Christmas period. Already during the rehearsals m&k takes a look behind the scenes - Now the premiere showed how powerful controlled failure can be.
Director Markus Imboden - known from cinema and television productions such as "Der Verdingbub" and "Tatort" - relies on a deliberately unembellished concept: less heroism, more humanity. Missteps as a motor, improvisation as an attitude.
Siegmund Tischendorf (Theo) and Roeland Wiesnekker (Bernhard) carry the Christmas story almost single-handedly and slip into all the roles - from the archangel Gabriel to Joseph and Mary. Tischendorf impresses with his sonorous voice and physical acting, Wiesnekker with his characterful expression and subtle irony.
They are alternately supported by Leila Pfister and Stephanie Szanto, who provide musical accents as Mrs. Timm - and deliberately brittle, comical moments. Particularly striking: when Pfister spontaneously Carmen-Aria tries to save a scene and keeps the chaos going musically.
After the premiere, Pfister emphasizes how much fun the birth scene in particular is - a moment in which improvisation, absurd exaggeration and genuine magic come together.
Among the guests at the premiere, Martina Gedeck was impressed by the balance of humor and tenderness - for example when God and the archangel Gabriel try to save the world with a touch of snow. The scenes between an overwhelmed Joseph and a violently annoyed Mary also made for heartfelt cinema.
The result is a warm-hearted pre-Christmas ritual that does not break with tradition, but continues it in an original way: a familiar story, a modern attitude, humor instead of heaviness - and that quiet warmth that only becomes visible through failure.
