Michael Heller as Alfred - Act 2.1 - July 2012

[fanetjuh]

And here I'm with the second part. It's awfully long again...but I still hope that it can enjoy some people. If so, please let me know what you think about it! Livejournal thinks this post is too long, so I'm gonna split the post in two pieces! 


The start of the second act is a start of 20 minutes without Alfred having something to do. A friend of mine once jokes that this must have been the most boring start of a second act of musical to me (wrong: Hairspray when you’re waiting for Link takes half an hour...), but of course that’s not true. When Alfred, or in this case Michfred, is not on stage, I finally have the time to check out others and to get an opinion about their performances. Since I guess that it might be a welcome different path in this report, I’m gonna use Tofi to discuss Thomas Borchert as Krolock.

Thomas Borchert as Krolock is either being loved or being hated. When some friends came back from Vienna they thought he was horrible and bored. I’ve heard it was like that, but in Berlin it’s really not like that. Borchert seems to enjoy himself again, he’s playing with the part and the music and he’s also nice at the stage-door. Of course at the stage-door he’s still in a hurry, but when you ask him polite, he takes the time for a picture or an autograph. (We’re too polite...a few days his face said: “I want to go home”, so we let him walk on, a few metres further he stood still for some autographs. Well, let’s hope our kindness pays off one day) On sunday he seemed in a very good mood, both on stage and off stage. He entered laughing and shining the building, surprising us with that, but also on stage it was clear that he enjoyed himself.

In the four shows we’ve been there, and the two times I really paid attention and wasn’t staring to Dennis Jankowiak, I’ve seen two different ways of portraying Krolock in Tofi. The first time he was a bit annoyed by Sarah. It was very clear that he thought that she was speaking nonsense, was talking about completely different stuff than he did and didn’t understand a thing. (Actually, he made a second Draussen ist Freiheit out of it!) Somewhere in the song he shrugged and you saw thinking: “What you want...”, playing along with her but clearly not talking about love or passion. He was just saying what she wanted to hear.

He took this feeling with him in his Unstillbare Gier. This was not a Krolock that was crying over his past, he was angry and frustrated. He was mad on himself that everything went like this. He was frustrated that it would always be like this. He lost all hope and became really bitter. It worked for the song, but it wasn’t as touching and emotional to me as the other interpretations I’ve seen from him, so far.

This was the other way round on the last show on sunday (there was no Dennis in Tofi, so, made it easy) where Borchert choose the sentimental way of playing the part. This sunday he wasn’t mad or frustrated, but sentimental and melancholic. In Tofi it was very clear that he wished he could feel something for her, that he remembered how it once felt, but that it wasn’t there anymore but that he didn’t want to ruin her feelings. Of course the predator was still there, but it was more a result of. You could see Borchert thinking about the man he used to be (like we said, if his Krolock had more of his Count of Monte Cristo it would be perfect, and this was exactly what he was doing) and wishing he could be that man again, knowing he wouldn’t be.

He used this feelings in Unstillbare Gier again, making it to an intense song full of emotions. Up to some point it really was a grieving count. And he wasn’t just crying over his victims, but also over himself. He was more desperate, more looking for a solution. For me this worked a lot better for the song, giving it a lot more emotional impact and giving Alfred a reason to believe that Krolock has feelings. Marjolein called it one of his best Giers ever. I think she was right about that, although I haven’t seen that much of them ;-)

Because I was paying attention to Borchert (and Dennis), I didn’t have that much time to check on Amelie. I guess that Thomas does make the part of Sarah in Tofi very ease, cause it’s not hard to have that mixed feelings about him. As far as I could see Amelie showed them really well, being both scared and fascinated by the same man. Knowing she should run away, but incapable of doing that.

That Dennis Jankowiak is a scene-stealer to me, might be clear. So also in Carpe Noctem, besides watching the sleeping boy in the bed, I was always searching for his face and movements. Although he never loses his cuteness, he has a part of what Gernot Romic has too: He looks stronger and more self-secure on stage. And for a not-dancer he’s somehow very graceful. It’s a joy to watch him, although there is not that much to see actually, because he’s not in the centre of the attention. It was said that he would be the first soloist on sunday, but I guess he got ill, so I had to miss that.

Luckily there is always that sleeping boy in the bed I can watch endlessly. What I like about the very first seconds of the song is the reactions from Heller on Veit. Normally the professor steals this scene with his snoring, but to me Michael does catch some attention to by really reacting on it. It does show again that a part of his Alfred is hypersensitive (or maybe not a part, maybe he just is...) and can’t sleep with that awful noise the professor is making. Although the last show he wasn’t just acting that he didn’t want to hear it anymore. The last show Veit did something funny and Heller started giggling and had to hide that. He did a great job, but since I’ve seen more from him, I knew he lost the game.

The first show I had been watching Heller all the time, but I decided to stop that the other three shows because there is so much more to see. But, I like what Heller does in this scene. Remember how I told you that I didn’t like him lying still completely? He doesn’t do that anymore. He does move a little, but just not that much. It’s actually very great to see and it looks peaceful and still a bit stressed. His movements are slow and timed on the music and the scene. He’s not really reacting on what’s happening but he’s creating amazing small moments of interaction without really interacting.

I shouldn’t explain how my mind went to place where it had nothing to do during Carpe Noctem. At least it inspired me to a short story. I already wrote it down and I’ll post it as soon as possible. I envy the one who’s allowed to sleep next to that boy, cause if his sleeping in real life comes close to his sleeping on stage, it must be a wonderful sight. I’m afraid I won’t sleep at all anymore. I would just watch him all night.

He did practise his turning around by the way! The first evening Vanni Viscusi was Herbert and he forgot to hide Alfred for the audience, so I could clearly see how Heller turned around. In April he just turned around, without questioning if it was possible to do that while asleep (the answer was no, unless Alfred walked in his sleep), but this time it looked more smooth and calm. He just swung his feet to the side and after he could turn his entire body in just one movement. I have to admit that it looked a lot more natural than the last time I’ve seen it, so I guess he worked on it.

After the song the first 20 minutes of the second act are over already. I had some shows where it just felt like two hours, but for some reason the show in Berlin is always over too soon and I felt a bit disappointed that we had only 40 minutes left. Time goes by so quickly that I always question what happened to the rest of the first and the second act, luckily the other scenes in the second act aren’t that long, that at least gives the impression that the biggest part of the second act still has to come.

It starts with the awful wake-up call from Koukol. I used it as my alarm once and I forgot to turn it off one day when I was sleeping with ear-plugs. Believe me, even with ear-plugs I woke up at the first second of the wake-up call, which makes me question all the time how Alfred handles it to sleep through it. I know that it’s really useful for the story, because we still have to know that it was HIS nightmare and that he believes that Sarah would bring HIM breakfast, but still...

But when the boy wakes up, he makes up for everything in just a few seconds. He’s really relieved that it’s just a dream and he does really believe that everything will be all right and that it will work out in the end. The look on his face when thinking about Sarah and how the good will survive is so adorable that I wouldn’t understand it if someone in the audience wouldn’t melt. Of course, it doesn’t have to be your type of boy, but I can’t really understand people who do not like him. He’s just so sweet and lovely! And he’s one of the Alfreds that looks really cute when cuddle the pillar of the bed. Lukas Perman made it look stupid, but Michael Heller makes it look cute again.

And the poor boy is really really shocked when he finds out that Koukol is in his room instead of the dear girl he’s dreaming about. What I also like is that Heller already sees what’s happening when Koukol spits in the breakfast. It’s very clear that Heller isn’t even thinking about trying it anymore. (Sometimes I do believe that an Alfred could play with this and could turn the breakfast on purpose, to hope that he’ll get the breakfast in which Koukol didn’t spit. So far no Alfred has ever played it like that, but I think it would be worth it a try!)

Unfortunately for him, Veit is more clever than that. After a jump of the bed (if you have been a ropeskipper once, you should use that, of course) and the turning of the breakfast it’s clear that Veit doesn’t like it that Michael did it wrong again. I love the reaction of Heller on that, being something like he did in the first act. He’s a bit mad on himself that he did it wrong, like he knows that he should have known it. Of course he ends up with the breakfast in which Koukol spits. No wonder, Veit smells that one of them smell a lot better than the other and guess which one he gives to Alfred.

In the upcoming dialogue Michael balances between the two interpretations I’ve seen from Niels and Dennis. Where Niels was almost panicking about the upcoming task and where Dennis was dreaming and not really listening at all, Michael does a bit from both. He does listen to what the professor says, but he’s actually too busy with his breakfast to really think about what the words actually imply. The small part of panic does only come over him when the professor starts talking about searching for the crypt.

That Michael Heller must be really strong and healthy can be seen in the way of dressing the professor. The first time we’ve seen Veit almost literally jumping in his trousers, we thought it was Veit doing that, but now we know for sure that it’s Heller who does the job by lifting the professor that high that he can jump into the trousers. It gives him a lot of time in the rest of the scene. This gives him the opportunity to laugh out loud when the nightcap doesn’t want to come off the professors head (although the throwing away of the thing was really really funny) and three out of four shows he even had the time to redo the bow-tie three times, checking if it was okay every time. It was actually kind of cute. He tied the bow, wasn’t satisfied, untied it again, retied it, wasn’t satisfied, untied it again and retied it. But, we can clearly say that it got better with practise, cause the professor ended up with a very very nice bow-tie in three out of four shows! (I almost wanted to ask Michael at the stage-door if he couldn’t do mine, but I didn’t dare to ask ;-))

And then we reach the highlight of the second act, the song I’m waiting for all the time, because it can give me goosebumps, chicken-skin, it can make me feel warm and cold and the same time and it cause the most wonderful feeling there is. I don’t know how to describe what happens to me when I’m listening to a cute Alfred singing this wonderful song. Sometimes it feels like my heart doesn’t pump blood but warmth around and I just can’t stop smiling. (I do know that for some people I might be more interesting than the boy and the song on stage ;-)) I don’t know what it is, but it’s just...sometimes I just pretend that the song is sung for me, although I shouldn’t do that, cause if I wear my costume it’s almost causing me a faint ;-)

Back to the song...Michael Heller is clearly a Tenor. He’s struggling with the low tones on days he’s more tired or less concentrated. The day he was still laughing because of what happened during the dressing, you could hear that his low tones weren’t fully stable and weren’t that strong. But the first day we were there (and I guess there was family, probably his parents) in the audience) it was really really great! I guess that his low tones in Für Sarah prove if he has a good or a great day.

The prelast show I’ve seen he also made a mistake in the lyrics. I think that not that many people heard it, since it were just two lines he sung two times, the first time on the wrong place, but since I know the lyrics by hard, I heard immediately that something went wrong. For me it’s always interesting how actors solve such problems and Michael did this in a great way. He didn’t even blink when changing back to the correct lyrics and he gave the words some extra strength when he had to re-sing them.

For some people a mistake in a song takes the power from it. (I know a lot of people hating it when there is a mistake in die Gier...) For me it always works the other way round. In Antwerp Niels once had a horrible tone in Für Sarah, but he fought back again and the rest of the song was the best I’ve ever heard from him. It was the first time I felt my heart exploding from warmth. I had the same this time with the mistake of Heller. He solved it so great and wonderful and gave the rest of the song so much more intensity that I felt how I was reacting even stronger on it than I do normally.

His acting in the song is actually really beautiful. Für Sarah is really tempting to just sing as beautiful as possible (like Anton Zetterholm did), but the power of the song isn’t in the song itself but in the way it is played by the actor. When an Alfred is just singing the song he’ll get a lot of applause, but won’t reach my heart. Heller may not sing it perfectly, but he lives every word, lives every tone and acts every feeling. You can see the boy grow during the song. He starts out as a scared, small and sweet little boy, that wishes for his teddy-bear, but during the song he gets stronger and stronger, gaining power and courage. In the end the scared, small, sweet boy grew into a strong and self-secure man, determined to safe his Sarah from this horrible place.

And may I add some compliments for the directors too? I do remember that mostly the Alfreds can enjoy their applause not at all, because they have to run off for the next scene. In Berlin they really gave Alfred the time to enjoy the reaction of the audience. Michael even makes some steps forwards, smiling and shining as if his Alfred pretends to be a hero, sheered to by the crowd. It’s the professor who disturbs that, but at least Michael gets one moment in the show that is fully his and he deserves that.

Of course the feeling of this song doesn’t take that long. I love the face he’s making when entering the stage again. You can clearly see how all the courage sinks away again and he doesn’t believe a thing of what the professor is saying to him. He’s also one of those smart Alfreds that says the “icarus” sentence on purpose. You can clearly see on his face: “On those days not everything went so succesfull”. He doesn’t believe that this is gonna work and he really needs more time to do it. Of course the professor doesn’t listen to that.

Nice thing is that Heller knows very well that people think it’s very funny when he sings “Wäre es in diesem Keller, nur ein wenig Heller.” and plays with that sentence. Of course that results in some people laughing in the audience while we all know that it’s actually not that funny. The funniest part of the scene still has to come, but only after we know for sure that the professor is safe and can’t fall and after a very nice moment of interaction between Veit and Heller.

Heller really turns around to go away, because he thinks it’s too early to kill vampires, but Veit just grabs him and it looks so nice. Veit also uses his umbrella. Michael talks a lot, saying a lot of things that are really not in the script, and to be sure that Heller doesn’t say anything anymore Veit just presses his umbrella against Michael’s mouth and nose. Poor boy...and he’s actually just really smart.

You can clearly see that Veit and Michael created a routine and that it looks very smooth. It looks like Heller is just helping the professor to sit down and only the people who’ve seen the production more often know that he’s actually making sure that the professor is safe. Heller’s face when the professor says that they have to go down is priceless. I still like that he really tries to gain some courage when he really has to go down. He repeats the word with a lot of panic the first time, but the second time you can clearly see that he tries to encourage himself.

I have to admit that it’s really hard te describe the scene afterwards with so much details...there is happening so much and Michael does so much and what happens is so priceless. You can only understand what I mean after seeing it yourself. The interaction between Veit and Michael is so great and how they talk to eachother works so well. But I have to say that Michael is one of the best Alfreds in balancing this scene. It’s very easy to make a clowns-act out of it or it’s very easy to just panic around and think that’s funny, but Michael always keeps the balance. Yes, he’s funny, but yes he’s also scared. You can see that in his facial expression, in the way he walks, acts and moves, but you can also hear it in his voice, without it getting childish.

The crew was very enthusiastic too the last four shows I’ve seen by the way. They used that much dry-ice that Michael couldn’t see what he was actually doing, which looked really funny. He tried to blow the smoke away to find the bag. He also re-invented the smart sentence of Alfred when the professor wants to jump down. The first time he didn’t really have the time, because Veit was really quick, but the other times he tried some different stuff. It was something like: “Aber doch nicht so!” and “Aber professor das ist doch...” I really cheer for that, cause it sounds a lot more clever for Alfred to give the professor a reason not to jump instead of just screaming no.

Michael is doing a lot with facial expressions. I don’t know how that works further in the back, but in row six it was still very very great. A nice moment is when he has the shoe of the professor in his arms and the professor asks him to think at Sarah. You can clearly see that his complete face changes into a dreamy, happy, loveface, before he realises that he has to open the coffins. The first time he just dropped the shoe, but afterwards he almost couldn’t find it back and he almost fell over it. The other three times he looked where he dropped the show, making it easier to find it back afterwards.

During the tour they told us that the covers of the coffins are about 30 kg. I have to admit that not that much Alfred make it look that heave, so I guess the system of opening it just works very well. It looks very natural for Michael to try to open the coffins in the wrong way at first. Some Alfred make it look very stupid, but somehow with Michael is just fits. And it’s really cute how he doesn’t even dare to look at who is in the coffin before the professor asks for it.

I also want to return some compliment to Veit for that part of the scene. We all know that the professor should be able to see very clearly who is in that coffin, but Veit manages to turn to the wrong side all the time, acting like it’s impossible to turn back to have a look himself. Although no matter what Veit does, he can’t beat the expression on Heller’s face when he discovers that Herbert is in the other coffin.

It isn’t that much a surprise that Heller!Alfred wants to kill Herbert first instead of the count. The first show he was already at Herbert’s coffin, almost putting the stake in the right place when the professor told him to go to the other coffin instead. I also love it that Heller really searched for the right word “rippe” but just can’t find it. He tries some other options instead (I love it that Veit gives him the time to do that), but he never guesses right.

The first show it seemed as if Heller almost forgot that he had to drop the hammer. The third swing was that good that he ended somewhere above the coffin and he had to make an extra swing to drop the hammer on the floor. The other shows it didn’t look that forced anymore, so I guess this really was a mistake. And I still adore his “Ich kann das nicht” and “doch schon, aber ich kann es trotzdem nicht”. He really gives the impression that he really can’t do it, that something in him blocks the movement and that it’s not him not being able to do it. He really feels ashamed, you can see that. And the poor boy becomes even more desperate when the professor acts as if he’s called, being scared to death again when the professor is still alive. Heller didn’t fall on the floor in these four shows we’ve seen. I guess this has to do with the combination with Veit. The only two times he did that, was with Sven Prüwer as Professor.

The poor Michfred had really trouble finding his hammer and shoe in oll the smoke. The first show it took really long before he found it back, the other shows he tried if blowing would help a bit. Some people thought that it wouldn’t be a problem if he doesn’t find them, but of course it is a problem. Chagal, Magda and Koukol have to run and jump over there, it can’t be that there is still something there. Veit didn’t have any mercy with the boy and kept on talking, therefore Michael really had to rush back high again. The first three shows that implied that he couldn’t do something special when climbing. The last show he had didn’t plan on doing something, but in his speed he almost lost his balance, needing both hands and feet to catch himself instead of falling on top of von Krolock himself. (Borchert wouldn’t be amused if he’s awakened like that I’m afraid...)

The short little scene that follows is for me one of the proofs that the professor and Alfred know eachother for a long time and that the professor just takes care for the boy. The professor just rambles on and on and Michael is just looking like “I know, but I really couldn’t help it!” and the professor still believes that Alfred will learn it one day and could finish the research. I don’t know what was Veit telling exactly, but Michael did try to reply over and over, but never came that far with his sentences.

Two of the shows Michael was really tired after lifting the professor up and you could clearly see that he was also a bit proud on himself that he succeeded. Of course that was exactly the moment, the professor almost falls down again. It’s amazing how much fate Veit has in Michael and how deep Michael dares to kneel before really catching Veit. For me that’s a proof of the connection between Veit and Michael, but since they are doing it as the professor and Alfred, it also shows how much they trust eachother, giving me even more the impression that they have some sort of father and son connection.

This connection is also visible when Alfred and the professor enter the stage again and see the library. For Michfred it doesn’t come as a surprise that the professor is fascinated about it, his entire body says that he has been through this before, probably the professor always reacts like that when he sees so much books. Alfred is on his guard nevertheless, he looks around him all the time and when the professor screams because he sees the books, Michfred seems some sort of shocked at first, shaking his head when he realises what’s really happening.

Actually I have to admit that I don’t remember how other Alfreds acted during the adoration of the books from the professor, but Michael is still looking for different ways and for things that are happening. He’s running everywhere and nowhere, always staying on the right spot when the professor expects him to be somewhere. You can hear in Michael’s voice that he actually already gave up hope that the professor would really listen to him, although he does try, of course. What I especially like in this scene is how offended Michael looks when Veit forces him to walk backwards by touching him all the time. You can see Michfred thinking: “What the heller are you doing? Don’t touch me!” No wonder the poor boy is distracted so easily when he hears the voice of Sarah singing in the castle.

I still have to get used to the fact that the trick with the mirror is already used over here, although it’s just Alfred who’s visible in the mirror, because there is no mirror behind Sarah. For some reason the movements Michael has to make look a bit forced and extremely timed. I know that it’s needed for the reflection, but it looks a bit strange. I guess that it would work better with no mirror at all, giving Alfred a little bit more freedom at the start of the scene. I do understand that this would imply an almost empty set, but still.

Luckily the trouble with the mirror is over soon, giving Michael the freedom to really act the next scene. I love the fact that he doesn’t even consider how inappropriate it is to enter the bathroom of a lady. He just does it, does believe that what he does is good and he does believe that Sarah comes with him. He’s really a bit offended when she tells him that he should behave himself. The not looking at the naked girl doesn’t take that long therefore. He still does believe that Sarah is gonna listen to him and that his begging will help. Sometimes I wonder if there is an Alfred really believing this is gonna work, but if there is one, it must be Michael Heller.

He acts somewhere between desperate, strong and secure. I can’t really describe it, because it’s something that lies in his complete body-language, but it’s some sort of feeling. You can see that he’s really desperate when Sarah doesn’t want to listen and doesn’t really react on what he says. You can also here it a bit in his voice, but he doesn’t want to show that to Sarah. Michfred is trying to stay strong and to convince her that his offer is the best offer she’ll ever get!

Until he sees the dress and the sponge. He has the same look in his eyes as when Sarah shows him the present in Draussen ist Freiheit. “Who gave you that?” “Damn...I can’t afford that...” The moment she shows him the dress and the sponge is the moment that Michfred realises that it’s not gonna work. He knows that the count has more to offer than he has. He can’t give her nice dresses, he can’t give her enormous sponges. He does try to safe her again, of course, be he doesn’t really believe in it that time.

This is also visible in his body-language when he walks out of the bathroom. The disappointment is clearly visible and he’s really considering what he has to do now. He knows he has to come up with something good, but what is something good? And how noble is saving a girl that doesn’t want to be saved? You can clearly see that he doubts what he’s actually doing in this castle anymore, until he finds the professor again, who didn’t even seem to have missed him at all.

In the reprise of “bücher” it’s really clear that Michael and Veit play with their characters all the time. One of the shows Michael almost dropped all the books, because he was acting as if he was losing his balance. This looked actually really cool, but I’m wondering what he would have done when he had really dropped those books, ruining almost the entire scene. Luckily for him it didn’t happen.

Another show Michael had all the books in his arms and tried to give them back to the professor. Veit pushed them back again, Michael tried to give them back again, Veit pushed them back again and this went on and on until the end of the scene. I thought it was actually really funny and it looked so smooth and natural that I can understand that it would become a standard element of the show.

What will certainly not become standard is the “who laughs first has lost”-game Michael and Veit are playing all the time. I don’t know who started with it, but during the last show Michael and Veit looked at eachother and tried to make eachother laugh by raising and dropping their eyebrows on and on. (We call that a Borchert, cause he does it in Rebecca and he does it while singing.) No-one actually lost, but if I would have been participating at least I would have lost.

I do love it how small and soft Michael’s voice sound when he tells the professor that he doesn’t know what to do anymore. Of course the professor thinks that the answer is in a book and Michael shows us that he didn’t expect a different answer at all. It looks as if he decides that he has not other options and that this is his best shot, so he does try a book, finding the famous book we all know.

Normally Alfreds are really enthusiastic about finding that book, immediately seeing that this was what they were searching for, but Michael shows the sceptic side of his Alfred again by not really believe that this books really has the answers he’s looking for. In the interview he told that the text-lines are glued in the book since a few months and you can see that in his acting. What I really love is the fact that he’s really reacting on the words, reflecting what the book says without actually knowing it.

When Michael sings that there is music in you when you are in love he frowns his eye-brows questioning what that could be. I bet he doesn’t remember Für Sarah anymore, which is of course a very clear example of this. While singing the next sentence, telling him that your look says it all, his look really says it all, changing into a smiling little lamp on the stage. Of course this made me smile again, so I guess there was also a little lamp off stage, but that’s not that important in this case. In a way I do miss the fact that he sat down, which looked really cute, but I do know that he couldn’t do the face-acting when sitting down, because no-one would see it. So, I guess I’ll take it the way he played the scene last week.

The cutest part of the scene is now the reading of the last sentence (Has someone ever missed the second part of the original song? I did like it...and I still miss it...) “a kiss says more than a thousand words.” He tries to understand it and repeats it two times very softly, before Herbert breaks in and start singing. I can’t tell how adorable his whispering is, it’s just so...Alfred? It’s at least very clear that Michfred does think about every word, does think about what he reads and does search for the help it could be.

I have to admit that with Vanni, but also with Robert D. Marx, as Herbert no-one in the audience does really believe that it’s Sarah singing again and if someone believes they would for sure think that Alfred is really stupid for trying it again, but well, this musical needs some slapstick and some legal popo-checking, so I don’t complain anymore and I just enjoy the scene that follows.

What I really like is how Michael reacts on really everything in this scene. He did learn from his meeting with Sarah and does think that it’s very inappropriate to disturb the vampire in the bathroom. In some way you can see that Michael is really scared that something is gonna happen, which only gets worse of course if he is said to stay to euh...talk. Michfred realises immediately that Herbert doesn’t just wanna talk. I have to admit that that’s not that hard when Robert D. Marx is checking your merchandise when telling that Daddy is so impressed by you.

His facial expressions in this scene are really priceless. I guess that Michael really uses all possible muscles in his face and it’s hard to remember and describe them all. It’s very clearly visible that Michfred wants to run away deep down inside but doesn’t really dare to do that, as if he knows that running might be more a risk than staying. I also do like the fact that he uses the reaction Niels Jacobs used to when Herbert is talking about his popo. Niels was really shocked and turned around with a look on his face like “Serious! Don’t look at me like that!” and Michael is doing something that looks like that a lot. Michael really doesn’t understand why Herbert is so fascinated by him and his “My eyes?” does sound really like a question instead of just a comment.

I also really like his face when Robert touches his butt, almost shaking his head because he really doesn’t understand that superstrange vampire. I would love to tell more about Robert, but I’m afraid I haven’t seen a thing I really can’t describe. I just remember that he growls a lot and sees it as a funny little game, laughing a lot and liking it, just as if Alfred plays hard to get. I still do believe that the way Herbert eventually grabs the book looks a bit forced. I do understand that it has to with the reflection, but I guess there must be a better solution to make Herbert get that book. (If you look closely to the reflection it’s actually kind of funny that the reflection still has the book, while Alfred doesn’t have it anymore. Of course this problem is solved when he turns around again, but if people really pay attention they could see it.)

What I love about Michael are the coming seconds, where his facial expressions goes from. “Help” to “sigh” to “Ow no...” in just a couple of a seconds. Although he already knew that Robert was interest in him, it comes as a surprise that he talks about love. That expression is just so adorable and he dares to wait a long time before he hands Robert to book to put it in his mouth. Michael has that time, cause he walks really fast, almost dangerous. I’m always scared that he falls of the stairs, because he really tries to take them all in record-time, or that he really falls over some legs from people on the 14th row. He just acts as if he falls always, and I just can’t see if he’s acting or really falling. Sometimes that really scared the hell out of me. (Not only me, by the way...the one thing I know about Robert is that he’s really concerned about his Alfred. I guess he’s afraid the thing might be broken ;-))

I have to admit that this week was the first time I realised that the footsteps you hear in this scene are actually fake. Of course I knew it, but I never really realised it, until some technician forgot to switch the sound of in time. So Michael fell on the stage already and we still heard some footsteps. Robert reacted great on it by looking who was following his dear Alfred.

I have to admit that I don’t think I can really describe what is happening afterwards, but I’m really thankful that Robert makes it his Alfreds a lot easier to realise that Herbert is standing behind them, since he makes some noise or says something. I still do believe that it looks a bit stupid that Alfred runs into Herberts arms, but Robert uses this later in the scene, which makes it kind of funny again. The rest of the sequence luckily looks very natural, although Robert takes a long time before jumping on Michfred, which makes it a bit stupid that Michfred just doesn’t stand up to run away.

In this scene Michael shows how diverse and flexible his voice actually is. He makes it clear with his voice (Since we can’t see his face) that he actually doesn’t want to call the professor for help, but that he has no other choice. Luckily for him Veit doesn’t wait to long, although the way Robert enjoys sitting on Michfred’s lap made me a bit jealous. But that’s another story!

The last show Michael took a really long time to get up again. When the professor chased Herbert away it seemed like Michael was completely in shock and couldn’t move anymore. I don’t know if he planned to jump up fast to safe the rest of the scene or that he just realised that he had to stand up for the rest of the scene. I do love it that Michael is not as completely freaked out as Anton Zetterholm was, but still shows clearly that he didn’t like it at all and that he tries to get the feeling away.

He also makes his movements really big in this scene, which is important for me, cause I think this is a comedy-element everyone should see, also the people on the balcony. He really reacts on the insulting of the professor as if he can’t believe that the professor could even think about blaming him for it. It sounds as Michfred thought the professor would know him longer than just one day and that the professor should know that it was Herberts fault. (Although Robert was really offended when Michael blamed him and only him for the situation...Robert seemed to think that Alfred wanted it too ;-))

Michael doesn’t know how fast to run away when Herbert tries to follow them again. While he’s checking if Robert is still following, Michael does remember that he has to tell the professor all about him. He clearly tries to impress the professor by explaining that the theory of Alibori was correct and he only sighs when the professor reacts that it was his theory. I guess that Michfred already knows that the professor doesn’t like it when others invent something and that he makes things his theory, no matter if it’s true or not. And how much I love the shaking of the head when Veit wishes that he danced with Herbert. You can clearly see that Michfred does see that the professor didn’t understand a thing of what has just happened and how he feels about that. When the professor starts rambling about Orion Michfred just gives up and sighs. I like that actually.

Michfred is always on his guard and it’s not that strange that he doesn’t trust the situation anymore. So when Krolock shows up Michael is shocked, but not really surprised. It’s the same thing as what happens to hard-core Tanz fans next to the walkway in the audience. They know that something is coming and they are still a bit shocked when it actually happens, this is how Michael reacts on Krolock showing up.

The next scene is a nice balance between being scared, being fascinated, being insecure and feeling protected. I like it that Veit protects Michael all the time in the musical. When the danger comes closer, Veit always puts Michael behind his back and it’s clearly visible that Michael feels safe over there. He dares to nod when the professor insults the count and he even dares to laugh along. But him being on his guard results in him being the first one to see that the count disappeared into nothing.

His fascination is showed when Krolock is singing directly to him. Michael really makes attempts to walk into the direction where the voice comes from. Veit pulls him back. Actually they reverse here what happened during vor dem schloss, where Veit walked towards the count and Michael pulled him back. I admire the balance Michael finds between being scared and being calm at the same time. I do feel that he scared and that he’s on his guard, but he never seems overactive or busy or stressed. Somehow he manages to stay calm nevertheless and to move slowly. It’s Alfred again who sees the graveyard at first.

Until this point Michael actually let the professor do whatever he wanted, but in this point he clearly decides that he has to protect the old man against himself. In three out of four shows, Michael made clear that Veit shouldn’t get any closer and that they really need to get away as soon as possible. In the last show they walked towards one of the coffins together, but when the professor tries to touch it, Michael decides that it’s enough and he pulls him back to the side of the stage to run away.