DON CAMILLO & PEPPONE at Ronacher, Vienna

DON CAMILLO & PEPPONE lovingly recreates the tales centred on the pugnacious Catholic priest Don Camillo and his no less bellicose antagonist Peppone as a joyous, light-hearted musical. It provides a reunion with charming, much-loved characters in an upbeat tale set in rural Italy in the 1950s, a tale of social optimism, mutual co-existence, tolerance and the power of reconciliation.

The musical’s book and lyrics are by Michael Kunze, the German language’s premier writer and translator of musicals, books and lyrics, whose works have so far been honoured by 79 gold and platinum records. The composer is Dario Farina – familiar to many from his cult pop songs like “Felicità” and his highly respected film scores (“Rossini”) - and together they have created an entertaining, fun piece of musical theatre, imbued by the composer with Mediterranean flair and romance. The musical supervision and orchestration are by the VBW’s Musical Director Koen Schoots.

The director is Andreas Gergen, Opera Director of the Salzburger Landestheater, who has directed more than 75 operas, operettas and musicals internationally (“Carmen” / Salzburger Felsenreitschule, “La Traviata” / Haus für Mozart, Salzburg, THE VISIT), including numerous world premieres. The choreography is by Dennis Callahan (MOZART!, ELISABETH, DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES), the set design by Peter J. Davison, who has worked on dance, drama, opera and musical productions all over the world (REBECCA, THE VISIT). The costumes are by Yan Tax (MOZART!, ELISABETH), while Michael Grundner (LES MISERABLES, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR) created the lighting design and Thomas Strebel (MOZART!, DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, THE VISIT) is behind the sound design.

Sounddesigner Thomas Strebel from audiopool in Basel, Switzerland comments, why he has chosen KV2 Audio: “The first reason is that I am the sound designer of this show and so my decision fell on KV2Audio. Furthermore I used the system already on two tours- and on the resident productions “Dance of the Vampires” and “Ich war noch niemals in New York”, which were currently performed in Stuttgart, Hamburg and Moscow. The second reason for choosing KV2 Audio was the size of the speakers, they fit perfectly in the set design of DON CAMILLO & PEPPONE at the Ronacher musical theatre where there is generally not much space.”

The system consists of 4 ESR215 with 2 ESR3000 Amplifiers which are rented from the German tour “Ich war noch niemals in New York” which is now playing in Hamburg using VHD2.0 from the former production “Wunder von Bern”. The system is used as music system left and right of the proscenium divided into a lower and an upper part.

Music director Koen Schoots was very happy with the sound of the orchestra. “The excellent sound” was encouraged by the press. Thomas Strebel explains: “From my point of view as a sound designer, I would say that the system reproduces exactly what you want to hear”.

“I will keep on using KV2 Audio speakers“, Thomas Strebel concludes.

Special thanks go to Christian Venghaus (head of the sound department VBW), who made the rental deal possible and to Patrick Polly, associate sound designer and show operator.

Still photos: DON CAMILLO & PEPPONE 2017 © VBV Deen van Meer

Click here for more informations: www.musicalvienna.at