Right after work I went yesterday down to Heidelberg.
I strolled through the streets and hoped to catch a glance on the rehearsals.
When I arrived at the “Kornmarkt” , the crew was still busy building up and decorating the stage. I discovered Iris and Albert Schilling and Helma Kindler ( you might know them from the Fandinner in Maastricht) across the place. I went down and had a nice chat with them.
We waited impatiently – the crew was still working – until short before 8 pm, then André himself announced that we were allowed to enter and follow the rehearsal.
We were lucky and got seats in the first row quite in the middle of the row.
They started rehearsing with the Heidelberg song, which was presented later on by Mirusia.
The Platin Tenors also had some songs – “Trink, Trink (Drink, Drink) and Gaudiamus Igitur”, an old student song. There was a group of singers from Berlin, called “The Berliner Comedian Harmonists”, who performed some German songs from the late twenties and thirties :
“Veronica, der Lenz ist da ( Veronica the spring arrived) “ and some others. They are excellent vocalists.
It’s always fun to watch the rehearsals, Andrés jokes and funny situations, some technical things did not yet work the right way and the communication between André, the director and the sound and light crew caused some laughs in the audience.
Mirusia performed two more songs, which may not be known in other countries, because they are German: “2 Kleine Italiener ( 2 little Italians), a hit song form the late Fifties and “in mir klingt ein Lied” , “the 2 little Italians” refer to Franco and Vincenzo, be curious on the new DVD ! The program was finished with “Adieu mein kleiner Gardeoffizier”
Then André and the orchestra taped a trailer for the Australian people, André forgot the text, and they performed the “Bananas”-song. I love this piece, it remembers me to the nice days in Australia last year.
When they finished the recording, André told us, that they were going to tape the entry quite a few meters further at the “Philosophenweg” and invited us to follow them.
Of cause I couldn’t miss out the spectacle.
What a wonderful evening I am looking forward to the concerts today and tomorrow.