(seen at the performance on 15th May 2024)
With a company comprising 16 nationalities, Maastricht's Andre Rieu and his magic violin present 90 shows each year worldwide, and fill endless hours on the Sky Arts channel with recordings of past ones.
It was watching one of these that encouraged the monkey to buy a ticket. It turned out to be an interesting experience.
A cross between the “Eurovision Song Contest” and “Britain’s Got Talent” this is both slick and surprisingly homely.
From Rieu and his orchestra's “high five the audience” (monkey included) arrival down the central aisle to “Entry of the Gladiators” onwards, the campness dial is turned all the way up to “Butlins.”
Rieu is P.T. Barnum personified, his stage and performers a wedding cake of pastel colours, lady musicians in bridal gowns, Liberace music-stands, flowers across the stage front, giant video screen with appropriate yet somehow child-like projections to match the next piece.
The backing vocalists are confined to the rear of the stage, their exploits shared sometimes on the screen as they vanish from view when seated. Endearing little shuffle and hand-jive dance routines, and the amusement of one lady puffing her cheeks with exhaustion after.
They achieve greatness first by miming appropriate gestures as Rieu thanks all those technical departments who make the show happen, and also closing the show as the rest of the ensemble file off leaving just the singers and brass section to end on “We’ll Meet Again.”
Between, it is around two and a half hours of musical smorgasbord. Irritatingly, Rieu fails to announce each piece played, so several pass unrecognised. With the echoey sound system at Wembley Arena, most performers’ names are also lost, thus prohibiting giving credit where it is most due.
Mixing classical music with extracts of opera, the odd show tune and pop song is his secret formula; “believing in the power of music” and treasuring it, his philosophy. So this is what he presents.
His famous “And der Schone Blauwe Donau (Blue Danube Waltz)” is the signature tune. Members of the audience dance in the aisles – one couple near the monkey could actually waltz rather than just shuffle around like the rest. The knowing pauses added to the merriment.
A spirited “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “Messiah,” complete with “stained glass windows” backdrop projection is another highlight.
As is expected on these occasions, “Nessun Dorma” from “Turandot” is produced with the aid of three tenors (more like fivers in size, compared the originals) who are later rewarded by being given a dance with their attractive female counterparts to close the first half on a hearty Teutonic drinking song.
By musical contrast, courageous 16-year-old Dutch singer Emma Kok fights severe health issues to move the audience with “Voila” and Michael Jackson’s “Heal The World.”
A haunting Greek song from one of his team, an appreciated Ukrainian number against a mountain backdrop, a well-sung “Think Of Me” from “The Phantom of the Opera” and Michaela’s rendition of “Vilja Song” from “The Merry Widow” rounds out the solo lady performers.
The show also leans towards the surreal. “Das Kleine Glockchen” is played by a family of Glockenspiel players – more humour as tiny instruments are replaced by larger ones which catch fire under the speed of playing, and the scene shifters getting in on the act.
There is too a literal bit of bull, as “March of the Toreadors” gets pantomime treatment. An “unsuspecting audience member” is humiliated in her seat, the red dress a red rag to the bull who chases her out of the auditorium, across the big screen, before emerging live again with red bra on horn. A classic set-piece always winning with the audience. No wonder the lady is invited back at the end for her spirited “I Will Survive.”
No reward for the post-interval unlucky real audience members caught on screen blundering around trying to find their seats or carrying trays of cola and chips to enjoy in the second half. “Colonel Bogie” seemed appropriate accompaniment... and a warning to all to return early from the foyer (who wants to miss the balloon release anyway?).
Rather like a Las Vegas hotel buffet, this is elaborately and rather well presented. Something for all tastes, but by the time it is over the flavours are a little confused and the whole is slightly more than you really wanted to manage.
Professional, with something for everybody, his faithful audience (he even has a travel agency selling front row packages to shows) seemed to thrive on it, leaving delighted.
For the monkey, though, it all felt a little formulaic. Revising the repertoire and guiding the audience through the music might have added to its satisfaction. Glossy under its shrink-wrap, it is certainly an entertaining evening, but one which misses a certain spontaneous freshness to make it feel like a truly unique experience.
3 stars.