So, the excruciating pain I have since my cast came off finally has a name: Post Traumatic Dystrophy. After the hospital visit, I came home with a bag full of medicine *sigh* One anti-inflammatory drug (3x a day), another anti-inflammatory drug combined with a painkiller (3x a day), medicinal creme (5x a day), vitamin C tablets (1x a day), and to complete the package: one pill a day that’ll protect my stomach from being affected by all the stuff in the other pills. Huzzah. Compared to this, all the painkillers I took were peanuts.
According to my doc it can be cured, it’s just a matter of time. *Crossing my fingers*
Regular visitors of my blog will know that I’m an avid theater-fan, and also love watching TV searches for the lead in a musical. We’ve watched them all, at the BBC and on Dutch TV 🙂
Not too long ago they started the search for Maria in the Belgian production of The Sound of Music. Unfortunately it’s broadcast at a station which we can’t view in the Netherlands.
As Belgium wasn’t familiar with TV programs searching for a musical-lead they prepared a stunt to promote the program, hoping to attract more viewers. I was lucky enough to see snippets of it on the Belgian website, but those snippets were just a fraction of what the total package had in store.
I was delighted when my SIL sent me the link to the complete video. I’ve watched it time and time again, got teary-eyed and had goosebumps all over. It is so uplifting, do me a favor and watch the video till the end, you won’t regret it!
This takes place at the Antwerp Central Station, a beautiful restaurated building with a huuuuuge hall.
Opening night: October 5, 2008
Seen: RAI Amsterdam, February 5, 2009
It’s hard to explain this to foreigners as the story is so typically Dutch. It’s like explaining Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Huckleberry Finn to someone outside the US. Impossible indeed, so I’m going to keep this short, but still wanted to write a review as it was such an entertaining evening. We had tickets for row B, which turned out to be first row, as the chairs of row A were removed to make room for the orchestra pit. 🙂
Ciske de Rat is the story of a little boy, living at the lower part of society. He’s abused verbally, mentally and physically by his alcoholic mother. When she tears up a book that Ciske borrowed from his best friend, he grabs the first thing that he can get his hands on and throws it to her. Unfortunately it’s a knife and she dies. The musical tells the story from his childhood, his forced stay in a juvenile-institution up and until him growing up, struggling to find his place in society. In the end he joins the army to defend his country against the Germans in WWII, almost getting killed while saving two men.
He marries his primary school-sweetheart and they live happily ever after. All’s well that ends well.
The music is typically Dutch as well. Loved the atmosphere, great lyrics, awesome set and costumes. The cast was phenomenal, even though we didn’t have the original Ciske – Danny de Munk – who became famous for portraying Ciske in the 1984 (Dutch) movie.
Here’s Danny as the adult Ciske with the children from the cast, performing at a popular Dutch TV program. I love their Amsterdam accents!
Here are the young and old Ciske singing the famous song, originally from the 1984 movie.
And – for my Dutch visitors – for old times’ sake, here’s Danny in the movie.
