Review: RAOUL - THE MUSICAL ABOUT RAOUL WALLENBEG at Spira

Raoul Wallenberg is one of the most famous Swedish persons in the world. Known for his bravery during second world war when he saved thousands of jews in Budapest by handing out Swedish protecting pass port and made it possible for them to travel to Sweden. At the end of the war Raoul was captured by the Soviet Union and put in Russian prison where he died. The facts of when, where and how he died is still not clarified.

Piere Oxenryd and Johan Hwatz has written a musical about the 7 last month of Raoul Wallenbergs life in Budapest.

Almost exactly two years ago I was at the Musical Symposium at Spira in Jönköping where they presented a workshop of their musical Raoul. We got to see the first act and a little bit from act 2. At that time it was not completely finished and they tested a few different things for u in the audience. Among other things, we were questioned about a scene where there is a party in a hotel where both Nazis, Austrians and Jews participate if they could use the word "Judesvin (jewish pig)" or not. The audience thougth even if it is not a political correct word to use, it was used during that time and it made it more realistic and solidfied the way jews where treated. They decided to keep it.

The authors Pierre Oxenryd and Johan Hwatz had now completed the musical and presented it to us at the Musical Symposium the 3rd of June at Spira, jönköping, as a reading.

For the reading, 18 musicians/actors were gathered, half of which were students from the College of Stage and Music at the University of Gothenburg and the rest were professional musical artist or actors. In the workshop two years ago there were only seven people involved, three of them Hani Arrabi, Åsa Arhammar and Caroline Gustafsson remained in the reading. Hani Arrabi has evolved over these two years and has a powerful voice.

Act 1 begins when Raoul being captured on January 17, 1945, and then we are going back seven months in time to when Raoul Wallenberg (Christer Nerfont) is recruited to go to Budapest and help Hungary's Jews. But he also has another mission and is helping Kalaman Lauer (Hani Arrabi) find his relatives Irene (Åsa Fång), Lajos (Olof Åhman) and Susanna (Caroline Gustafsson), as well as laying the foundations for a joint business. In Budapest, he meets the Swedish delegation, consisting of Per Anger (Anders Wängdahl), Sara (Hanna Holmgren), Margareta Bauer (Åsa Arhammar) and Ivana (Karoline Dons). Adolf Eichman (Glenn Edell) is in Budapest at this time to deport Hungary's Jews. During the seven months we will learn how Raoul hands out Swedish protection pass to Jews who are about to be deported and thus save thousands of thousands. He is looking for Lauer's relatives, but he is one step afterwards, causing him to eventually find out that there is someone in the delegation who is leaking to the Germans. Act 2 ends in the same way as Act 1 begins. After that nobody really knows what happened to Raoul, more than he was abducted by the Russians.

All singers/actors who participates in the reading is very good and succeeds in getting their characters across to the audience in a very good way, just through their song and little play. Christer Nerfont has a strong empathic aura as Raoul, Glenn Edell really gets the evil of Adolf Eichman across. Åsa Arhammar is lovely as the angry and oppressive Margareta who does not hesitate to show that she does not like Raoul. Hanna Holmgren has a fantastic voice and is strong as Sara. Åsa Fång shows the despair as Irene when she cannot make sure the family is in safety and must constantly fly. I really loved the voice of Ester Hedlund's in the role of Csilla, the brave girlfriend of Lajos. Olof Åhman is also good as the young Lajos.

The text and the music is very good and brings the story forward and enhances the different characters and situations very well. Several songs are performed by the entire ensemble and soloists and these are really strong and power full. I do enjoy songs with many voices and different lyrics so you really need to listen and each time you hear something different which adds to the story.

Even if you know how the story will end, you drawn into the story, the characters, the action, the music and the lyrics. You really wants to know what happens to the different persons and is affected by their destiny. It's not a musical you leave with a happy smile on your face like you do with Kinky Boots or Everyone talks about Jamie. When the last tones fades out, you are moved and concerned. It's an important story to tell in this time when a lot people seems to forget what happened in world war two. A lot of refuges all around the word and a hard climate both in Sweden and several countries today. Jews are still persecuted and are called bad names. We really need to be reminded of what happened and do what we can to prevent it from being repeated again. Too many seem to have forgotten it.

I really hope Raoul the Muscial will on stage before long.