Exhibiting fashion on the heritage site: the interrelation between body, heritage space, and fashionable clothing

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Women’s Executive Network names Vertu Capital founder Melchior as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women

You are not permitted to download, save or email this image. Visit image gallery to purchase the image. Lexie Tomlinson (Wendla) and Will Larkins (Melchior) rehearse their roles in Spring Awakening (musical). Photos: supplied
A rare chance to be involved in one of her "bucket list" musicals meant Kim Morgan had to go back on her promise to her "long-suffering" husband that she would take the rest of the year off. The theatre director tells Rebecca Fox what is so special about the musical Spring Awakening. "My head exploded," says Kim Morgan of the moment she heard the musical Spring Awakening was to be performed in Dunedin. A huge fan of the rock musical, Morgan never thought she would get to be part of a production of the show in New Zealand as it is a rarely performed piece because of the sensitive material it covers. So she rang Pop Up Productions to congratulate them on their coup and was surprised to be offered the opportunity to direct the show. Her husband urged her to break her promise to take a break, saying she would never forgive herself if she did not do it as it was not likely to be done again in Dunedin in their lifetimes. "I will finally be able to tick off my number one bucket list show. It has been atop my list since 2000 so it’s been more than 20 years now. I’m just so excited to do it." It is based on a play written in 1891 by Frank Wedekind as a commentary on what he saw as the sexually repressed culture of 19th century Germany. "It is about the teenagers of his day, their sexuality, their angst. There is a suicide in the production, there is a forced end of a pregnancy on the part of the parents, there’s a lot of heavy material, particularly for 1891 Germany, mixed in with humour, genuine emotion and, as you might imagine, the play was banned immediately and not performed for quite some time and even when it was [performed] it was usually toned down." It was not until the mid-to-late 20th century that the play started being performed more regularly. Although it is still a lesser known show, those that know about it are "passionate, rabid about it". "I studied it in graduate school, we all knew about it, it was a favourite." The play then inspired the musical written by author Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik (Emmy award nominated singer-songwriter) in the late 1990s. It premiered off-Broadway in 2005. "I caught up with it in a tiny 2cm blurb in the back of The New Yorker magazine somewhere around 2000. "I thought this is amazing they’re doing this great play which is really hard to do and turning it into a rock musical. They were taking this historical play and putting it with rock music so I was very curious about it." As Morgan’s interest was piqued she kept following it. "An entire generation of my students at the University of Denver were obsessed with this musical before it was even on stage or available because I told them so much." It premiered on Broadway in 2006 becoming a "smash hit" and won eight out of the 11 Tony Awards it was nominated for. It launched the careers of actors Lea Michele (Rachel Berry on Glee) and Jonathan Groff (Hamilton, Glee, Frozen). "It became this iconic thing, like Rent was for a larger audience a bit earlier, this became the defining musical in the 2000s for teenage angst. "They did this beautiful job of honouring the original and making something new." Spring Awakening (musical) director Kim Morgan. The musical still has the weighty themes of the original around sexuality, suicide and conflict with family and institutions like the Church but with every heavy moment they have found a way to bring in humour to balance out the show, she says. "It is laugh-out-loud funny a lot of times, the music is stunningly good. I’ve never seen a musical so carefully crafted both when it was written and how they’ve revised it over the years." There was a revival of the musical in 2015 at Deaf West Theatre where it was performed simultaneously in English and sign language featuring deaf film star Marlee Matlin. "It was this amazing cool revival which put it back on the map a little less than 10 years ago." In Dunedin the show will be performed in the Playhouse Theatre, which fits an audience of 100 to 120, providing an intimate setting for what she calls a "small cast, intense, rock’n’roll show". The characters will all remain on stage throughout the show, moving to the side when not in a scene and providing a on-stage audience. "It’s a space known for children’s shows and we are doing something that is about children/young adults but in a very different vein to their usual fare and we want everyone to know that." Because it is a bit weightier, they have classed the production as R13+ with parental guidance. The original play was subtitled "a children’s tragedy" but they dropped that for the musical. "They’ve added a whole bunch of positivity and hope, so slight spoiler alert, although not every character who starts the story will end the story, the way that it ends [is] with a character, who has been impacted the most, choosing to go forward in a positive way." There are 11 teen characters in the show but the adult characters are performed by one woman played by Arlie McCormick (Pop-Up Productions co-founder) and one man, Darrel Read. "They each have six, eight or 10 characters that they play without costume changes, they just shift from one parent or teacher to another. "They embody the adult world ... with the best intentions, if they were just better at reaching out to and speaking frankly to these young people none of the tragedy would happen." The teen characters are played by actors in their late teens and early 20s, many of whom have been in other musical productions, such as William Larkins (Melchior) and Lexie Tomlinson (Wendla). "It’s a young cast, a stunningly talented cast. It’s a hard show so you have to have the right people to do it and we got so lucky. "They have some of the best voices you’ll hear, they’re also fantastic young actors, they understand these characters and play them with a sincerity and a simplicity that is laugh out loud and heartbreaking all at once." The material they cover in the show is not something most young actors are faced with until they are older and more experienced. "It’s a roller-coaster, it’s the saving grace of the show." Max Beal (Moritz) and Darrel Read who plays one of the adult roles in the show. For Tomlinson, auditioning for the show was a no-brainer as she has loved it ever since discovering it when she was about 14 years old. "It’s my favourite show, I love it, the music and the story." Tomlinson has always loved musicals. She has performed in community theatre, theatre restaurants and bigger shows like Chicago and Jersey Boys. She is especially attracted to shows that have stories that make people think about the world and themselves which Spring Awakening does. "I was always drawn to it and then when I listened to the soundtrack I was blown away. It’s so different from a traditional musical with its big chorus." To play a lead role for the first time in this musical is extra special, she says. "It’s an important story with an important message. It’s my favourite musical so there is a lot of pressure there." Her character is a 14-year-old German girl going to a Christian school, who is innocent and sweet, but also curious and starting to push boundaries and question the ideas of her parents and school. "She’s a lovely character but a lot goes wrong because of her ignorance, but despite everything going so terribly wrong she still seems to find hope. It’s a beautiful part of her character." The heavy subjects the musical canvases meant she was a little nervous when she started rehearsals. "It’s nothing like I’ve ever done before. "It’s very exciting but a challenge. I have to get out of my comfort zone and push myself to do some uncomfortable scenes. "Overall it is really rewarding as a performer and an actor. I’m learning so much — I love the role." Morgan says fortunately things have improved for performers since its premiere in 2006 and procedures have been put in place to support the actors. "We have a lot more conversations about mental health, about intimacy and consent." They have advocates both young and old whose job it is to support the health and safety of the cast and be a go-to person if anyone has concerns. "We’ve got a very open door to the creative team to discuss things." People working in the theatre and trauma space have been invited to talk to the cast and have brought in Lara McGregor as an intimacy co-ordinator. There is a sex scene between the two main characters, an intimate scene between a gay couple, suicide is mentioned as is incest and abuse. Melchior (Will Larkins) and the cast rehearse. "It is a lot of heavy stuff. So when working those intimate scenes which involve touching and kissing we took a long time to ensure we followed approved practices and that everybody was comfortable and safe," Morgan says. For the youngest actors a list of the actions required was made and consent was given for those actions. "We’ve been very clear to honour consent and do regular check-ins, to have support mechanisms in place and make sure people, as young actors only three or four years older than their characters, to make sure they are OK.
"If anything comes too close to home [we] support them through the process and give them breathing space if needed." Tomlinson, who is working towards a bachelor’s degree in performing arts at the University of Otago in musical theatre, says the support has been great and she is learning to recognise moments where she becomes too absorbed in the story. "When that happens I step out, so I can see it’s just the show. It hasn’t triggered anything so far. "We’re a small cast and everyone has become good friends which is lovely." The Dunedin show includes musical direction by Pop Up Productions co-founder Bridget Telfer-Milne and choreography by Olivia Larkins. Morgan says there are no scenery shifts, curtains, pyrotechnics or any other flashy, musical techniques, just 13 performers committed to an "amazing story" and the music. "It’s intentionally stripped down to the bare minimum so you can concentrate on the wonderful characters and story. "There are no gimmicks, that is what makes it so rewarding." For Morgan the reality of doing the show is every bit as good as the dream. "Every morning [I] wake up with a different song running through my head and I have to do that reality check — I’m really doing my dream show with this wonderful group of people." Together the cast are very aware of the importance of the show. "We will have young people coming to see it and they will see themselves in these characters, they will recognise their struggles and they will hopefully take with them the message of the show ... it gets better, there are people you can talk to, the story doesn’t have to end the way this story does — there are other options." She has heard people say how they still remember the show years after seeing it. "In my experience this show changes lives for the better, both for the people that do it, but also for the people who see it." To see:
Spring Awakening (musical), The Playhouse, Dunedin, November 1 -11, 7pm (November 5, 4pm), Mature Content (R13): sexuality, abuse, suicide, profanity, and other "adult" topics.

Director to fulfil wish with show

Courtesy of Arno Saar
Estonia’s Taska Film, the production company behind local box-office hits such as medieval crime thriller “Melchior the Apothecary,” hits Locarno’s Match Me! industry sessions with a slate that includes Jaak Kilmi’s “Dirt in Your Face,” a coming-of-age rock drama set in the twilight of the Soviet Union backed in part by Apollo, the largest cinema chain in the Baltic region. The film follows 17-year-old Mihkel and his band as they go on a journey full of alcohol, protest and music to impress a Western producer visiting a rock festival in 1980s Soviet Estonia. In their struggle to keep the band together, the group inadvertently help split the Soviet Union apart. “Dirt in Your Face” is written by Martin Algus and based on the bestseller of the same name by Mihkel Raud, a former member of the ’80s band Golem (pictured) on whom the movie is based. It reunites the team behind the hit action comedy “The Dissidents,” which was released theatrically in the Baltics and Finland and was one of the top-performing films on Netflix in the region. Pic is produced by Taska Film in co-production with Apollo Film Productions (Estonia), MRP Matila Röhr Productions (Finland) and Film Angels Productions (Latvia). The producers are Kristian Taska and Adeele Tähemaa and the co-producers are Tanel Tatter, Veiko Esken, Ilkka Matila and Janis Kalejs. Tähemaa, who helped steward “Melchior” to box-office success during the pandemic, will be presenting the project at Locarno’s upcoming Match Me! networking forum, which takes place Aug. 4 – 6. She described “Dirt in Your Face” as “a true story, an honest story and a story of unlikely heroes and how youthful inconsideration got the history moving faster than all the planning and calculations of the wise.”
“The late ’80s, the final years of the Soviet Union, all left their mark on the world. For so many European countries, this controversial but interesting time was the breaking point for a better future and finally tangible freedom,” she continued. “Our story is an inside view of the youth in a society that longed for freedom and finally sang itself free.”
Taska Film has produced some of Estonia’s top theatrical hits, including the World War II action drama “1944: Forced to Fight” and the spy thriller “Dawn of War.” The company is currently in pre-production on “Life and Love,” a 1930s-set romantic drama from director Helen Takkin, and is co-producing a forthcoming period drama from Finnish director Klaus Härö, whose last film, “My Sailor, My Love,” premiered last year at Toronto. “We have produced over half of Estonian top box office hits, but our ambition is to be more and more visible outside of Estonia and our neighboring countries,” said Tähemaa. “We try to make films from stories that tell something new for Europe and for the world, without losing our loyal local audience.”
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Estonia’s Taska Film, Baltic Cinema Chain Apollo Team Up on Soviet-Era, Coming-of-Age Rock Drama ‘Dirt in Your Face’ (EXCLUSIVE)

28/07/2023
During a visit to the snack bar, sparks flew between Coosje Smid, singer and daughter of opera singer Ernst Daniël Smid, and Melchior. Coosje (33) soon became pregnant, but just as quickly dark clouds gathered over the upcoming family happiness…
Melchior turned out to be cheating with his ex, Coosje tells magazine Parents of Now. “Not once or twice, but thirty times. Every time we broke up, he apologized, promised to get better, I gave him another chance… But then it happened again.” Coosje went to get a story from the ex. “It felt like an agreement from woman to woman, you don’t do this to each other. She agreed with me, making me assume it had stopped. Until one evening – I was 39 weeks pregnant – Melchior confessed that it was still playing.”
Heavily pregnant, she then stood on the doorstep of the ex. “She needs to see me, I thought, she needs to see what she’s doing to me. That confrontation was intense and terribly painful. When I came home at night I was completely exhausted… and the contractions started.”
Clink of keys
Son Zonne was fortunately born in perfect health, and Coosje did everything to make the outside world believe that they were a happy family. “For example, one day after giving birth I was already cooking extensively, even though I could no longer lift my fork from fatigue. Those maternity weeks cost me all my energy,” she says. And then it went wrong again. “Once, still wearing a maternity bandage, I was breastfeeding upstairs when I heard the keys ring downstairs: he just went back to her.”
Attachment problems
It was only through the widely publicized relationship troubles of Waylon and Bibi Breijman and the criticism that the former received that Coosje realized how serious the betrayal was. With the help of her father, she left her home and moved in with her sister. Because of all the misery, Coosje initially had trouble bonding with her son, but luckily that turned out well. “How I feel now when I’m with Zonne, how much love I want to give him, that’s a very big difference from the beginning. I have to accept that I will never get those maternity weeks with Zonne back, sometimes that hurts, but apparently this was our route.”
Just cry
That’s not to say it hasn’t left deep wounds, she admits. “Recently, my ex and good friend Diederik Jekel wrote about his wife with such incredible respect in announcing their pregnancy that I had to cry for a moment. I thought it was so beautiful and I wish it with all my heart, but how I would have liked to hear that from Zonne’s father myself. Yes, I would have allowed myself this too.”
Image: Reni van Maren

“Not once or twice, but thirty times”

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Melchior is a wine distribution service that allows wine lovers to have wine delivered to their homes on a monthly basis.

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