After eighteen sold-out performances of Oscar in Amsterdam’s Theater Carré, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam is off on tour with Casablanca from 28th October until 24th February next year. After a successful start to the original tour in 2021, it was abruptly cut short due to the second (or was it third?) Corona lockdown.
The film Casablanca, starring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart, is considered one of the best Hollywood classics ever. Choreographer Ed Wubbe uses the love story of two people on the run from war as the basis for a visual performance about passion, freedom and longing for a better world. The translation from film to theater results in an exciting new whole with dance in different styles, acrobatic elements, music and a revolving stage as the centre-piece.
The story is set in a dangerous place, where a group of displaced people wait for a better life and the threat of war is never far away. Behind the romantic story is a twilight world in which the boundaries between good and evil are blurred. The musical starting point is the film’s soundtrack, including the legendary As Time Goes By. With some enchanting group scenes set to Moroccan Berber music Wubbe reveals a new dimension to the story that refers to the current affairs of immigrants and refugees.
You can read our review of the premiere of Casablanca which took place at Theater Rotterdam in October 2021 here.
