Review of “Soldaat van Oranje”
Soldaat van Oranje, directed by Theu Boermans, is
a musical based on Erik Hazelhoff’s book with the
same name.
But there I speak too soon: It is not a musical. It is an
attraction, musical and movie all at once. The platform you
sit on can rotate around the decors. They use this to make
the best come out of the musical and make it a
unforgettable night. I won’t spoil too much. In between the
scenes there is a projected décor and an ensemble that plays
live, whilst the motorbikes are racing around you. There is a
basin of 300.000 liters to represent a beach, and one tip,
bring your coat, as you won’t have it warm all night…
You do not even have the time to be bored.
The story itself is based on the life of Erik Hazelfhoff, the
most famous fighter of the Dutch resistance. Friendship and resistance in the second world war, and
maybe lessons in life too are all covered. It is touching.
The acting is great, but sometimes the small talk is a bit hard to follow as the actors talk through
each other. It doesn’t hurt the storyline though.
I would have went there on 2nd Christmas Day, but the roof collapsed and the musical was canceled,
they fixed the issue quite quickly, but it was still a pain to make sure we could go there. After a ton of
phone calls and a few months of waiting we finally got a message from the service department.
There are no words to explain how good the musical is, you just have to see it for yourself. The
service could improve though ;)