Review: Kapteeninkadun tyttö

Entertaining Kapteeninkatu Girl
Helsinki City Theatre

The Girl of Kapteeninkatu is a schlager musical that follows the basic line characteristic of musicals, i.e. there is a lot of music, dance as well and the story is easy to follow.

So the basics are in order, as the audience buying tickets to musicals expects just this kind of theatrical performance, which is entertaining and skilfully executed.

The subject of The Girl on Kapteeninkatu has been conveniently found in the entertainment world known to the creators and the tensions behind it.

This year, actress Sara Welling, who graduated from the Theatre Academy, plays an artist who has her own band and her relationship with her mother is problematic. The mother does not approve of her daughter’s career choice, and the young singer does not know how the industry works at first.

Little by little, a producer and other support group are found, who start to take the artist to the wrong place, in the band’s opinion
and mutual tensions arise, which eventually erupt with a love story.

The professional actors and dancers do a good job throughout, and the performance is enjoyable, with just the right amount of story, captivating music and spectacular scenes. What else does a viewer who goes to see a light musical miss?

It should be noted that all the musical numbers performed are new, subtitled by Jari Salonen and composed by Esa Nieminen, and it is a miracle if some of these songs do not get wider attention in the music field.

I was left wondering why the orchestra is hidden throughout the performance, when it could have been, at least sometimes, visible in musical performances.

Set designer Katariina Kirjavainen’s set design was suitable, and it had created a 1980s spirit and a functional atmosphere in the world of schlager music.

Lighting designer Mika Ijäs had conjured up an impressive lighting ensemble and sound designer Sakari Kiiski’s soundscape worked flawlessly.

At the moment, there are only performances until the end of October, so if you want to see a musical based on schlager music that entertains and makes you feel good, you should go see this performance.