Review: Arenan aarteet

Moments like this will never be forgotten

When Emilia Nyman opens her mouth and starts a wild soul song about the musical Dreamgirls And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going, the audience of the concert is stunned. My-kis-tyy.

Fortunately, you can applaud at the end of the performance. And cheers! And a glow of joy and admiration! And cheers more! Emilia Nyman makes the great song a skilful and empathetic, downright shockingly wonderful interpretation that reaches the skin of the whole body and penetrates deep inside. Listening almost makes me cry – that I’ve heard this. And at the end of it, you are happy as anything when everyone else around you understands: we have experienced something unique.

This is not a paid advertisement. I wholeheartedly believe this: Some moments are etched in the soul for life, and this interval that lasted perhaps only five minutes was one of them.

The Treasures of the Arena musical concert shows that there are many other brilliant singers and performers at the Helsinki City Theatre. The whole concert is the joy of music and great interpretations from start to finish. There are tunes from West Side Story, Mary Poppins and Evita, but also from Wicked, The Beggar’s Opera and Hairspray. The singer-actors have chosen the songs they want to perform, and in their interludes, they all tell the stories related to them in their own words. Extremely entertaining.

And then there’s this Emilia Nyman. Phew.