Review: Mörköooppera
The Groke Opera was updated to the present day
The Groke went to the circle, I’m going to trample the old lady! And in Karhula, the bear’s children sing. Knock knock, who’s knocking at the gate? The Groke wanted to put the snowman on top of the parking lot! Whoops, stinky bark, a bang went off in the parliament building, in the light of crystal lamps!
It’s already a strange thing if none of the previous phrases sound familiar. They originate from Marjatta Pokela’s 1980 children’s musical The Groke Opera, which has now returned to the Helsinki City Theatre almost 40 years later. Many of the musical’s songs have survived as children’s songs, and even my own daughter recognizes its biggest hit, Groke it went to the circle.
The Groke Opera has nostalgia value for us parents in our thirties and forties, and I myself have a vinyl record of The Groke Opera somewhere with my parents. The songs have stayed in my mind so strongly that I still remember many of the lyrics by heart.
On the other hand, this album is the reason why I started watching HKT’s new album with a bit of reservations. Let’s be honest: many of the songs are quite unbearable rallies and the children’s choir singing on the album is out of tune.
That’s why I was relieved when it turned out that HKT’s new arrangement under the direction of Kimmo Virtanen is something completely different.
The performance has two leading and above all brilliant forces: the delightful Sanna Majuri who plays the Groke, and the multi-instrumentalist, Musiikkimato Lauri Schreck, who is responsible for the arrangement and accompaniment of the music.
On stage, they play e.g. electric guitar, loop machine and kannel, and the singers also dance and rap. Groke se lätti piirin bends into rock in the performance, and Majuri performs the song in the style of a rock star. Towards the end of the performance, we will also hear the Queen of the Night’s aria from The Magic Flute.
In Schreck’s treatment, the songs have been updated in a fun way for this millennium, but the synth sounds used in them still sound like they were from the 1980s. The arrangements are surprising and the end of one song makes you wait for the next one to begin. Sometimes you even forget that you are listening to the same rallies as you used to listen to on the album.
Even my child was so impressed with his playing that he wanted to go and thank the musician after the performance!
Jyrki Karttunen is responsible for the fast-paced choreography, and Alisha Davidow is behind the set and costumes.
In the Groke Opera, there is no talk at all, but the story is carried forward wordlessly between songs. The narrator’s voice does tell us that the monster decides to leave his home forest, Mökkyrä, for Helsinki to get to know the world of the Mölliäs, i.e. humans. In Helsinki, the Groke ends up in schools, the Presidential Palace, the Market Square and a tram, among other places, and meets a lot of people. However, the Groke feels like an outsider and longs to return to his home.
The performance is suitable for fairly young viewers as well. Its length with intermissions is 1.5 hours, there is a lot going on on stage, and the sets and costumes are colorful and full of fun details. On a small stage, the actors are very close, and the audience can see their expressions better than on the big stage. My daughter was amazed at how nice the masks were painted on the actors’ faces.
The Groke Opera sunk in brilliantly for the child, and the performance was entertaining and well done in the father’s opinion as well. We went home with a smile on our faces and humming the Knock Game. And the monster played by Majuri was so cute that I wanted to take him in my pocket and take him home as a pet.