What does it say about society, what does it push outside?

In a short time, Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth has gained the reputation of a modern masterpiece. The play premiered at London's Royal Court Theatre in 2009 and garnered praise from audiences and critics alike, who considered it one of the greatest performances of the 2000s.

Tensions without eruptions

From the conductor of the musicalWhen I think back to my life on the threshold of adulthood, two feelings come to mind: constant uncertainty and perceiving the realities of life. These two things, uncertainty and the inevitability of reality, are also suitable to describe the music and orchestration of Dear Evan Hansen. While the fragile tremolo sound of the electric guitar echoes a fumbling, constant living in a lie, in the same musical number, the very next movement, the rooty tom beat of the drum kit inexorably rolls the events forward. The beloved music of Evan Hansen is composed for eight actors and eight musicians. As in many modern musicals, almost everything to be sung is high and requires rhythmic precision. The orchestration has two compatible blocks: percussion (drums and piano) and stringed instruments (strings and guitars). The strings (violin, viola, cello and double bass) resonate with humanity, empathy and motherly love throughout the score. The guitars (acoustic guitar, electric guitar and bass guitar) depict youthful enthusiasm and love, as well as a pure, fresh desire to feel emotions for the first time. What is left for the percussion, piano and drum kit to do? Perhaps they are an unavoidable danger of the passage of time or a symbol of the insanely fast flow of information in the modern digital age? Maybe they just create pressure fluctuations. One of the characteristic features of Beloved Evan Hansen's music is the indestructibility of its harmonies. The so-called arresting chords, the "normal" tense of which would be to be broken down into either major or minor, are left unresolved in many of the songs of this musical. I wonder what the composers of the work want to tell with these choices. Why don't composers carry harmonies "to the end"? I wonder if it's easier to skip the obvious major and minor solutions, because the protagonist Evan can't always identify right or wrong?Either way, for a conductor and music interpreter in general, the most important thing is to analyse and question, not necessarily to find one and only solution. However, the music is there and the performance instructions are easy to follow. As a conductor, I always try to look for the composer's and orchestrator's choices. I feel that my task is to serve the authors of the book as organically as possible. In a way that I imagine the viewer wants to get close to the story we are telling. Organically, effortlessly and closely. Eeva Kontu, conductor

Something new, something borrowed and something blue

Starting points for set design

Honesty inherits the earth or does it?

Dear Evan Hansen Musical Director's Word

Ape Army Director’s Word

The Snow Queen reflects Shed’s values

"Christmas performances always have a communal atmosphere and you get a good feeling when you do something big together," says 18-year-old Sade Edevbaro. She has been involved in all the joint musicals of the Shed Theatre Group and the Helsinki City Theatre, which have been performed since 2019.