Review: Rebecca

Love conquers all

I still remember the beginning of Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rebecca (1940): the ruins of the burnt Manderley mansion and the fog that covered all past suffering and guilt.

The musical Rebecca, written by Michael Kunze, also begins, but after that, the viewer gets to enjoy modern technology, bold set design and catchy melodies.

The musical Rebecca is a delight for the eyes and ears and has a firm structure. There is no dead end, even the choir’s songs move the whole forward smoothly.

The story itself is complex enough to create good aftertastes. I think that Hitchcock and Daphne du Maurier, the author of Rebecca (1938), would also be satisfied with the musical’s Mrs. Danvers: Sari Ann Moilanen sings gallantly. Her role is also the most exciting in the story: Why doesn’t the mansion’s treasurer’s fervent worship and possessiveness break free from the deceased Rebecca de Winter?

Moilanen’s Danvers features the grief and seductive evil of a person left with nothing in Rebecca’s death when she incites the young Mrs. de Winter to commit suicide. He also has a passionate love (perhaps also erotic) when he conjures up the dead Rebecca with his song.


Kari Arffman performs his role well as a sought-after widower and an educated manor master. An interesting mystery in his case remains why Maxim de Winter once agreed to his loveless marriage. Why was family honor the measure of everything?

The triangle drama also includes Sanna Majuri’s young lady de Winter: a woman who is subjugated at first but straightens her back when the truths are revealed, a loving woman who believes in the power of love. The major sings sensitively, and it is easy to believe him to be the saving angel of the story.


Riitta Havukainen has a lot of fun as an upstart from the US. She is a good mix of self-righteousness, self-irony and intrigue (a woman should always take advantage of the opportunity). Antti Timonen Rebecca as a cousin and lover is a good earthworm, but the role still leaves him as a one-level villain.

Special thanks go to the musical’s set design, which was designed by Katariina Kirjavainen. When the metre-high red orchid flowers fall from the ceiling like fabrics, everyone understands that it is a matter of passion.