Review: Kirka – Surun pyyhit silmistäni

Kirka – You wipe the sorrow from my eyes

Helsinki City Theatre’s spring musical venture at the Peacock Theatre in Linnanmäki is a Finnish premiere, “Kirka – Surun wipeit silmistani” written by Matti Laine.

The premiere of HKT’s musical “Kirka” begins promisingly. The kettle kiosk of the orchestra assembled by Risto Kupiainen, who has become a regular in the house’s rock musicals, is run by Anssi Nykänen, and Jarmo Nikku also gets to perform solo on stage between the audience and the fake Marshall wall right in the opening number.

And it started with rock as well, Kirka’s singing career. The beginning of the musical takes the viewer to the scenery of downtown Helsinki in the early 1960s, when Kirill, a teenager of a Russian émigré family, is inspired by his older brother’s example and gets a microphone in front of him and a rock band behind him.

Then comes Danny, the business angel of Finnish early pop, and negotiates a recording contract for the rocker Kirka, who is grinding at a school party, albeit only offering a Finnish-language translation, according to the custom of the time. So does the music, language and band: Creatures, led by the unpredictable Remu Aaltonen, is replaced by Kirka’s professional band Islanders.

The artist’s change of course was actually quick and sharp, but only on the turntable – at gigs, Kirka was always “rock” for decades. While the singer’s soul resonated in the keys of rock, Finnish-language schlager brought popularity and bread. In the words of the character, he “sang songs all his life that he didn’t want to sing”. Pretty tragic.

HKT’s musical awakens us to notice that the life of Kirill “Kirka” Babitzin, who passed away a decade ago, had enough dramatic elements, other than the accidental death of his most important role model, his own older brother, just as the big breakthrough was realized.

Take for example when Kirka, who has fallen into financial distress and the trough of her career, is forced to pull “one more” with her back against the wall. And so it happened that “Surun wipeit silmäistani” opened all the pent-up taps, brought the long-awaited Autumn Tune victory in 1988 and raised the artist to a fixed star for the rest of his life!

The creators of the musical should be thanked and bowed down for the fact that the musical does not fall into a boring jukebox grinding a worn-out cavalcade of the most famous hits. Of course, important milestones such as “Hetki Lyö”, “Kites” and “Hanging out” are heard, but justifiably and embedded in the story. Elegant and moving is the illustration of Sammy Babitzin’s lightning-fast rise and fall without explanation, only with dance choreography during a single musical number (“Daa-da daa-da”).

But in order not to create a false picture, instead of sadness, the audience gets to wipe tears of laughter from their eyes more often in the City Theatre’s performance, because in Kari Rentola’s hands, “Kirka” has turned into a strangely funny musical.

And even though at first you even feel like being offended for Jaakko Salo and Kassu Halonen, you have to admit that carnivalesque caricatures are smut funny. So let’s laugh – as long as no one imagines that when we snort at the hilarious cartoons presented by Rauno Ahonen, we would be laughing at the real Salo or Halonen.

HKT’s performance is even more irrational caricatures – for example, singing competitions of all kinds were turning points in Kirka’s career, and Peacock’s performance also visits them many times. The most unforgettable is the scene illustrating the Eastern Bloc’s “Eurovision Song Contest”, the Sopot Song Festival, in which the original-looking Slavic conductor played by Unto Nuora gets completely out of hand. In the end, there is such a one-man circus going on on the stage that the audience can’t help but howl with laughter while holding their stomachs. This scene will go down in the history of Finnish musicals as one of the funniest of all time.

Even though the City Theatre’s “Kirka” is firmly grounded in reality, the end result is not a documentary but an artistic interpretation: “this is how it might have gone”. Kirka himself is interpreted by two actors, of whom Heikki Ranta, who has honed his vocal and stage expression in strict condition, got his turn at the premiere. The role is Ranta’s thesis, which will graduate from the Theatre Academy in the spring.

You can sit in the audience of the musical with pleasure, even if you are not a fan of Kirka’s music, as conductor Kupiainen has managed to breathe life and energy into even the most worn-out pieces with his new arrangements. However, the songs have not been crushed beyond recognition, but the necessary lift is provided by a subtle gesture, such as a slight change in tempo, emphasizing the chorus or balancing the timbre in a new way.

By the way, Peacock’s giant wooden box has probably never sounded in such good tune: clear, warm and sturdy – and at the same time constantly slowing down the volume gauntlet. But this is where the fun soon ends, because when the performances of “Kirka” end, HKT packs its stuff and returns to its theatre building in Tokoinranta, which is hatching from renovation around May Day. 

Before that, every music lover should go and experience the Helsinki City Theatre’s “Kirka”. The opportunity to do so will be available five times a week until the end of April.