Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.07.2017, Qupperneq 60

60 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2017
‘Journey To The Cen-
ter Of The Earth: The
Musical’ Is The Best
No hyperbole
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen Photo: Art Bicnick
Musicals are a divisive subject,
especially for those whose only
exposure to the genre has been
the film adaptation of ‘Les Mi-
sérables’ or their grandmother
blasting Sarah Brightman’s ver-
sion of “Memory”
from ‘Cats’. That
said, you cy nical
happiness haters,
open your m ind,
drive the two and a
half hours to Rif’s
Freezer Hostel, sit
your ass down on
a stool, and go see
the hostel’s produc-
tion of ‘Journey To
The Center Of The
Earth: The Musical’.
I d o n ’ t l i k e
w r i t i n g u n i v e r -
sal ly positive re-
v iews—it feels a
bit like a market-
ing campaign—but this show is,
without hyperbole, incredible,
hysterical, well thought-out and,
seriously, better than ‘Hamilton’.
The carnivalesque extrava-
ganza presents Jules Verne’s fa-
miliar story of German professor
Otto Lidenbrock’s pilgrimage to
Snæfellsjökull, where he begins
his fantastic voyage. As the Freez-
er Hostel is only a twenty-minute
drive from the famed hole, the
show is pertinent, in the way that
it would be if a small hotel in Bali
mounted a produc-
tion of ‘Eat, Pray,
Love: The Opera’.
Starring Kári
Viðarsson as Otto,
Sm á r i G u n n a rs -
son a s A xel, h i s
student, Stephanie
Lewis in a variety of
different roles, and
a chorus of local
children and pre-
teens, the produc-
tion is beautifully
tong ue-i n-cheek.
Mu sica l s a re r i-
diculous, but ‘Jour-
ney To The Center
Of The Earth: The
Musical’ amps that to the nth
degree. Musicals are expensive,
but this production delights
in its low budget with a campy-
cheap style that utilizes every
object smartly and fr uga l ly.
To be honest, the performance
is hard to write about. The gags
and surprises are so shrewd that
I don’t want to spoil them. All
I’ll say is that it includes a foam
insulation model of Himmelb-
jerget (the “tallest” mountain in
Denmark), a bouncy castle, a hi-
lariously offensive Icelandic im-
pression by Lewis, and a finale
where you as the audience wake
up on stage awkwardly staring
at the actors on the ground. Yes,
while the first act sticks strictly
to Verne’s story, the actors clearly
pop some acid before the second.
As the show journeys from rep-
resentational to presentational,
you might think you’re watch-
ing the breakdown of a cast. But
trust me, it’s just good acting.
The beauty of the show really
is the cast. They were so adept
at both improvisation and clas-
sical theatre that—even when
some overly amused audience
members jumped on stage to join
them—the actors played it off so
perfectly that there was no doubt
in my mind those disrespect-
ful theatregoers were planted.
But they weren’t, just rude kids
with really incredible timing.
Shoutout to them, by the way.
Yes, ‘Journey To The Center
Of The Earth: The Musical’ is
something you should experi-
ence, tourist or local, musical
lover or Debbie downer. You won’t
be disappointed and, again, it’s
only a couple hours’ drive away,
so you really have no excuse.
‘Jour ney To T he Center Of T he
Earth: The Musical’ plays every
Thursday and Sunday at 20:00
on the dot at The Freezer Hostel.
“While the
first act
sticks strict-
ly to Verne’s
story, the
actors clear-
ly pop some
acid before
the second."
ART