Sweet feel-good musical about the drug scene and uplifting musical 'Reflection' #tf2010

 In my search for the gem of the Fringe, I stumbled across two musicals at the Rose Theatre on Wednesday night. At the Fringe Festival, anything goes, yet I was surprised by Christiane by F*K Theatre. In this musical, young people sink to the bottom of society. They drink and blow. Everyone lives in their own little world. Main character Christiane falls in love with an addicted boy and thus also comes into contact with the dark sides of the drug scene. You expect to see the raw sides of this dark world in a story like this, but from the first song Christiane far too well behaved. It reminds me of a feel good-school musical. Eight neat boys and girls sing about 'a trip with friends around you'. They do this so sweetly and in harmonious harmony singing that what you hear and see is totally inconsistent with the story.

No, then Reflection. The makers of this musical, Christiaan Nannen and Femke Krist, won last year's Musicalmakers Scholarship 2009, an initiative of the Tekstpierement Foundation. This automatically raises expectations, but it does not disappoint. The story is more complex than the performance earlier in the evening. A young lady, Bianca, loses her mother and a year later she experiences the psychological consequences of this. A battle erupts between Bianca and her boyfriend John's mother. The mother-in-law wants Bianca to be hospitalised. The musical is serious, but also uplifting and even very comical as Bianca's mother-in-law, (called the witch in Bianca's little world) with a great sense of tragedy, is especially concerned with her own feelings. An abstract setting, lovely fresh piano sounds combined with the beautiful, clear voices support the story seamlessly. The message is that sometimes you have to go through something to free yourself from it. After which comes an uplifting ending with the song: 'Reach for the bottle and drink, give life meaning again!'

Christiane From F*K Theatre. Rozentheater, Amsterdam, 8 September. Still to be seen until Saturday 11 September.

Reflection From Crystal Theatre. Rose Theatre, Amsterdam, 8 September. Still to be seen until Saturday 11 September.