Simon (2004) (V)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Nikolaj Cederholm

Writer:

Nikolaj Cederholm (writer)

Release Date:

28 June 2004 (Denmark)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Comedy stage show portraying the legendary Danish multi-millionaire Simon Spies who lived quite an unusual life in the 70's and 80's...

Plot Keywords:

Business | Airplane | Joke | Celebrity | Millionaire

Cast

Anders Matthesen	...	Simon Spies
Morten Hauch-Fausbøll	...	Jan Schmidt / Yonathan Netanyahu
Louise Mieritz	...	Lisbeth Knudsen
Søren Hauch-Fausbøll	...	Mogens Glistrup
Bjarne Henriksen	...	Andre Pavlov / Idi Amin
Annette Klingenberg	...	Karen
Jannie Høeg	...	Pia
Susanne Lana	...	Ulla
Grethe Mogensen	...	Inger
Jimmy Jørgensen	...	Emma Spies / Elif Krogager / Steward
Marie Søderberg	...	Janni
Sonny Fredie-Pedersen	...	Pilot Gregersen / Spies aircrew
Karen Margrethe Aunsholt	...	Spies aircrew
Miguel Azcue	...	Spies aircrew
Suad Demirovic	...	Spies aircrew

Also Known As:

Simon - Et lufthavnsshow (Denmark) (poster title)
Simon - Spies, skæg og ballade (Denmark) (video box title)

Runtime:

Denmark:117 min

Country:

Denmark

Language:

English | Danish

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Østre Gasværk, Østerbro, Copenhagen, Denmark

Company:

Østre Gasværk

Trivia:

Filmed over two days with a live audience. The audience paid half ticket price to accept all the cameras on and off stage. Later audience members stated that it had felt natural with all the cameras, since Simon Spies was always followed by reporters anyway.

Best in show...

...I never saw the show when performed at Østre Gasværk. But know people who have. And they say it is one of the best shows they have ever seen. And those who have seen both the show and the DVD says the show is the better. For those who doesn't know anything about the DVD I can only say that it is just the show filmed in Østre Gasværk, with live audience.

I myself saw it for the first time on DVD, and just seeing it there was a very unique experience.

The show is about controversial travel agent Simon Spies. He lived a life filled with drugs, alcohol, women and strange ideas. We are introduced to him as he and his followers land at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, at the time of the famous hijacking of an Israeli airplane in 1976, in the very same Airport. And here we are introduced to his staff, friends(like just as controversial politician Mogens Glistrup) and his Morgenbollepiger(translated to something like Morning Humpinggirls), and his way of living with his personal "doctor" making sure Simon never had a dull moment.

The strength of the show is, besides the great subject that Simon was, the cast. Performing as Simon, is Anders "Anden" Mathesen, a talented comedian, specializing in character-comedy. His performs is charming, exciting and very lively. Being dressed in a huge fake belly and a just as large beard, Mathesen manages to perform through the make up and use all his talents. He got the right devilish smirk and the same dirty smile that gives just the right impression of Simon. Other cast members include the brothers Søren and Morten Hauch-Fausbøll, playing Mogens Glistrup and Simons "life"-doctor Jan Schmidt, both playing the parts very well, and all people knows Glistrup and they can all see the Søren delivers an incredible performance, even the really Glistrup enjoyed his performance. Morgenbollepigerne are played by women who all had hits in the seventies, playing what in reality was very young girls. Which makes the experience very humorous in more than just the dialogue.

The set is built as a DC-9-plane, with real plane-tires. The whole show takes place in front of the plan and to some extent on one of the wings. And therefor props are used within this context and are brought in by luggage-vehicles and those movable stair-thingies.

The show was very well choreographed. For a few minutes the whole showed is, by the orders of Simon, played in reverse, and therefor acted backwards in the show. The movements as well as the live songs are therefor in reverse, and although being introduced as a funny example of how Simon wanted to control the world, one sits admiring the movements of the actors. As Glistrup and Simon plays table tennis, we also get to see everything in slow motion, and then they make an live-Matrix-scene, where we change point of view to see the game from above. It is very impressive.

The songs are mixture of a few original(I think) and songs from the period in which we are supposed to be. And are used in various ways, both as background music, parts of the dialogue, making time for costume changes and as entertainment, as the former mentioned reverse scene.

For the DVD they have made a few changes, all being in the way they cut the scenes and introduce visual effects that are only the DVD. It is a very well made DVD, exploring the potential of a filmed show's new possibilities when adding visual effects. But still it is far from overdone.

It is all in all a great show and highly entertaining. Recommended for all people!

9/10