Musical theater has it all
The trial period for the Athinais Cultural Complex has ended and as the multifunctional premises in the up-and-coming Votanikos area celebrates its first productive year, its cultural profile has grown clearer. Two new productions, which open at the complex this week, are also two new points of departure for Athinais as they inaugurate two new halls: a theater stage (which replaces one of the two cinema auditoriums) and the new musical stage, situated beneath the theater. The productions are Frank Wedekind’s play Lulu, which opens tonight, while on Friday, December 7, the energetic Stamatis Kraounakis begins his new collaboration with Athinais with a novel musical show, titled Sold-Out. Kraounakis’s new stage work, which is interpreted by Speira Speira, follows the highly successful All in Black and a Piano (Oli Mavra ki ena Piano) and judging from its title, it is destined to meet equal success. Sold-Out is something between a musical and a revue. In it, the composer has blended elements drawn from revues, musicals, cabaret and operettas, with the aim of creating something new in the musical theater genre. The cast is led by Jeni Botsi in the role of the widow, and includes the following members of Speira Speira: Nicoletta Anastassiou, Christos Kanellopoulos, Giorgos Karadimos, Petros Margetis, Pelagia Mourouzi, Christos Moustakas, Anna Sopiadou, Dimitra Spyropoulou, Giorgos Stivanakis, Victoria Tagouli, Iro Harlafti and, of course, Stamatis Kraounakis, who has undertaken the direction and the script – the latter co-written by Christos Kanellopoulos, Christos Theodorou and Nikos Kollarou. The stage design is by Vassilis Liakopoulos, lighting by Marina Maragoudaki, choreography by Dimitris Papazoglou and costumes by Dinos Petratos. In the production of Lulu – a drama which unfolds as a woman murders her lover and ends up a prostitute – also at Athinais, Wedekind’s play, translated by P. Markaris, is directed by Antonis Kalogridis, with stage and costume designs by M. Trikerioti. The play stars Nikos Kalogridis and Sophia Seirli. Lulu and Sold-Out at the Athinais Cultural Complex, Iera Odos and 34-36 Kastorias, Votanikos. Modern castaways
