Rembrandt ~ The Musical

Wednesday, 12 July 2006 11:10

Hoom, Netherlands - Rembrandt the Musical sounds like classic kitsch, part of the commercial hoopla surrounding the 400th anniversary of the artist's birth in the Netherlands later this week.  But the $1.25m (£679,000) show places the story of his life and times in 17th-century Holland against a backdrop of digital images of his masterpieces, projected on to 30ft (9 meter) screens.  The resolution is so high that from the back of a 900-seat theatre the audience can see the veins in the hands of an old woman.

The virtual moving museum becomes an integral part of the production, with many of the scenes and people in the paintings central characters in the story unfolding on the stage.

The show premieres on Rembrandt's birthday on July 15 at Amsterdam's Royal Carré theatre for a six-month run.  Tourists will be given hand-held translation devices.

Arthur Max in Hoorn and Associated Press