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I'm so glad that "OktoberZest" will remove the tacky forest set for something new. Hopefully the new set turns out lovely.
 
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The old set, prior to ROTB had a bit of a German opera charm to it, except they made it way more cartoonish in real life than what was depicted in the concept art. The set could look really interesting if it bears no resemblance to past "Illuminightmares". The other thing is that when they use the term "modern" German, I hope that isn't another way of saying it won't be German at all.

Also, this show needs to have more live singers. ROTB had only three live singers, and they only sang live part of the time. Mostly they would sing their solos and the fallback track would kick in immediately. I am excited to have a newly orchestrated score, but I wonder why they have musicians at all if they only have two.

If nothing else, I'm very happy that they are removing the story element. Maybe someone (finally) remembered that it's a beer hall.
 
Just saw the BGWFans pictures on Instagram and they are all wonderful. The set for "OktoberZest" is already a big improvement over that ridiculous, tacky and theme inappropriate forest set they had since 2013.

Plus the official website has updated "OktoberZest" to the show list and the description has confirmed this bit: "four players including a violinist". So, not only will there be five men and five women who will be both singers and dancers, but four instrument players will be in it including a full orchestra pre-recording to back it up. Call me excited for this! :D
 
Well I can consider that a minor oops on the website's part. So it's going to be an "accordion and violin player" in the new show eh? Hopefully the pre-recorded full orchestra will fill in the sound well enough.
 
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A couple of pictures of the set for OktoberZest. Both sides are the same.
 

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I like that the blue curtains above the stage matches very well with Das Festhaus. Question, is the set complete or still finishing the last details?
 
Zachary said:
A little birdy told me that OktoberZest will involve a woodcutting sequence with (real?!) axes. Maybe some sort of percussion sequence similar to Monster Stomp...?

I'm intrigued.

Really? Now this is something worth watching if that's the case.
 
This show has so much potential. Bavarian culture is rich with traditions of chopping wood, and making music from it. I'm still trying to figure out where the steam punk vibe comes from. I suppose it could be Bavarian because of ironsmiths and clock makers.

Immediately when I heard about the wood chopping, I thought of a very traditional song that (when literally translated) goes "We are the happy Holzhackerbuam (wood chopping boys). We love the maidens and envy the trees." The refrain "holje holio hol je holio" is basically a type of gibberish which has real origins, but it gets lost in translation. It's actually a lovely song when sung in the German tongue.
I just hope they don't translate it or create an English imitation of the song. I have a feeling now that this part will play out like ROTB in spite of lacking a narrative.

Otherwise, the set looks interesting from afar, but so far it looks like they are using the wrong scenic style for an open sided stage. The graphics look great but they are still too flat and boxy at the moment. I do like the new circular curtain ring, however.

I still don't know what the music will be like, but on Pass Member Preview Day they were playing the same music that played before the start of Entwined. I actually like that music.

Everything should be fine if Entwined or Roll Out The Barrel don't show up somehow.
 
If it can help, the BGWFans article did say it was going to be traditional German songs and dances; the modern twist part is most likely from an design point of view (sets, costumes, etc). But since this is a show made by Pete Dunklee and Phil Raybourn, this will already be way better than both "Entwined" and "Roll Out The Barrel" combined.
 
Be careful how you read that section- the words were chosen very specifically.

Jennifer assured us that OktoberZest would be a song-and-dance-driven production that will incorporate traditional German music.

I don't want anyone to get it in their head that the show will be traditional German anything- only that it will incorporate some of the more traditional aspects we have seen previously. Let us not forget...

In the words of Jennifer, “[OktoberZest] is not your mother’s Oktoberfest.”
 
Thanks Zachary for the clarification. In other words, it will be both old and new.
 
If only it were that simple. Unfortunately, we don't (publicly) know who is behind this show. Even if we did know, Pete Dunklee and Phil Raybourn are not show writers alone. I'm not trying to nitpick, I'm just putting into perspective that very few shows in Das Festhaus since 2013 were the work of any one person at the park.

Having one person gone definitely changed the dynamic of the shows at the park. However, there are still some people at the park who still carry the old frame of thought. We just have to hope that the current management of entertainment will keep it under control and prevent another "Entwined".
 
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