Niels van Doormalen (24) from Valkenswaard is the first Dutchman to be trained as a musical producer in London. His first musical performance will premiere in Den Bosch on Friday: Before After. Ten years ago he decided that musical became his profession, now the time has come: “It is very hard work, but we just do it. Just like an employee in the hospital also does his job.”
Before After is a small musical with only two protagonists: Desi van Doeveren and Coen Bril. The two did not know Niels yet. “But now it does”, Desi laughs hard: “It will ensure that it will be known. He’s a very young producer who just came to watch and I think he’s doing a really good job of that.” “Because it’s not nothing,” adds Coen. Making a musical is complicated, he says: “Very cool that he succeeded. That you already know what you want at such a young age. Now we have to make it happen and ensure that the halls are nicely full.”
The young producer is not the type to cheer on the benches now that the time has come. “I realize it, yes. It’s great fun”, smiles Van Doormalen. The fact that people buy tickets for his performance, interviews, a photographer in the wings, doesn’t make his head spin: “It’s fun, but ultimately our goal is to make a performance.”
Long days
The musical takes shape in Theater De Schalm in Veldhoven. The days are long. Van Doormalen starts at nine o’clock in the morning and only switches off the light at one o’clock in the morning. The timetable he sent the reporter the day before has completely changed. Actually, his actors in the set should be working on a technical run-through. But the music director wanted and got extra rehearsal time. So Desi and Coen are now practicing together at the piano. The pause is shortened. It does not bring Van Doormalen off balance. “I am familiar with editing processes, it is not the first time that I have created a performance.”
In Before After, Desi and Coen play a couple that has broken up. But one of them has amnesia. Then they meet again and the relationship can start again. Or not? The performance was created in corona time and has only been seen online. Niels brings the piece on stage for the first time.
no princess
He believes that the story must be recognizable: “I think it is important that the stories I tell are about people like you and me. So no fantasyfigure, or a princess. No: people you also meet on the street.” Nor does he work with the dizzying changes of scenery known from spectacle musicals: “I want to appeal to the power of the imagination. So if we’re in a cafe, you won’t see a cafe on stage here. I want to take people into a beautiful story and make them think. That is the power of theatre, that is what I want to do.”
Now that Before After is entering the theaters, Van Doormalen can focus on the next adventure: a performance in the tradition of what he calls ‘the mother of the Dutch musical’: Annie MG Schmidt.
Before After will premiere on Friday in Den Bosch.
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