Teaterkoncert Beethoven
Sep 17-Oct 9, shows Tue-Fri 20:00, Sat 17:00, Sun 16:00; Bellevue Teatret, Strandvejen 451, Klampenborg; tickets 180-455kr, billeten.dk, 7020 2096; 120 mins

Beethoven and his immortal beloved, Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Charles Darwin and his daughter, and the British artist Turner might sound like the cast for another really poor Somersby cider advert, but are in fact linked in a Cloud Atlas kind of way for a Nordic Noir theatre concert that is blowing the Norwegian critics away.

“I don’t suggest you see Beethoven, I order you to see it!” contends Rogaland Avis. “A touching and spectacular experience,” concurs NRK. “Wow … just wow,” purrs Natt & Day.

All praise indeed, but it’s not surprising when you consider the pedigree of the creators, the Hellemann Brothers, and their long-term collaborator, the director Nikolaj Cederholm, who have previously reworked the music of the Beatles, Bob Dylan and, most tellingly, Mozart into unforgettable onstage spectacles. While esteemed New York poet Neill Cardinal Furio has been brought in to supply the lyrics.

The result is a historical fantasy combining live singing and on-stage playing with aerial dancing, mad couture, slapstick silence, funereal sadness and the colour orange.

Just like Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison, the protagonists are all linked by the number 27, but not because they died at that age.

In their case, it is the amount of time they persevered against the odds: Mandela against his imprisonment, Beethoven against his ensuing deafness and Darwin with his controversial theories.