The 45th Stage Song Review will take place between 21 – 30 March 2024
The 45th Stage Songs Review will take place between 21 – 30 March 2025 in Wrocław. This year’s edition of the festival is a story about the clash of broadly understood normality with madness. How do these two opposite poles find themselves in today’s art? Can the work of “normals” and “freaks” tell the same story and at the same time, combine different artistic worlds? We will find answers to these questions during the events of both Polish and foreign artists.
Once again, we will open the festival with Gala, one of the most important and most anticipated events of the festival by the audience. The premiere concert “R.A.D.W.A.N. – the art of disappearing” directed by Ewa Konstancja Bułhak, is dedicated to Stanisław Radwan, an outstanding composer of theatre music, an icon of artistic Kraków and a great friend of PPA, laureate of the Alexander Bardini Master’s Diploma. During the Gala, the following artists will perform: Ewa Konstancja Bułhak, Werusza Kowalska, Olga Lisiecka, Ewa Prus, Katarzyna Zielińska, Jacek Braciak, Marcin Januszkiewicz, Filip Karaś, Kacper Kuszewski and Maciej Maciejewski.
Another event, inseparably associated with PPA is the Finale Concert. The first part will feature the finalists of the Acting Song Interpretation Contest, selected after the second stage of KAIP, who will receive attractive prizes, including the grand Prix – the Golden Toucan statue. They will be judged by jury composed of: Anna Radwan, Jan Klata, Michał Litwiniec, Agnieszka Szydłowska and Leszek Możdżer. The second part is the premiere concert with invited stars: “Mirrors” dedicated by Ewa Kaim and Agnieszka Kozak tell the story of otherness and the need of acceptance. The whole story takes place in the circus of curiosities, in which the following artists will perform: Emose Uhunmwangho, Kamil Studnicki, Sebastian Stankiewicz, Marcin Januszkiewicz, Marcin Czarnik, Justyna Szafran, Ralph Kaminski, Natalia Sikora, Bartosz Picher, Cezary Studniak and Dorota Pomykała.
The premiere events will also include the experimental spectacle “Songs painted now” directed by Agata Duda-Gracz and Cezary Studniak: five paintings will be created during the live songs performance. Under the musical direction of Wojciech Krzak, the following artists will paint: Jerzy Kosałka, Edyta Olszewska, Piotr Saul, Jacek Sroka, Olga Szerstobitow.
There will be also performances of foreign stars during the festival: the French Fo’plafonds with the musical show during which the band uses a variety of recycled instruments; Dakh Daughters, six multi-talented Ukrainian artists with the spectacle “Danse Macabre”, telling the story of war crimes and commemorating the defenders of the Ukrainian people; Bachar Mar-Khalifé, a French-Lebanese artist, a master of piano, who uses both Middle Eastern traditions and modern European sounds in his work.
During the 45th PPA, there will be an opportunity to watch one of the greatest performances of the last year “Heart of Glass. The Zen Musical” directed by Cezary Tomaszewski, inspired by “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen and the book “Naku*wiam zen” by Maria Peszek and Jan Peszek, an autobiographical extended interview between a daughter and a father about love, death, God. Art and the meaning of life. Natalia Sikora, a laureate of the Acting Song Interpretation Contest from twenty years ago, is returning to the festival. She is now a mature artist with an impressive artistic achievements and will present a musical monodrama “Private Tina” with a story of one of the greatest star of all times. Jan Emil Młynarski & Bass Federacja will present material from the first album signed with the artist’s name, called “Narkotyki”. We will hear pre-war songs about love and drugs, to whicj Jan Emil Młynarski, like many others, gives a second life.
As every year, the festival program includes performances by theatre schools. This time, these will be: “songs of polish bakers” directed by Klaudia Gębska (Academy of Thearte Arts in Kraków), “Alice won’t be there” directed by Bartosz Porczyk and Ewelina Adamska-Porczyk (Academy of Theatre Arts in Warsaw) and “Cinders” directed by Cezary Studniak (Film School in Łódź). There will also be interesting events in the Festival Club. Late in the evenings, there will be following concerts: IKARVS, Sw@da x Niczos, Zima stulecia, Nanga, Sedno, Przestrzeń and Hajda Banda. The Off Competition includes eight performances this year, selected for production through a script competition. The jury of the Off Competition will be: Barbara Banaś, Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkało and Piotr Damasiewicz.
The last day of the festival will feature a discussion and concert “Why sing in the theatre?” hosted by Katarzyna Janowska and Konrad Imiela. During the event the following artists will perform: Marcin Czarnik, Krzysztof Głuchowski, Marta Górnicka, ŁONA (Adam Zieliński), Jan Jurkowski, Jan Klata, Zuzanna Skolias-Pakuła, Piotr Tuleja, Emose Uhunmwangho, Klaudia Waszak, Filip Zaręba and the acting team from the Szaniawski Theatre in Wałbrzych.
