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Last weekend, Michał Kwieciński – director, producer and screenplay author, founder of Akson Studio, was in the audience of “The Pilots”. In his private life, he is a fan of and expert on musical theatre. He decided to write down his own review:
I went to “Roma” Theatre to see “The Pilots”. What are my impressions? It was fantastic. Every time I am in New York and London, I try to see new musicals. I like them. I love “Chorus Line”, “42nd Street” and “Billy Elliott”. Now I will always remember “The Pilots”. There are moments when I’m proud of successful initiatives in Poland that are unique and world-class. The new show by Wojciech Kępczyński is one of them. It’s excellent and original: the libretto, the music, the choreography. As simple as that! I admire the artists at “Roma”. They are a perfectly disciplined and close-knit team. Their dancing and singing is perfect. I was simply astonished to see the stage design – tasteful and full of originality, and at the same time incredibly complex in its technical aspects. However, these technical details are hidden from the viewers. What the viewer feels is the cinematic story. Overall, “The Pilots” is an explosive mixture of theatre and cinema. It seems to me that the feature film about the “303 Squadron” is unlikely to have better air battle scenes. The costumes are equally impressive, and there are hundreds of them, all with their taste and class. This is what a musical theatre should be offering. The original libretto contains a well-written passage from the history of World War 2 (fortunately, stripped of martyrdom and loftiness), combined with a very interesting, multi-layered melodrama presented in 1940s’ style, in the atmosphere of cinema noir. A very bold and unusual composition, and a very successful one. The ending is so surprising and uncharacteristic that this final scene by itself makes “The Pilots” worth seeing. It really does!