This extraordinary, riotous show features an orchestra of nineteen professional musicians and opera singers. They can play everything: from Bach, through film music, to heavy metal. Waldemar Malicki comperes with the comic style and panache of Victor Borge – ‘incredibly funny, intelligent and a huge dose of great music’ Komediowo.pl.
The Philharmonic of Wit is a global phenomenon. Born out the huge, award-winning Polish prime-time TV show Co tu jest grane (What’s going on’ or ‘What’s being played now), this unique musical-comedy show uses the potential of classical music to reveal that boundaries between nations do not really exist – we share universal values, as jokes and the music are loved by everyone!
The Philharmonic of Wit is classical music applied to 21st century life. Familiar and much-loved operatic and symphonic hits sound as if they were composed today, “drowned in an unusual arrangement of ideas, sounds, voices, instrumental capabilities and volleys of audience laughter. Surprising, elegant, sometimes twisted … a whole range of positive emotions flows from the stage.” Bilety24.pl
The orchestra includes beautiful young women who play string instruments – as Malicki says: “Since all the enterprising Polish women have gone to the UK to work, we could only choose from the left overs – the prettiest ones…”
The elements of interpersonal rivalries, cultural differences between nations, and sexism are here the canvas of jokes or starting points for intellectual riffing as the protagonists scoff at the world but also laugh of each other.
Waldemar Malicki, the pianist- virtuoso, is also the leader and host of the show, fluent in five languages (unfortunately he’s often unable to decide which one might be spoken…) His comedy skills have been compared with those of Victor Borge, who he admires.
The brilliant arrangements, that make all the music sound as though composed in the twenty-first century, are by Bernard Chmielarz, who is also the conductor and a character of the show. The writer and director of the show is Jacek Kęcik, one of the top TV directors in Poland.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014, July 31-August 24 (not 21st), 18:30 (75mins)
Venue: Fringe Venue 150, 150 Morrison Street, EH3 8EE
Source: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014, The Philharmonic of Wit
Photo © Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014. The Philharmonic of Wit.