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If this is the wrong place for this thread or I missed one that already exists, I'm sorry. But I just wanted to tell you that I finally managed to watch this fantastic play in its entirety for the first time, and I would love to discuss it with you guys to see what you have to say about it!!! I apologize in advance if this will come across as rambling, but I simply have a lot of thoughts concerning this play in general.
I chose to watch this play first even though I haven't seen Áfram Latibær, since I've heard that one isn't as good and I had a feeling I would enjoy this one more since it has more finalized versions of the main characters and Robbie/Glanni appears for the first time. I probably will watch Áfram Latibær too at some point out of sheer curiosity, though. Anyway, I found it really fascinating to see both how similar and different Glanni Glæpur í Latabæ is from the TV series. It has a lot of the same music and the characters are pretty close to the final product, but the stage setting changes the atmosphere quite a bit. One thing I noticed was that this play is more story-driven than the usual episodes, closer to a movie, which was a nice change of pace.
I am a massive fan of Stefán Karl and Robbie, so to me his performance here was the absolute highlight, but I also liked the subplot with Stephanie/Solla and Trixie/Halla very much. I prefer this to the TV show version of Trixie (plus, this goes more in-depth on her relationship with Stephanie), and I also found Bessie to be a much better character in the play since she actually had a real purpose. In general all the music was superb, not a single bad song number. Jives was a fun character too, but Ziggy, Stingy and Pixel seemed a little under-developed. I think the producers made some pretty great choices when they were converting the characters to TV format, such as having Robbie be a permanent resident of LazyTown and an immature weirdo recluse instead of actual cunning criminal (which makes him more comical and appropriate for a children's show), or that they upgraded Stephanie to the protagonist and main viewpoint character who is sort of an audience surrogate since she's new to the town and was used to being active from the start, unlike the other citizens. Interestingly, Glanni seems way more extroverted than Robbie, like he wants to be in the spotlight all the time, and Robbie is more eccentric. It was also nice to see Magnús and Stefán speaking Icelandic!! Even though he's obviously a lot younger and more normal-looking without the makeup and chin prosthetic, it was easy to recognize Stefán from the TV version because of his voice, body language and overall acting style. But I thought Magnús was a lot louder in Icelandic, somehow. xD
Ironically, I found Íþróttaálfurinn/Sportacus to be one of the play's weak points. Despite Robbie being my favourite character, I like Magnús and Sportacus a lot, but Íþróttaálfurinn came across as way less sympathetic than his show equivalent. This may be a topic for another thread, but when you're watching the show and see Sportacus inspiring the children to a healthier lifestyle, you WANT to make an effort and improve your own habits. He doesn't nag, he just appears as a cool role model, so that was an interesting difference. But here Íþróttaálfurinn just seems persuasive, like he's forcing the citizens to go from 0-100 in one day, which simply isn't realistic. Everyone is inevitably going to end up being somewhere between Sportacus and Robbie Rotten anyway. Despite the play being very entertaining, I think I would have just been annoyed by its preachiness and complete lack of subtlety if I'd watched it as a kid instead of at 21, and wouldn't have taken its message to heart. From what I hear, this is even more of a problem in the first play, but then again I haven't seen it, so feel free to comment your own thoughts about it!!
I chose to watch this play first even though I haven't seen Áfram Latibær, since I've heard that one isn't as good and I had a feeling I would enjoy this one more since it has more finalized versions of the main characters and Robbie/Glanni appears for the first time. I probably will watch Áfram Latibær too at some point out of sheer curiosity, though. Anyway, I found it really fascinating to see both how similar and different Glanni Glæpur í Latabæ is from the TV series. It has a lot of the same music and the characters are pretty close to the final product, but the stage setting changes the atmosphere quite a bit. One thing I noticed was that this play is more story-driven than the usual episodes, closer to a movie, which was a nice change of pace.
I am a massive fan of Stefán Karl and Robbie, so to me his performance here was the absolute highlight, but I also liked the subplot with Stephanie/Solla and Trixie/Halla very much. I prefer this to the TV show version of Trixie (plus, this goes more in-depth on her relationship with Stephanie), and I also found Bessie to be a much better character in the play since she actually had a real purpose. In general all the music was superb, not a single bad song number. Jives was a fun character too, but Ziggy, Stingy and Pixel seemed a little under-developed. I think the producers made some pretty great choices when they were converting the characters to TV format, such as having Robbie be a permanent resident of LazyTown and an immature weirdo recluse instead of actual cunning criminal (which makes him more comical and appropriate for a children's show), or that they upgraded Stephanie to the protagonist and main viewpoint character who is sort of an audience surrogate since she's new to the town and was used to being active from the start, unlike the other citizens. Interestingly, Glanni seems way more extroverted than Robbie, like he wants to be in the spotlight all the time, and Robbie is more eccentric. It was also nice to see Magnús and Stefán speaking Icelandic!! Even though he's obviously a lot younger and more normal-looking without the makeup and chin prosthetic, it was easy to recognize Stefán from the TV version because of his voice, body language and overall acting style. But I thought Magnús was a lot louder in Icelandic, somehow. xD
Ironically, I found Íþróttaálfurinn/Sportacus to be one of the play's weak points. Despite Robbie being my favourite character, I like Magnús and Sportacus a lot, but Íþróttaálfurinn came across as way less sympathetic than his show equivalent. This may be a topic for another thread, but when you're watching the show and see Sportacus inspiring the children to a healthier lifestyle, you WANT to make an effort and improve your own habits. He doesn't nag, he just appears as a cool role model, so that was an interesting difference. But here Íþróttaálfurinn just seems persuasive, like he's forcing the citizens to go from 0-100 in one day, which simply isn't realistic. Everyone is inevitably going to end up being somewhere between Sportacus and Robbie Rotten anyway. Despite the play being very entertaining, I think I would have just been annoyed by its preachiness and complete lack of subtlety if I'd watched it as a kid instead of at 21, and wouldn't have taken its message to heart. From what I hear, this is even more of a problem in the first play, but then again I haven't seen it, so feel free to comment your own thoughts about it!!
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