-JUNGLE BOOK can be seen exclusively in City Theater Utrecht-

Music: Jungle By Night | Dance: ISH | Rap: Gikkels

Image by Angeliek de Jonge
Image by Angeliek de Jonge

Swinging and more exciting than ever
After 26 years  of Cascade Christmas Circus, the City Theater in Utrecht is introducing a new tradition. A tradition of performances filled with dance and music. First in line is “Jungleboek” as they spell in Dutch. A spectacle bursting with energy. For everyone starting from the age of seven.

Come along on an adventure
Central in this performance – based on the famous Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling – are the exciting adventures of Mowgly. As many as 10 urban dancers of ISH collective light up the stage: Gil (the Grid) Gomes, Denden Karadeniz, Sarita Keilman, Thomas Krikken, Tyrone Menig, Dietrich Pott (Dietje), Arnold Put, Carl Refos, Raquel Tijsterman and surely not least Lars de Vos.

Add to that the nine band members of Jungle By Night who are using music from their last CD: Traveller, along with rapper Gikkels and you have quite the assembly who inhabit this unique jungle. Familiar characters like Akela the Wolf, Bagheera the Panther, Shere Khan the Tiger and of course Baloo the Bear will all be present in the retelling of this classic story.

Dark setting
According to an early review of Peter van der Vusse from Dutch newspaper AD, visitors will see images of a city that is destroyed on an almost 80 feet wide screen surrounding the stage. Projection developer
Henegan was inspired by a picture of Syrian children who swam in a bomb crater after an attack on Aleppo.

Director Titus Muizelaar has a somewhat heavy adaptation of the famous book by the British author Kipling, unlike the candy-coated Disney animations (which by all means brilliant in their own right). This piece also remains a family show with mostly entertainment however adults can also extract a political message, because as the director points out “the law of the jungle” in this age is catching on.

Image by ANP
Image by ANP
Cast and creatives
Production is in the hands of Stadsschouwburg Utrecht in collaboration with Theater Utrecht, after the idea of Thibaud Delpeut. Text: Jan Veldman. Directed by Titus Muizelaar, choreography by Marco Gerris and dance by ISH Dance Collective. Music: Jungle By Night and R
ap: Gikkels. Videos and projections by Catherine Henegan. Trailer & artwork by Studio Breed and graphic design by  DBXL. Funding by: Fonds 21.