Bowie lives: Prague's hottest ticket is a multilingual Lazarus

The 2015 musical Lazarus, with music and lyrics composed by David Bowie and book by Edna Walsh, would prove to be the late singer’s swan song. It debuted in New York just one month before Bowie’s death at the age of 69 on January 10, 2016.

But the show’s bombastic musical numbers, featuring Bowie’s back catalog and several new tracks (“Lazarus”, “No Plan”, “Killing a Little Time”, and “When I Met You”), as well as its otherworldly costumes have made it a fan favorite. Now international productions from London to Amsterdam and, as of last month, Prague are giving the material new life.

He says that actor Michael Vykus, who sings the song in the show dug deeper to discover that the phrase is actually Cockney rhyming slang for “face.” Zahálka says he’s relieved the songs are performed in English.

“It is written like a David Bowie song: whenever you start being fairly sure what’s happening, it deliberately changes direction. In addition to not being entirely comprehensible, there are swift changes between everyday language and the deeper, mystical layers, sometimes bordering on pathos. Finding just the right tone, or rather tones, in Czech was not easy.”

If finding the right words for the actors to say proved difficult, the performers face an even greater challenge when it comes to expressing them. Themes of alienation, loss, and addiction figure into a plot that veers wildly between dystopian sci-fi and Shakespearean tragedy.

Igor Orozovič performs the Newton character, drunk and dying in his apartment; he is offered salvation by a manic-pixie-dream-girl character (Erika Stárková) while his nurse Elly (Nina Horáková) suffers an identity crisis, channeling Poirot Bowie as she belts out “Changes”. Meanwhile, Newton’s alter-ego Valentine, dressed as Thin-White-Duke-era Bowie, goes on a murdering spree.

Anyone who doubts Czech performers can pull off convincing renditions of these beloved juke-box standards will be mistaken. A highlight of the show is Stárková’s pitch-perfect interpretation of “Life on Mars” which channels Bowie acolyte Björk.

“It is an extremely demanding production that involves loads of people: actors, musicians, designers, director, technicians, sound engineers, etc. It is probably the largest show I’ve ever been a part of.”

He also believes that Bowie’s universal appeal is key to the show’s ongoing worldwide success: “David Bowie’s appeal is universal, regardless of whether you’re Czech or not. The songs have the upper hand. “

Indeed the songs, performed by the cast and a six-piece backing band that appears on stage, translate as a trippy kind of revival, a testament to the power of Bowie’s legacy which transcends time, place, and even language.