ANPHerman van Veen in Carré during his 50th anniversary in 2021
NOS News•today, 5:47 PM•Adjusted today, 7:36 PM
Herman van Veen will be performing in the Royal Theater Carré for the 600th time tonight. And that is a record, because in the 136-year history of the Amsterdam theater, no one has performed so often as a solo artist. The only one who has appeared on stage more often is colleague Freek de Jonge, but he has also regularly appeared in Carré as part of a duo.
It was May 5, 1971 when Van Veen (78) stood in Carré for the first time. He still remembers it like it was yesterday, he says NOS Radio 1 News. The young Van Veen, then 26 years old, was extremely nervous before his performance Harlequin: “I couldn’t even control my knees anymore. Luckily I was wearing wide pants.”
The hall was three-quarters empty, despite the presence of friends and family that he himself had gathered. There were also a handful of journalists in the audience, who positively reviewed his performance. The performance was a mix of music, poetry, cabaret and dance. “It turned out to be a great surprise. It was different: a new person who did very strange things,” said Van Veen.
This performance made Van Veen better known to the general public. He then made music, with songs such as To the side in Magic. He now has numerous albums to his name, wrote dozens of books and has played hundreds of performances. The figure he invented Alfred Jodocus Kwak gained international fame when the little yellow duck from the children’s musical got its own cartoon series.
Unstoppable
Tonight’s performance is the kick-off of the piece The show, with which Van Veen will be in the royal theater until January 21. He will then travel with the performance to various theaters in the Netherlands until the end of May. Carré director Madeleine van der Zwaan is proud that Van Veen is celebrating this milestone. “It’s incredible how Herman keeps raising the bar and makes every evening special, every time.”
In 2021, Van Veen also broke another record in Carré, when he performed solo for the 561st time. This broke Toon Hermans’ old record.
Van Veen is not thinking about quitting anytime soon. “It stops me, I am never going to announce a last performance. I think this is such a wonderful profession and fortunately I am genetically in order. I hope I can get to the 700th.”
2024-01-12 18:36:22
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