The musical adaptation “I’ve never been to New York” celebrates its free TV premiere. A feel-good movie not only for Udo Jürgens fans.
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The brightly colored and all-round positive feature film “I’ve never been to New York” (2019) with many acting stars by director and music video expert Philipp Stölzl (born 1967) celebrates its premiere on Monday (July 11) at 8:15 p.m TV premiere. The template for the shrill comedy is the musical of the same name with 22 songs by the Austrian hit legend Udo Jürgens (1934-2014), which premiered in December 2007 at the Stage Operettenhaus in Hamburg. The music theater homage to the life’s work of the star was a triumph: to date, it has attracted several million visitors to the major theaters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and audiences even in Tokyo celebrated the Japanese production of the play.
This is what the film adaptation “I’ve never been to New York” is about
For TV presenter and single Lisa Wartberg (Heike Makatsch, 50), her show comes first. But then her mother Maria (Katharina Thalbach, 68) loses her memory, comes to the hospital and can only remember one thing: she has never been to New York. Maria decides to flee and smuggles herself as a stowaway on board a luxurious cruise ship. Together with her make-up artist Fred (Michael Ostrowski, 49), Lisa goes in search of her mother and actually tracks her down on the “MS Maximiliane”. But before the two can get Maria off board again, the ocean liner casts off.
On board, Lisa meets Axel Staudach (Moritz Bleibtreu, 50) and his son Florian (Marlon Schramm). Axel isn’t Lisa’s type at all, but a series of unfortunate mishaps eventually brings them closer. Her mother Maria also makes an acquaintance. She meets one dancer Otto (Uwe Ochsenknecht, 66), who claims to have shared a past with her – which Maria, of course, cannot verify due to lack of memory. And Fred falls head over heels in love with the Greek on-board magician Costa (Pasquale Aleardi, 51)…
That’s why it’s worth turning on
It’s often promised, but this time it’s kept: The musical comedy “I’ve never been to New York” can confidently be described as a top-class feel-good movie. On the one hand, this is due to Jürgens’ rousing hits evergreens such as “Greek Wine”, “But please with cream” or “Thank you for the flowers”. On the other hand, the top-class all-star cast around Heike Makatsch, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Moritz Bleibtreu, Katharina Thalbach and Co.
In addition to the artists mentioned, the Austrian film stars Philipp Hochmair (48), Franziska Weisz (42) and Christiane Hörbiger’s (83) nephew, actor Cornelius Obonya (53), are also on board the optical and acoustic candy parade.
While some sing surprisingly well, others perform a little more subdued. But that only makes the film all the more endearing. And the final “Merci, Udo!” you can only join.
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