There will be a theater performance about the life of Harry Muskee, the singer and frontman of Cuby and the Blizzards. The open-air performance ‘Muskee – So Many Roads’ will be performed about fifteen times in September in Assen, the birthplace of Muskee.
Erwin Nyhoff plays the role of Harry Muskee. Nyhoff is best known to the general public for his participation in The Voice of Holland. “I have enough common ground with Muskee”, he proudly tells RTV Drenthe. “Our musical roots have similarities, and we are both pulled ‘from the clay’. I from Overijssel, he from Drenthe.”
Nyhoff has no acting experience. “I only played in a video clip and I had to think about the step to the theater. I also wanted to know what music would be in it. But when I heard the playlist, I thought: yes. I was actually also quite surprised. that Harry and I have a bit of the same range. “
Nyhoff is well aware that Muskee Drenthe is cultural heritage. So it’s not an easy task to interpret it. “It’s an honor, but also an inconvenience. I know how important Muskee is in Drenthe, but also beyond. He also has a statue. But I’m going to do my best.”
The performance ‘Muskee – So Many Roads’ was written and directed by Dick van den Heuvel, who also directed biographical plays about Ramses Shaffy, Annie MG Schmidt and Robert Long. “I knew nothing about Muskee before,” he confesses to RTV Drenthe. “But I am glad with this kind of theater piece that I often don’t know anything about it and go into it blankly.”
Johan Derksen
For the story, he spoke with some good friends of Muskee, such as football analyst Johan Derksen, who for years was not only a good friend, but also the manager of Cuby and the Blizzards.
The performance takes place in what Van den Heuvel calls the ‘meantime’. “That is the time between life and death, of which it is said that you see your life pass you by again. The play starts with that Muskee has died, but he himself does not know it yet. He walks around looking to the grave of blues legend Robert Johnson. That is so part of him, in search of the essence of the music. “
Not a reunion of The Blizzards
When writing, Van den Heuvel tried to stay away from the well-known anecdotes about performances and quarrels within the band. The musicians of The Blizzards have not been chosen for the musical support, says Erwin Java. He worked with Muskee for 25 years and is the musical director of the play.
According to Java, the other Blizzards were deliberately not asked for the performance. “It’s not necessarily about the music, it’s mainly for support. And if we were to do that with The Blizzards, people would come especially for that. The emphasis would be too much on that, while it is about Harry.”
The premiere of ‘Muskee – So Many Roads’ is scheduled for Friday September 3rd. The show is performed about fifteen times that month.