Uitmarkt 2006

In Amsterdam for Uitmarkt 2006 – the sort of open-access culture that Amsterdam does really well. It’s a three-day preview of the year’s forthcoming events, from classical music, through books to theatre. We had a great time at the singalong event for the year’s forthcoming musicals – a mix of Anglo and Dutch stuff ranging from Annie to a musical apparently about the Dutch navy (it wasn’t clear, but Dutch flags were a big feature).

One of the forthcoming Dutch musicals was called “Wat Zien Ik?” (What do I see?), which I remember only for its rather catchy number “Het Café van Bet”. It’s about a hooker’s life in the red light district of Amsterdam, but the musical turns out to be an adaptation of a play by Albert Mol. It was turned into a 1971 film (English title: Business is Business), directed by a young Paul Verhoeven, who later went on to direct Showgirls, Basic Instinct and RoboCop.