Willem & Frieda - Pink Resistance

Few people know them: queer resistance heroes Willem Arondéus and Frieda Belinfante. Yet they were responsible for the famous attack on the Dutch population register in Amsterdam on March 27th 1943. As part of the group of artists around Gerrit van der Veen, Willem and Frieda came up with an ingenious plan to deliver a serious blow to the German occupiers. Yet after the war, the two never received the recognition they deserved, something that did happen to Gerrit van der Veen. In the respectable Netherlands after the war, there was no place for homosexuals war-heroes.

This new musical finally tells the story of two extraordinary people: he a painter/writer in search of himself, she the world’s very first female conductor. Both found a surprising life purpose in wartime.

WILLEM & FRIEDA - PINK RESISTANCE is a musical for everyone: a compelling, humorous and moving story about freedom, friendship, bravoury and resistance.

The show premiered in July 2025 in the DeLaMar Theatre in Amsterdam.

  • “Job Greuter makes a great impression with his series of beautiful, unpredictable melodies, entirely in the spirit of Sondheim.”

    Volkskrant , ★★★★

  • “Perhaps the biggest surprise is composer Job Greuter, who has given the cast and the four live musicians some truly exceptional material.”

    Het Parool

  • "One of the biggest pillars of the production is Job Greuter's extraordinary music."

    Trouw, ★★★★

  • "Job Greuter wrote a beautiful, original, and at times incredibly difficult score; contemporary musical theater that provides a solid foundation for a historical subject. Clever and daring."

    Theaterkrant

  • "Greuter composed thwarted chords and melodies that leap like cornered cats, in which you sense the resistance. Then, searching melodies, driving piano parts resonate as characters dream big, or a song full of mysterious "pssst" sounds, whistles, cries, and hisses: the feeling of dangerous underground work. A comic staccato jazzy song recounts the preparations for the bombing, and there are exciting, combative tango rhythms. Worth an extra star."

    Trouw, ★★★★

  • "It seems like the new Harry Bannink has risen."

    Het Parool

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CREDITS:

Director / Bookwriter / Lyricist:
Daniël Cohen

Composer / Arranger:
Job Greuter

Choreographer:
Roy Jonathans

Design:
Timo Arling

Cast:
Kim van Zeben, Freek Bartels, Julia Herfst, Lars Mak, Sem van der Heijden, Winter Twilt, Tobias Bodewitz, Josephine van Waesberghe, Jaap Stoop, Chimène van Dijk & Lois Senger

MD:
Ezra van Nassauw

Assistent MD:
Arnout Bultje

Musicians:
Ezra van Nassauw (keys), Coen Kaldeway (multi reed), Tim Brandsen (double bass) & Astrid Reijnders (cello)

Photography:
Liza Kollau

Production:
Brian Verhagen & Maarten Voogel / Opus One

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