The story

Up until the day German troops invade the Netherlands in May 1940, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema and his friends lead ordinary, untroubled lives as students at Leiden University. Suddenly, they face choices that will change their lives forever. Friendship, love and everything they value is put to a punishing test. Will they fight for freedom,
Queen and country? Or will they look away, maybe even join the enemy?

Soldaat van Oranje – De Musical is based on the true story of one of the greatest Dutch resistance fighters in WWII, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema.

Having escaped to England at the start of the war, he smuggled radio transmitters into the Netherlands for the resistance group Contact Holland. In 1942 he trained as a RAF-pilot, eventually taking part in bombing runs over Germany.

After becoming the personal aide to Queen Wilhelmina, he was awarded the highest Dutch military honour for his work in the resistance.

Set between August 1939 and May 1945, the story follows the lives of Erik Hazelhoff Roelzema, his group of friends and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

About

The premiere was on October 30, 2010.  The theatre, where the Dutch production plays is a plane hangar at the former Valkenburg Airport near Leiden in the Netherlands.

The audience experiences the show in ‘SceneAround’, a theatrical performance solution specially developed for this production. The audience is seated on a 360-degree rotating auditorium that turns from set to set, accompanied by 180-degree projections, to create an unforgettable theatre experience.

Since 2015 the production has broken all Dutch theatre records. Soldaat van Oranje – De Musical played 3,967 performances to a total audience of over 4 million. On 12 July 2026 we had our final performance at the former TheaterHangaar.