Amsterdam's 'best neighbourhood' to star in 750th celebrations

Amsterdam: Amsterdam kicks off year long celebrations this weekend to mark its 750th anniversary with one ancient and formerly down at heel neighbourh...

Amsterdam: Amsterdam kicks off year-long celebrations this weekend to mark its 750th anniversary with one ancient and formerly down-at-heel neighbourhood playing a starring role in the festivities.

Sitting cheek by jowl with the city's Canal Belt, the once working class Jordaan neighbourhood is the setting for a new musical which its producers said captured the essence of the Dutch capital and its residents.

"We specifically designed a musical to celebrate Amsterdam's 750th anniversary," said Marc Muller, producer at the DeLaMar Theatre where the musical "Onze Jordaan" (Our Jordaan) hit the planks to a full house on Wednesday evening.

"From October 27 the city will enter its year-long celebration and we thought a musical is an ideal way to contribute to the festivities," Muller told AFP, a few hours before the show opened to the public.

Any mention of the Jordaan in the Netherlands will immediately be greeted by a knowing smile.