Well, theatricality can, for me at least, take on two forms.
One, which is more sanguine, comes from the gut. 'Thinks ahead' beforehand, to quote Adam, and then on stage, relies on instincts and uses all senses and every fiber of the body to express what he feels and wants the audience to feel too. He is always performing to the max, and totally natural and in the moment, letting the song carry him away.
Adam normally is that kind of performer.
The other theatricality is the one that thinks about their movements while it is happening, in addition to any advance planning. 'If I move my arm up above my head on this note, then the camera will like this', so lets do it. This is a much more technical performance style and much more controlled, and H. F. clearly falls more into that category.
Preparing her shows like this, allows her to do three hour specials, where she is the announcer, moderator, solo-performer, duet partner, and who knows what else for multiple vastly varying acts, and yet always is perfect and always pleasing to her audience.
I bet, she works incredibly hard and clearly has both talent and tons of fans. To me, though, I miss the warmth, the spontaneity. I find it a bit too much put on for my taste, and that is true for the whole Schlager-music genre in Germany, not only for her. It clearly has its fan base, and it's just not me.
The comical part comes in, when you now bring these two different styles of theatricality together. I think, they both at times, try to swing around to the other person's style, and while I was expecting Adam to do that, because he is always such a great duet partner and always does that, I was surprised and got to give credit to Helene for trying to do the same on her end too. But doing so takes each of them away from the place of comfort and strength from which they normally operate, so it just becomes noticeable and a bit comical.
Adam tries to get a read on her, what is she singing about and comes up empty, so he adjusts to her more showy style instead, but it becomes overwrought and funny, in a copy-cat kind of way. Helene, on the other hand, while vocally strong, is rhythmically challenged, tries eventually to swing into Adam's body language, which is full of beat, but she does it too late, and it's like she is trying out a new language.
For the purpose of promotion, this surely was great for Queen and AL, and Helene was a very generous host. But outside of marketing aspects, otherwise I don't think that Queen with or without Adam belongs on such a show, tbh. It is what it is.
I think, the ballad fit better for the audience than the rock number, I think that Love Kills would have been a much better first choice and good marketing opportunity for the German market too. But maybe the show requested, that they do a rock number and a ballad, who knows.
Now, when it comes to other artists that I love, and that also come from this very instinctual place in their performance style, I think, I'll tonight go with Kate Bush. Wonderful artist, beautiful fluidity in both her singing and her movements and very much an artist I love.
Hope you'll enjoy.