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. For many Dutch citizens, Amsterdam is best exemplified not by its gritty and notorious red light district, but by the Jordaan. “This is the best neighbourhood in the Netherlands,” Evert Jansen told AFP during a visit.  “The best actors, the best singers, the best footballers are all from here -- (Ruud) Gullit and (Johan) Cruyff. The best comes from here,” said Jordaan born-and-bred Jansen, 82, sporting a typical Amsterdam flat cap.