Open-air operetta in Austria in summer is one of the great joys of life – and this Vogehandler in Baden was one such. A very well-staged and traditional production and I was convincingly involved in a story of more than usual absurdity. The theatre is small like the stage (a chorus of 12 on it and it was full!) and so the pit was tiny which gave a certain chamber quality to the music which only occasionally made it seem underpowered – more when there was light orchestration and one could hear individual instruments.
It’s always interesting to hear ‘plums’ from a work in their proper context and with this work, for me, there were two ‘Christel von der Post’ and ‘Roses of Tyrol’ – which was more an ensemble number than a solo which is how I first knew it. The cast, to me, seemed to sing stylishly with decent voices and not too much ‘comic’ mugging but there was one stand-out performer – Clemens Kerschbaumer as the here Adam. He had real stage presence and lit up the stage from his first entrance. A nicely rich and stylish voice with some lovely soft top notes that were elegantly unstrained.
Lovely evening then – even with the interruption of the leaking roof during the thunderstorm!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwuDI2z0qVw