Trailer here:
Well, this was a really enjoyable and exciting discovery of a gem that had apparently been lost since its first performance in Berlin in 1933, 10 days before Hitler came to power. The ‘lost’ idea was neatly indicated by the opera (the 3 acts split into two parts) by having a vast (wooden?) box or crate on the stage from which the characters intially entered and, in the final scene, left although it was not directly present in the entire work - but at times the backdrop did recall it. An amusing conceit that was not over-used.
Interestingly there were a number of similarities between this work and the recently seen Land des Lachelens - a sad/poignant ending, a culture clash (here Russia/China as opposed to Austria/China) and both had strong and well-drawn central figures. The comic/buffo couples and characters were, in both cases, much less than usually annoying and did effectively provide an effective dramatic contrast to the main players. Tow other differences , and unusual features of Weinberger’s work were that the chorus only sang ff-stage and one of the central dramatic characters only spoke and did not sing. Tauber was in the original production but I am not sure what the Tauberlied was - if indeed there was one or was that just Lehar? There were a number of candidates though.
However, musically, it is a different story. While Lehar was at his glorious best, here Weinberger seemed to range very widely - form, in my ears, ‘pure’ Viennese operetta style but then with notable jazz elements in some scenes and much that recalled Hollywood film music of the Golden Age (a film-like fanfare near the opening for example - and the stagings particularly of the very well done dance numbers reflected this, with tapping lines of chorines and one scene with ostrich-feather fans. Pretty Busby Berkeley!
The production was soundly basic - some necessary indications of location and mood - particularly lovely the Chinese lanters used periodically and two superb, very unusually, white ‘Chinese dragons ‘ in the ballroom scene. And that was one necessary operetta feature of the work; the lead female character, a widow, puts on a ball. I think that’s a necessary requirement in this genre!
Singers were all excellent - and in the delivery of the dialogue too which was often sharply amusing but the work was, I thought, fundamentally serious - towards the end of Act 1 and at that act’s end, there was real emotional power in the scenes and richly evocative music (with minimal use of the cliches of Chinoisorie. )Take And Lydia had a glorious aria near the start of her involvement in the story. The end of Act 1 was wonderful with music, staging and acting all combining perfectly - and that wonderful duet (‘Blue, blue as the sky’ I think I recall…)in waltz time! And we even had a Hollywood staircase with glitter falling on the ostrich-fan bearing dancers. Magical!
Act 2 opened with a great dance sequence - vigorous and clearly paying tribute to Hollywood. And as we drew to the end, I was filled with admiration at how the two main story lines (the buffo and the serious), were intertwined and we moved, at just the right time dramatically, between the two of them. the comedy never distracted from the serious drama either which was a blessing.
And so to the end - one wanted it to end differently but knew that it could not. The tone was wonderfully kept u to the final moments so that the work had a tremendous emotional power as the curtain fell.
So a great discovery and a performance and production that completely did it justice - and allowed the work to speak for itself.
Cast:
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General Wladimir Katschalow Stefan Kurt
Tatjana Alma Sadé
Lydia Pawlowska Vera-Lotte Boecker
Roderich Zirbitz Dominik Köninger
Ito Tansel Akzeybek
Grand Duke Michailowitsch Luca Schaub
Shibato and Hotel director Arne Gottschling
Kawa-Kami and Peter Yannik Heckmann
Colonel Baltischew Tino Lindenberg
Captain Strotzky Sascha Goepel
Dancers Alessandra Bizzarri, Claudia Greco, Marika Gangemi, Martina Borroni, Azzurra Adinolfi, Jaslyn Reader, Lauren Mayer, Sophie Merrison, Meri Ahmaniemi, Tara Randell, Livia Delgado, Sarah Stanley
Conductor: Jordan de Souza