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By ANDREW POWELL MUNICH \u2014 With a shrill, pretty Hanna, a shriller, pretty Valencienne, a Camille of uneven tone, but a tight, fluent chorus and much charming orchestral work, Die lustige Witwe<\/em> ended six years of darkness at the Staatstheater am G\u00e4rtnerplatz<\/a> Oct. 19. This city\u2019s second opera company, of the same name, had been homeless all that time while painfully slow laborers spiffed up the 1,000-seat venue\u2019s front-of-house and essentially rebuilt its backstage.<\/p>\n Both of the bosses were on duty for the return: Anthony Bramall<\/a>, the company\u2019s new Chefdirigent<\/em>, buoyant of rhythm and propulsive in Leh\u00e1r\u2019s 1905 score; and Josef K\u00f6pplinger<\/a>, the Staatstheater\u2019s Intendant<\/em>, who took it upon himself to stage Victor L\u00e9on and Leo Stein\u2019s bubbly book within a tragic frame, adding a dark-angel mime (Adam Cooper<\/a>) to lace the action and sustain his \u201cconcept\u201d as if unaware that living without anxiety had been the authors\u2019 message.<\/p>\n Pontevedro\u2019s assets had been secure from the start in Danilo\u2019s love for Hanna, but the alliance of Bramall and K\u00f6pplinger going forward could prove far from secure. For G\u00e4rtnerplatz remains all about the \u201cshow,\u201d not so much the singing, just as before the years of closure. The embassy, the garden, the animated pavilion, the \u201cMaxim\u2019s\u201d theme-party in Hanna\u2019s ballroom looked terrific, while only Daniel Prohaska<\/a>\u2019s nuanced Danilo, of the principals, sounded worthy.<\/p>\n Photo \u00a9 Marie-Laure Briane<\/p>\n Related posts:
Published: November 4, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n
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