“Ariadne auf Naxos” by Richard Strauß at the Theater Bremen in Germany
By Oxana Arkaeva
Performance attended on February 14th, 2023
Production pictures by Joerg Landsberg / Theater Bremen
As it is well known, many artists risk suffering spiritual and physical burnout due to excessive creativity and the boundless urge of its implementation in actual works. In their emotional powerlessness and desperation, some destroy their own creations because, of inner dissatisfaction with the result or because they don’t want them to be deranged by the insane art philistines.
This emotional self-immolation and the burning of one’s own works, inner death, the opposition of old and new, fateful-happy mistakes, resurrection from the emotional and creative ashes, and the rebirth of love is what the new production of Richard Strauss’ opera “Ariadne auf Naxos” at the Theater Bremen is about. Initially planned for 2021, the show was postponed to 2023 due to the corona pandemic. On Valentine’s Day 2023, one experienced a sparsely occupied auditorium, which should have been visited in outerwear due to current heating savings measures. Nonetheless, one looked forward to the production, voices, and beautiful music.
Strauss’ performance, which lasts approximately 2.5 hours, is played in Bremen with an intermission. This division represented a welcome opportunity for the singer’s ensemble as it allows them to temporarily rest their voices and gain physical strength. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, many seemed vocally breathless and physically strained that night. The well-intentioned chamber-like and singer-friendly playing of Bremen Philharmonic under Stefan Klingele could have helped more. Many musical lengths and restrained dynamics throughout the performance are what came from the orchestra pit this night. Strauss’s famous, rich orchestra sound could only be experienced occasionally and mainly after the break.
Whether the above-mentioned postponement of the production impacted the director’s original vision for his show remains a mystery. The type-comedy (Typ-Komödie) announced by Frank Hilbrich in the program booklet is hardly comprehensible. From time to time, the director managed to establish a couple of scenic highlights. For example, when the desperate Composer sets his work, himself, and everything around him on fire. When Ariadne rescues the pages of the charred orchestral score from the fire in the middle of the destroyed room. Or at the end of the evening, when everyone involved sits at the piano, all make music together – A powerful symbol of artists’ solidarity and the art’s ability to rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Otherwise, one almost always had an impression of unfinished thoughts and ideas, with singers singing on the ramp (or on the piano), accompanied by uncoordinated stage actions. Luckily enough the stage design, costumes, and light save this production. Gabriele Rupprecht succeeds with her sometimes modest, sometimes colorful costumes in providing a clear visualization and individual recognition for every single singer on stage. The constantly growing number of grand pianos (Sebastian Hannak stage design) acted like independent architectural structures amidst a simple, uniform stage space. Here and then appearing of oversized neon-colored mushrooms acted as color blob, its dramaturgical significance for this production though remains another mystery. The artful light/video and shadow effects (Christian Kemmetmüller) bestowed the show with additional artistic and dramaturgical dimensions.
The vocal ensemble, mainly composed of house members, presented good singing. Above all, Sarah-Jane Brandon as Prima Donna and Ariadne. The South African soprano became a member of the musical theatre ensemble in Bremen at the beginning of the 2022/2023 season and looks back at an impressive international career. She doesn’t have an overpoweringly large voice but a very fine, cultivated one with effortless top notes. Her singing is dynamically well-balanced, and her acting is subtle and thus extraordinary. Christian-Andreas Engelhardt acts excellently as Tenor/God Bacchus acts excellently but clearly has trouble with the high register. As an unfortunate composer, Nadine Lehner had to work a lot that evening, both physically and vocally. She has a beautiful lyrical soprano but lacks vocal strength for the Composer’s part.
Elias Gyungseok Han, music teacher/Harlequin, delivered another notable singing and acting performance and possesses a beautiful, warm baritone voice. Nerita Pokvytyté from Lithuania, in the role of freedom-loving Zerbinetta, looked more like Papagena in her fluffy dress but presented good vocal technique, stable middle and top registers. Constanze Jader (Dryad), Elisa Birkenheier(Najade), and Maria Martín Gonzáles (Echo) gave committed acting and rounded the evening off musically with intoxicatingly beautiful singing. All singers, without exception, delivered excellent German pronunciation, which made understanding the text effortless.
At the end of the performance, one noticed many young people in the audience who seemingly enjoyed the show. A fact that tunes up optimistic. One only hopes that future financial and political supporters of theaters in Germany due to political and economic development will not come to the arbitrary idea of combining different works or even several productions into one in terms of saving funds and reducing state support. Joking aside – It might work on stage, but as we know from “Pagliacci” – “Il teatro e la vita non sono la stessa cosa.”
Cast:
Der Hausmeister Christoph Heinrich
Der Hofmeister Christian Bergmann
Ein Musiklehrer / Harlekin Elias Gyungseok Han
Der Komponist Nadine Lehner, Ulrike Mayer
Der Tenor / Bacchus Christian-Andreas Engelhardt
Ein Offizier / Scaramuccio Luis Olivares Sandoval
Ein Tanzmeister / Brighella Manuel Günther, Ian Spinetti
Ein Perückenmacher Jörg Sändig
Ein Lakai Wolfgang von Borries
Zerbinetta Lisa Mostin, Nerita Pokvytytė
Primadonna / Ariadne Sarah-Jane Brandon
Truffaldin Stephen Clark
Dryade Lena Spohn, Constanze Jader
Najade Elisa Birkenheier, Zlatina Genova-Wolf
Echo Maria Martin Gonzalez
Orchester Bremer Philharmoniker
Conductor Stefan Klingele
Staging Frank Hilbrich
Stage design Sebastian Hannak
Costumes Gabriele Rupprecht
Light Christian Kemmetmüller
Dramaturgy Frederike Krüger
Singers, Staging, Orchestra 