When the whole city is getting ready to celebrate Christmas and welcome the New Year, Vienna's opera houses certainly don't want to be left out. At the State Opera, La Bohème and Hansel and Gretel are on the bill awaiting The Bat the traditional title for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
The Vienna Volksoper, which offers its loyal audience a varied repertoire of opera, operetta and musical in German, has plenty to choose from. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Jacques Offenbach, the Volksoper Le Roi Carotte, naturally here King Carrot selected, in a translation of the libretto by Victorien Sardou by Jean Abel and presented with supertitles of the sung numbers.
The Volksoper has reduced the performance, which lasted about six hours at its premiere, to just over three hours, but has retained all the scenes of the adventures of King Fridolin the Crocodile, seeking a wife but thwarted by the witch Calabash who produces his rival King Carrot.
After a whole series of adventures and travels through time, Fridolin, aided by the good spirit Robin, will regain his throne and be able to marry Morning Dew. King Carrot, who must return to the vegetable garden!
Director Matthias Davids, assisted by Mathias Fischer-Dieskau (set and projections), Susanne Hubrich (costumes), Kari Farkas (choreography) and Michael Grundner (lighting) has created an extremely colorful spectacle, more Austrian-German than French, but overall quite lively. The references to the current Austrian political situation were clearly very much appreciated by the local audience!
Guido Mancusi conducted the performance with a steady hand, well followed by the Volksoper orchestra and incorporated the additional ensembles (children's choir, stage music) seamlessly into the whole. The choirs engaged fully in the many, varied scenes, dressed in the most imaginative costumes and supported the extensive soloist ensemble in their many adventures. From the impressive cast, special mention must be made of: Mirko Roschkowski who excellently portrayed the young King Fridolin XXIV, astute and sympathetic and sang with a pleasant, fresh tenor, Amira Elmadfa as his good spirit Robin, with a warm, expressive voice, Johanna Arrouas a charming yet determined Morning Dew with a fresh soprano, Anja-Nina Bahrman, a colorful Cunegonde, Sung-Keun Park a hilarious King Carrot and Christian Graf as the spiteful witch Calabash.
A spectacle of a completely different kind was "The Wizard of Oz", an adaptation for the Volksoper of the musical by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg and of the famous film, together with a version created for the Royal Shakespeare Company and adapted for the Volksoper by Henry Mason and Helene Sommer. First performed in 2014, this version of "The Wizard of Oz" in a German version by Klaus Eidam, returns to the bill for the year-end season.
Children and young people filled the Volksoper hall and enthusiastically participated in the adventures of Dorothy who is determined to leave her aunt's house in Kansas with her little dog Toto. On her way she meets strange companions such as a scarecrow, a lion and a tin man and experiences many adventures with them.
Henry Mason's staging, the set and costumes by Jan Meier, the choreography by Francesca Aboser and the video images created the desired atmosphere. The young audience responded spontaneously and especially Christian Graf as the wicked witch of the west made a great impression. The other ensemble members presented a lively and engaging spectacle, well supported by the Volksoper orchestra conducted by Wolfram-Maria Märtig.
- WHAT: Opera 'King Carrot' by Jacques Offenbach, libretto by Victorien Sardou translated by Jean Abel and musical The Wizard of Oz by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, adapted by Henry Mason and Helene Sommer, German version by Klaus Eidam
- WHO: King Carrot Conductor: Guido Mancusi; director: Matthias Davids; set design and projections: Mathias Fischer-Dieskau; costumes: Susanne Hubrich; choreography: Kari Farkas; lighting: Michael Grundner – voices: Mirko Roschkowski, Amira Elmadfa, Johanna Arrouas, Anja-Nina Bahrman, Sung-Keun Park, Christian Graf – The Wizard of Oz: conductor: Wolfram-Maria Märtig; staging: Henry Mason; set design and costumes: Jan Meier; choreography and video: Francesca Aboser. For both performances: Orchestra and choir of the Volksoper Wien
- WHERE & WHENVolksoper Wien, Vienna, December 16 and 18, 2019
- Images: © Volksoper Wien
