2023-10-15 05:01:08
In the refocusing by Pelly, which was already presented in Paris, the core of the plot ultimately remains the same, but is made compatible for younger music lovers: the young Prince Caprice has no desire to succeed his father King Zack at the head of state following he has just returned from a trip around the world has returned. Instead, he is looking for more adventures and has chosen the moon as his next destination.
Microscope, the kingdom’s best scientist, makes this dream possible with a gigantic cannon. With their help, Caprice, Microscope and King Zack fly to Ms. Luna. There they meet the moon people under their spherical King Kosmos, with whose daughter Fantasia Prince Caprice immediately falls in love. It’s just stupid that love is considered a disease on the moon. Good advice is expensive.
In Pelly’s interpretation, the earth from which the three adventurers set off is anything but a homely place, but rather the home of gray yes-men who take selfies and have littered their planet with mountains of plastic. The original character of the piece, full of optimism for the future and departure to new worlds, seems strangely distant today. Instead, it’s more regarding escaping the destroyed earth. In comparison, the moon and its inhabitants look all the cooler, as if in 1960s astro design.
A large part of the evening’s cast, which consists primarily of members of the opera studio and the youth and opera choir, is anything but retro. Aaron-Casey Gould impresses as Prince Caprice, originally conceived as a trouser role, with a very slim tenor, while the actually willowy Christoph Stocker in a fat suit rules the moon as a spherical ruler with playfulness. As King Zack, Carsten Süss is more of a singer-actor than a vocal acrobat, while Paul Schwester, as always, combines both qualities and, as the clumsy scholar Mikroskop, knows how to combine unpretentious playfulness with a straightforward tenor.
There is also a virile joy in playing in the pit, as conductor Alfred Eschwé repeatedly evades the singers. The Volksoperorchester simply cannot stick to its core repertoire. All in all, “Journey to the Moon” on the belt is primarily a family outing – even if the travel time with two hours of net playing time is probably a bit long for younger operetta fans.
(SERVICE – “Journey to the Moon” by Jacques Offenbach in the Volksoper, Währinger Straße 78, 1090 Vienna. Conductor: Alfred Eschwé, direction/costumes: Laurent Pelly, set design: Barbara de Limburg, lighting: Joël Adam. With King Zack – Carsten Süss, Prince Caprice – Aaron-Casey Gould, Princess Fantasia – Alexandra Flood, Microscope – Paul Pigster, King Kosmos – Christoph Stocker, Flamma – Jaye Simmons, Queen Popotte – Sofia Vinnik, Cactus – Jonathan Hamouda Kügler. Further performances on the 20th. October, November 1st, 6th, 14th and 18th, December 7th and June 3rd, 16th, 20th and 25th, 2024. )
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