Philippe Boesmans’ Schnitzler opera “Reigen” at the Stuttgart State Opera is a bull’s eye

There was rapturous applause for all the performers after the premiere of Philippe Boesmans' "Reigen" at the Stuttgart State Opera. Just under a month before the Belgian composer's 80th birthday, the music theater work based on Arthur Schnitzler's scandalous play can now be experienced in Stuttgart for the first time. The musical director is Sylvain Cambreling, as he was at the premiere in Brussels in 1993. The Stuttgart production by Nicola Hümpel relies on a sophisticated interlocking of stage action, live video (Judith Konnerth) and supplementary film sequences, which Hümpel and Konnerth pre-produced with the performers Julia von Landsberg and Michel Shapira from the Berlin music theater company Nico and the Navigators. Combined with Oliver Proskes' fascinating, subtly sophisticated spaces and Teresa Vergho's quirky costumes, the result is a spectacular, ever-changing visual. At the beginning, all ten protagonists of this partner-swapping parable enter the scene silently, line up, sniff and grope each other, each revealing personal idiosyncrasies and uptightness. They are still blank slates for the audience. Scene by scene we get to know one after the other in changing man-woman combinations. In the following situation, one figure is already familiar, the other not yet. And each new confrontation reveals further, sometimes revealing sides even to the personalities already introduced. The Swiss director Luc Bondy has distilled the dialogues for Boesman's opera from Schnitzler's drama with a fine sense for the requirements of a setting and a lot of wordplay. Rarely does one encounter such an intelligent libretto. Opulent music There is flattery, ostentation and lies that bend the beam. Banalities meet groundless rhetoric, seductive hints meet self-pity, sex lust meets longing for love. Most of the time, people avoid questions, talk past each other, live in different worlds and are more interested in themselves than in the other person. Small changes in individual words twist the meaning, social differences come to light. But for all the unmasking of the characters, no one is exposed to ridicule. This offers a lot of scope for the music. Boesman has used it. In both the vocal and orchestral realms, he gives the monkey sugar. From the pit it sounds opulent, richly colored and rhythmically gripping, also humorous or melancholic. The brilliantly orchestrated score shines a differentiated light into the soul life of the characters. It allows itself sublime adaptations of tonal idioms up to fairground sounds. The singing relies on luscious cantilenas and the best text comprehensibility. Cambreling proves to be a sensitive advocate of these plump, effective, eminently theatrical sound spaces. Lauryna Bendziunaite (Dirne), Daniel Kluge (Soldat), Stine Marie Fischer (Stubenmädchen), Sebastian Kohlhepp (junger Herr) and Kora Pavelic (süßes Mädel) sing and play magnificently. Rebecca von Lipinsky (young wife), Shigeo Ishino (husband), and Matthias Klink (poet) are especially impressive. Melanie Diener is a stunner as the hysterically vain singer, as is André Morsch as the neurotic Count. All in all, this production is a hit in every respect. In Hümpel's imaginative staging, Sigmund Freud's Vienna meets the cyber-present. Artfully constructed constrictions of scene and video create multiple perspectives. Character direction and facial expressions are meticulously rehearsed. The revolving stage with passing partitions serves as a counterpart to the round dance of pairings. On the verge between existential seriousness, grotesque alienation and fine comedy, everything remains close to Boesman's wonderful music.

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