2023-12-17 05:06:46
Anyone who would like to challenge the validity of the old dramaturgy dictum that children’s ears are open to everything can currently go to the MusikTheater an der Wien. The domestic premiere is the stage adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s children’s book classic “Where the Wild Things Are” – appropriately placed in the hands of puppet magician Nikolaus Habjan. The result is a visually powerful series of monsters, which, however, may still be too scary for some young opera-goers.
With “Where the Wild Things Are” in the 1960s, the illustrator Sendak relied primarily on images rather than words to tell the story of Max, who argues with his mother, has to go to bed without dinner as punishment and is on a… Imagines an island where the wild things live who initially want to eat him, but ultimately crown him their king. The work quickly became successful worldwide and was adapted many times.
Sendak himself took part in the opera version, which premiered in Brussels in 1980, as the British composer Oliver Knussen needed a libretto. The end result was a musical theater compressed into a good three quarters of an hour, which was musically quite unconventional for a children’s opera and was anything but pandering to little ears. Ultimately, Knussen’s quotable music might also be heard at Wien Modern.
Habjan and his regular set designer Jakob Brossmann have inspired these sounds to create a darkly colored series of images, as Max’s children’s room is equipped with oversized furniture and the Wild Guys appear as equally large hybrids of singers and doll heads. The little, farting goat in the bearded guy’s hands is used as a basketball, while the rooster guy lives up to his name by crowing.
Max, played in the real world by coloratura soprano Jasmin Delfs, also mutates into a doll in this dream world. He is not frightened by the glowing eyes of the wild things, their threat to eat him or the trees bursting out of the walls of the nursery. It is doubtful whether this is also the case with smaller opera fans – the recommended age is from six years. There is also a lack of text comprehensibility. For slightly older young opera-goers, however, there is currently an opportunity in the Museum Quarter to shorten the waiting time for Christ Child with a child-like story of self-empowerment.
(By Martin Fichter-Wöß/APA)
(SERVICE – “Where the wild things live” by Oliver Knussen/Maurice Sendak in the MusikTheater an der Wien in the MQ, Hall E, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna. Musical direction of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra: Stephan Zilias. Production: Nikolaus Habjan, stage: Jakob Brossmann, costume: Denise Heschl. With Max – Jasmin Delfs, Mama/Tzippie – Katrin Wundsam, Bart- und Ziegenkerl – Peter Kirk, Hornkerl – Zoltan Nagy, Hahnkerl – Matthias Hoffmann, Bullenkerl – Martin Summer as well as various puppet actors. Further double performances each on December 17th, 19th, 20th and 27th. www.theater-wien.at/de/spielplan/saison2023-24/1224/Wo-die-wilden-Kerle-wohnen)
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