After refurbishment

Chaos at the “new” Theater an der Wien!

The stage at the Theater an der Wien is (still) not ready(Bild: Theater an der Wien / © Barbara Nidetzky)

Start with serious glitches: After two and a half years of renovation and refurbishment, the newly renovated Theater an der Wien will not be able to stage opera until January 2025 instead of October 12 as planned. 

What horror, what pain!" Sings Mozart's Idomeneo. The Viennese can now join in the song of pain. Because "their" Theater an der Wien, the newly renovated opera house renovated by the City of Vienna, will not be able to stage regular performances until January. "Idomeneo", scheduled to open on October 12, will only be performed in concert. The same applies to the second production, Schumann's "Paradise and the Peri". The children's opera "The Little Prince" will be canceled altogether.

The reason: the stage technology could not be kept to schedule. "A lot of things added up," says Franz Patay, Managing Director of Vereinigte Bühnen. A thunderstorm with water ingress was also to blame. The audience was informed: "In order to be able to guarantee smooth interaction between the complex stage technology and all technical areas, a large number of training courses, familiarization sessions, test runs, stress tests and safety checks are necessary. This intensive process will take several more weeks. Purchased tickets will be taken back. However, the opening act will take place as planned. The first staged production is the Strauss operetta "Das Spitzentuch der Königin" on January 18.

Ok, a building site is unpredictable. But the fact that several weeks are suddenly missing for technical "stress tests" a month before the opening, when everything was on schedule until recently, is astonishing. What sense does an opening ceremony make for a theater that is unable to perform? How great is the need for several performances of "Idomeneo" and "Peri" without a scene? A Strauss rarity with a less than stellar cast as the opening production? Perhaps they will come up with something special. To make it a celebration after all.