Theater an der Wien

For the reopening: Stumbling with Strauss

Scene from "The Queen's Lace Shawl".(Bild: Theater an der Wien/Werner Kmetitsch)

The revolving stage is back at the Theater an der Wien! That is the good news. Everything else on this reopening evening is hardly enjoyable operetta dust

A real birthday bomb could have been detonated for the 200th anniversary of the Schani and the scenic reopening of the opera house! With one of his many forgotten operettas premiered at the Theater an der Wien. Moreover, one that was a resounding premiere success. But because it was a satire on Crown Prince Rudolf, it was no longer suitable for performance after his death in Mayerling. The "Queen's Lace Cloth" contains a few magnificent melodies that Strauss turned into one of his most glorious concert waltzes, "Roses from the South".

But this is hard to believe when you hear the Vienna Chamber Orchestra under the bouncy conductor Martynas Stakionis playing the overture from the deep orchestra pit.

Oops and ahs: ensemble scene before the Ringelspiel.(Bild: Theater an der Wien/Werner Kmetitsch)

A dance troupe dressed as adorable little animals scurries across the stage on the plus side of the evening. Their centerpiece is a ring game. Not very original either. Instead, it's very desolate and populated by battered characters. They are dressed as if the film casts of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" had been stranded in Vienna.

Soon the choir is swaying along, hops around the spinning carousel in a polonaise. The Arnold Schoenberg Choir provides the lone vocal light for the evening. Otherwise (with the exception of the distinguished Michael Laurenz), it's more operetta skin goodness: or do soubrettes always have to be shrill? Do trouser roles have to be weak, operetta tenors overwhelmed? Dialogs have to be straightened out? No definitive version of the play has survived. So why not throw the lousy libretto overboard in order to present something smart, cheeky and fresh?

Instead, we are treated to bland, tempo-less dialog, including a few superimposed extemporaneous scenes (the people's chancellor, Ibiza, police horses) in Christian Thausing's staid, old-fashioned F-style direction. So the joy of being able to perform at the Theater an der Wien again prevails. Or rather: could.