September 24, 2006: Fanciulla del West in Berlin

2006-09-24 La Fanciulla del West (Puccini), Deutsche Oper Berlin

Minnie = Sylvie Valayre
Jack Rance = Marco Chingari
Dick Johnson (Ramirez) = José Cura
Nick = Clemens Bieber
Ashby = Ante Jerkunica
Sonora = Lenus Carlson
Trin = Burkhard Ulrich
Sid = Guillaume Antoine
Bello = Markus Beam
Harry = Peter Maus
Joe = Jörg Schörner
Happy = Simon Pauly
Larkens = Roland Schubert
Billy Jackrabbit = Tiziano Bracci
Wowkle = Ceri Williams
Jake Wallace = Markus Beam
José Castro = Harold Wilson
Ein Postillon = Volker Horn

Vjekoslav Sutej, conductor



La fanciulla del West


[Das Mädchen aus dem Goldenen Westen]
Oper in 3 Akten von Giacomo Puccini
Libretto von Guelfo Civinini und Carlo Zangarini nach dem Drama The Girl of the Golden West von David Belasco
Uraufführung: 10. Dezember 1910 in New York
Premiere an der Deutschen Oper Berlin: 27. März 2004

In italienischer Sprache mit deutschen Übertiteln

24. | 27. September 2006
02. Oktober 2006


Musikalische Leitung Vjekoslav Sutej
Inszenierung Vera Nemirova
Bühne, Kostüme Klaus Werner Noack
Chöre Ulrich Paetzholdt

Minnie Sylvie Valayre
Jack Rance Marco Chingari
Dick Johnson José Cura





Dauer 3 Stunden 15 Minuten
Zwei Pausen

It was the worst production with the best singing that I have seen and heard. The photos in the www.deustcheoperberlin.de does not show how bad the production was. Reading the subtitles at the same time as seeing what's going on onstage would only serve to confusion.

This is a Spaghetti Western in Opera. But here it is modernized to an extent where only the sheriff is still sheriff. The Saloon of the opera is here something else, a fast food bar with some weird security line, is this the border to Mexico or is it a part of an airport or is it a German train station. What are the Santa's there for. It is near Christmas perhaps. Why is there a movie board showing the men getting dressed or something. This security thing can't be serious 'cause when Dick Johnson (Jose Cura) aka Ramirez, there are no-one making a copy of his hand.

Luckily when Jose Cura is there the opera becomes more real and interesting. Not that Sylvie Valayre is a bad Minnie, she is singing and acting wonderfully but this production does nothing to help this character to be a real and truly interesting person to the spectator. Minnie belongs to the West and in another century. Women today have much more and other choices to make. Truly when Sylvie Valayre and Jose Cura sings together there is deep connection between those two, Dick Johnson and Minnie, and therefor the audience connects too. Jack Rance is also more real when with Sylvie or Jose. Marco Chingari is an admirable singer doing his best. But the scenography and costumes does put me off.

The 2nd act is better. But still not good. The material Minnie's cabin is made of is so poor than one single man can easily destroy part of the wall. It is just carbon paper. And this is supposed to be the winter and in the mountains, and a single woman lives there alone. That is simply not realistic... It did not like how the cabin looked and I really did not like the idea that the men looking for Ramirez would destroy the cabin if they really wanted to protect " la ragazza del campo". They would have just knocked on the door and Minnie would have opened. So that was stupid. The good thing about the second act was that this time I found the opening with the two Native Americans, Wockle and Jackrabbit, soon to be parents and soon to marry, a truly nice and realistic moment. Of course the duets between Sylvie Valayre and Jose Cura and their acting was wonderful and showed the naivety of the two of them in a heartening way.

Jose Cura had told us that the 3rd act was worst, and in a way it was. It was situated in heaven, he said. Well, yes, there were clouds instead of mountains. But you could easily ignore that and make the "Heavenly" clouds into mountain sloops in your mind. I was more
troubled with the concept of a TV team being there to tape the execution. It was so not necessary. And in the end it was revealed as a movie in making. Well yes, right, that would have been nice, not since this was a modern Fanciulla del West.

The important thing is that the singing was outstanding, still I was glad I did not have to see this production again.

OD Travel + Photos