In his first, full-bodied music theater composition, tenor Daniel Behle relies on a high density of gags and allusions, without ridiculing his large panopticon of characters
The Eduard von Winterstein Theater Annaberg-Buchholz has often caused a sensation with its excavations. With the current premiere, artistic director Moritz Gogg has gone one better. The fact that the operetta as a genre is actually dead because it no longer produces anything new is actually taken for granted – but Daniel Behle and the Erzgebirge Theater are now launching counter-evidence with “Hopfen und Malz”. Behle is actually known as a top-class tenor who is celebrated in Bayreuth, among other places – with his first operetta he now also proves his talent for composing.
Craftsmanship is added to the (excessive) abundance of ideas. General music director Jens Georg Bachmann recognized this early on and, like the musicians of the Erzgebirge Philharmonic Aue, gets involved with the new material with audible pleasure. Behle can quote, alienate and invent. He does not deny his love for the opulence of a Richard Strauss, delivers waltz time and humtata in wild alternation and thus organizes his wild, daring hunt for the next pun, so to speak. He prefers to shoot one more musical or spoken punchline than one too few. The microports for the protagonists indicate that the whole thing is actually made for a larger orchestra and choir.
The briskly written libretto, which Behle created together with the Swiss writer Alain Claude Sulzer, is not that easy: in the personal tableau you can sometimes lose the thread. But it’s not a disaster. Outfitter Walter Schütze has placed two signposts on a cross between dunes and dikes. One points to Meersum, the other to Ölsum. The brewers of these two coastal towns are in a constant feud for the best beer, but Ölsum seems to have subscribed to winning the annual beer competition for years. The competition wants to change that! Instead of pouring Freikugeln, free beer is brewed here on a full moon in Wolf’s Bay, which actually ensures victory in front of an international jury of unsuspecting foreigners.
Since a Senta (seductive: Madlaiene Vogt) is involved, it also needs a driving Dutchman. And since his name is Bernd (great: Jason-Nador Tomory), of course he’s keen on Senta and misses his mother, he laments in large format arias about “Bernd’s wound”. (The “Miracle of Bern” had obviously seen everyone in the premiere audience!) The captions of “Wandering is Des Müllers Lust” or “Boy, come back soon” are captivating, nice and charmingly operatic (Richard Glöckner as Klaus, a wanderer) to the parodistic-tinged great pathos note that is blared over the ramp. And everything happens in quick succession. As Letty, Maria Rüssel “doesn’t have good nights” (like Klytämnestra). Leander de Marel turns the monk Theophil into a comedy act with an anti-clerical bite. The choir in quartet strength makes an impression as a herd of sheep or spirit Bavarian group.
The icing on the cake (or better: the foamy crown on the beer) is the appearance of Mama Cervisia’s “appearance”, who at the end asks you to “take it easy” – which can be understood in one way or another: It’s Renate Behle, the famous mother of the composers. Director Jasmin Solfaghari has somehow set the characters in a funny way – but none of them are ridiculous. You can see and hear the double bottom, but also have fun when it doesn’t go down well. The production offers wit and irony, but only rarely slapstick. You have to get it right first. A continuous amusement of more than two and a half hours is a bit exhausting. But it’s worth it. The winged, pious wish “Hops and malt – God preserve it!” In any case, this doesn’t only apply to beer, but also to his operetta!
The next performances of “Hopfen und Malz” can be seen again at the Winterstein-Theater Annaberg-Buchholz on January 25, February 5 and 12 or March 24.
www.winterstein-theater.de