Shin Taniguchi / Reviews

At the Staatstheater Meiningen you can currently marvel at a lively picture by Markus Lüpertz: The painter not only painted the stage design and costumes, but also took over the direction of "La Bohème". It is a premiere of a special kind: at the age of 80, the painter Markus Lüpertz staged his first opera with Puccini's "La Bohème" at the Staatstheater in Meiningen. The gloomy stage design he painted reflects his own Berlin bohemian period, which he experienced as dark, cold and poor, says our critic Uwe Friedrich. Lüpertz has also painted the costumes of the singers, who step forward during their performances and sing to the audience. As a result, the whole thing looks like a lively Lüpertz image. Overall, Friedrich's production is reminiscent of paper theatre, as was very popular among the bourgeoisie in the 19th century. But there is little to be felt here of a psychologization of the characters or of emotionality, Friedrich judges. A successful excursion into directing, nothing more The production is also involuntarily funny in places and overall a "beautiful, really good ensemble theater at a German city or state theater". The conclusion of our critic: A short, entertaining opera that you like to watch. "This is all very beautiful, very decorative. Lüpertz himself has said that he does not see himself as a director. However, I also find that reassuring. This is an excursion that I find successful overall, if you completely refrain from the psychologization of the characters, but want to see a basically extremely conservative view of "La Bohème".

The eagerly awaited directorial debut of painter prince Markus Lüpertz in Meiningen was acclaimed by the premiere audience.Premiere or vernissage? That was the question here. Markus Lüpertz as an opera director, after everything that could be heard from him in advance, could only become an opera from the spirit of painting. The eager opera-goer has done the furnishings more often. However, the refreshingly vital-looking eighty-year-old has never directed it himself. The painter prince no longer wants to become a director In Meiningen he had Maximilian Eisenacher, a co-director for purely artisanal work, at his side. At the press conference, shortly before the premiere, Lüpertz admitted with his typical serene self-irony that he did not intend to become an opera director now. Of course, he did not try to hide the fact that he enjoyed the attention he received. The contradiction mentioned between his clear criticism of the currently dominant way of staging opera as an entertainment event and what happened in Meiningen with and around him for this premiere, he acknowledged with a smile with the remark that he was just a professional artist and lived from his notoriety. Will former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder appear? Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his wife did not come to Meiningen for the directorial debut of painter friend Lüpertz – as already reported in the press. This announcement was part of the apron that the historic theatre location once again needed. But it would have been just an additional treat for the category Miscellaneous anyway. Overwriting of the umpteen times reproduced images? This "La Bohème" was already spectacular. Not only because this applies to every premiere in December of the second corona winter. Especially in areas with worrying numbers of infections. The new artistic director Jens Neundorff von Enzberg in Meiningen and his star guest have caught the right time window. As many spectators as were allowed to fill the rows in a well-masked manner and at the end thoroughly cheered a version of opera that is not common today. Whereby the aura celebrated in Puccini's "La Bohème" above the rooftops of Paris, with artists' existences that freeze, starve, are in arrears with the rent and still live and love, particularly invite an overwriting of the umpteen times reproduced pictures of this repertoire perennial favorite. In addition, with the central love story between Mimì and Rodolfo, which ends with the inevitable death of the young woman. With Puccini's great, languishing tone, his scenic confrontation with a contemporary extension into the afflictions of our present is almost obvious for ambitious directors. In your mind's eye, you can literally see the associative video worlds with images from an increasingly fragmented society, including the diffuse threats posed by global uncertainties. Including the current pandemic threats, which in fact affect every theatre in a very concrete existential way. Opera becomes two-dimensional Lüpertz puts the exact opposite of this on stage and thus for discussion. He insists on his art, on painting and thus first of all on two-dimensionality and color. He does not let movement become a problem because he deliberately refers to the ramp singing and a gesture between baroque theatre and commedia dell'arte. With him, so to speak, all paths lead through the middle to the ramp. From there, the face to the audience is smashed or languished, which holds the stuff. And what the gripping sound that GMD Philippe Bach and the Hofkapelle courageously contribute from the trench requires or allows. Depending on the. Still life on the easel Visually, there is a small stove in the artist's residence against a dark gloomy background (in which the few pages of manuscript paper blaze surprisingly long), two skylights on the floor and an easel, on which a still life is then applied instead of solid food. The costumes are colorful throughout, the make-up strong. All of them are good with a powerful voice. The choir, rehearsed by Manuel Bethe, is juicy green with red caps and has its grand entrance in the Café Momus picture as a decorative Christmas tree with candles in the background. Painter Marcello armed with color palette Whether the butterfly tenor Alex Kim as Rodolfo or Julian Younjin Kim as the painter Marcello armed with color palette or Johannes Mooser, who is known as musician Schaunard due to his of course also two-dimensional instrument box, and Selcuk Hakan Tıraşoğlu, who walks as the philosopher Colline with an academic headdress. Monika Reinhard not only turns her Musetta into a vocal highlight, but also succeeds in taking the step from the two-dimensional sketch into the three-dimensional liveliness of coquetry. Especially when she plays her games with her current lover Alcindoro (Thomas Lüllig), the theater briefly gains the upper hand over painting. Of course, they all have their (sometimes involuntarily funny) ups and downs between the brochures staggered to the depth picture or the painted furniture. The fact that deniz Yetim, who sings convincingly throughout as Mimì and her Rodolfo, is not granted a spatial approach even in reconciliation, and even dies standing up, is not due to any rules of distance here, but to the approach of the painter, who sometimes attributes the plot solely to the music. Conclusion: Experiment successful The visual value of this Gesamtkunstwerk of staged painting with Puccini's music and three distinctly idiosyncratic poetic texts that the painter has written about it and which, performed by himself, are recorded off-screen is enormous. The personal statement that the painter Markus Lüpertz makes about music theatre direction is, of course, controversial. Overall, however, the experiment was a success. You were at a vernissage as well as in a premiere. Both had their own charm. But it also worked together for most viewers.