The visitors enjoyed two carefree hours full of rousing music in the packed hall in the culture and congress center when Heinz Hellberg's Viennese operetta stage performed with Emmerich Kálmán's "Gräfin Mariza" on Tuesday evening.
Although the composer's Countess Mariza, which premiered in 1924 at the Theater an der Wien, did not quite match the global success of the nine years older Csárdásfürstin, he left behind another series of immortal melodies. "Greetings to the sweet, charming women in beautiful Vienna", "I too was once a fine Csárdáskavalier", "Say yes, my love, say yes", "Come on, Tzigan, play something for me..." Viennese sentiment , the sweet melt of yearning love songs and the embedded gypsy music combine to form an enchanting unit in the Austro-Hungarian operetta.
No frantic update
Luckily, Heinz Hellberg doesn't seek desperate updating in his production, but trusts the nostalgic charm. Three dancing couples, who cut a fine figure as dashing Hungarian girls and cavaliers as well as later in the brisk cancan, plus a small choir and perfectly fitting singer actors make the evening a pleasure. Only the thin orchestra under the direction of Laszlo Gyüker leaves something to be desired. The violins weaken, the brass dominates, sometimes covers the singers.
The opening image is so colorful and cheerful that applause greets the audience as soon as the curtain rises. Red pleated skirts fly, red booties stamp, the men jump in the air when Prince Populesco announces the arrival of the Countess. With a beautiful lyrical tenor, Stefan Reichmann sings of his longing as the impoverished Count Tassilo, who works incognito as an administrator. Ella Tyran's coloratura sparkles brightly on Mariza's entrance song. The capricious beauty still has no eye for her administrator, who is a far more accomplished cavalier than the admirers who swarm around her, but he will conquer her.
Special applause for acrobatics
Prince Dragomir Populesco (Viktor Schilowsky) can assert his claims no matter how self-confident and with a pleasant accent, and the lively Baron Koloman Zsupan (David Hojsak), who appears to her surprise, is ultimately not Mariza, but Tassilo's lively sister Lisa (Anete Liepina) home to Varasdin. The lively buffo couple reaped special applause during the acrobatic head-over-head-down performance.
Princess Bozena Cuddenstein zu Chlumetz (Sylvia Denk) and her tall, idiotic valet Penizek (Gerhard Kerzel) bring pure comedy to the audience. A double engagement is celebrated in a turbulent final tableau, only Prince Populescu and Princess Bozena are not allowed to come together here.
