Freies Landestheater Bayern: Jubilee play "A Land of Smiles" meets the public's taste

Created: 05/29/2022, 18:00

By: Christine Merk

Successful premiere: With great costumes and a lot of acting skills, the Freies Landestheater Bayern brings Franz Lehar's "The Land of Smiles" to the stage.

© Max Kalup

With the exotic operetta "The Land of Smiles" by Franz Lehar, the Freies Landestheater Bayern made itself a worthy present for its 40th anniversary.

Miesbach – Rudolf Maier-Kleeblatt and Julia Dippel met the audience's taste with their performance version, which was noticeable at the premiere on Saturday evening in the ensemble's main building, the Waitzinger Keller in Miesbach.

While the content of the play must be seen in the context of the time in which the story is set - Lehár's work was first performed in 1929 - it nevertheless reveals a truth that still applies today: that love can be broken by constraints and only then can it really thrive , where people live in freedom.

Operetta earns applause

In his operetta, Lehár brings together the cultures of China and Western Europe.

In Vienna, the Chinese prince Sou-Chong and Lisa, the daughter of Count Lichtenfels, fall in love.

Lisa follows the prince to his homeland.

The happiness of the two comes to a bitter end when Sou-Chong has to marry four women - as tradition dictates.

Lisa cannot live with this situation and returns to Europe.

Sou-Chong is desperate, but he can't get out of his character.

"Always smile," he sings, "but how it looks inside is nobody's business."

Lehár implements the ups and downs in the dramaturgy of the piece in his music: with the lightness of the funny operetta when there is dancing and celebration at the Viennese court, and the seriousness of the chorale alternating with graceful eastern sounds when the prince returns clothed in the golden cloak, the sign that he is now ruler of his land.

The well-known song "Your is my whole heart" comes from this operetta.

Stefano Hwang as Prince Sou-Chong sings it with great passion, the older audience was visibly moved - big applause after the last line.

Simple stage design, great costumes

The Freies Landestheater chose the actors happily anyway.

Both Hwang and Isabel Blechschmidt are brilliant in their roles, especially the latter played Lisa credibly in all her emotional world: self-confident, happy, loving - first full of happiness, then desperate.

Andreas Fimm plays Count Gustav, who sometimes seems a bit clumsy, who is a friend of Lisa's but actually wants to be her lover, Laura Faig enchants as Sou-Chong's sister, who rebels against strict traditions, plays tennis in a short skirt and End in love with Count Gustav.

Matthias Degen believably plays both the sociable Count Lichtenfels, who lets his daughter and niece (also Laura Faig) wrap him around his little finger, and Sou-Chong's uncle, who at the Chinese court pays strict attention to

that traditions endure.

Christophe Vetter as head eunuch caused a great deal of amusement with rhymes like "We eunuchs would like to try it too - the only question is how?" and puns that eunuchs frequent women's quarters because they don't frequent.

So a lot of theatre, a big orchestra and great costumes, all in front of a simple stage design: a wall with a small level in front of it, from which a few steps lead down to the stage.

But the wall is broken by a circle that serves as an open door.

And that is definitely important, because in China the circle is a symbol for heaven - and thus also for love.

Read here: A special piece for a remarkable anniversary: ​​For Franz Lehár's masterful operetta "The Land of Smiles", the Freies Landestheater Bayern pushes the limits both musically and visually.

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