Komische Oper, Berlin
Robinson Crusoe
By: Angelika Jansen - Jan 15, 2025
It was a bit disappointing, the opening performance of Robinson Crusoe on December 22, 2024. This concert version of the light opera by Jacques Offenbach at the Komische Oper, Berlin left wishes open for a full fledged opera performance. The present version seems to be the answer of the Komische Oper to the looming shortenings of financial support for the cultural institutions of Berlin.
The stage setting, at their temporary house located at the Schiller Theater in the Bismarckstrasse in Berlin, seemed at bit crowded. The orchestra took up most of the stage, leaving only space for the performers to sing and act a little in front of the stage and in close vicinity of the audience.
It were only Katrin Kath-Bösel's 19th Century costumes that transported the action into the same century where this light opera was situated.
Offenbach's enjoyable fairy tale story after a book by Jules Vernes from 1719 is realized by the composer into a comic opera in three acts, first performed in 1867. It was ably supported by Adrian Perruchon's conducting. The choir's stage presence, being the only aspect of a setting, focused most of the action on the musical performance, leaving the performers just with this, singing and not acting. Some may have preferred this to a full performance, but it did not allow the opera house to shine with their normally great productions.
The story is quite well known. Robinson Crusoe (Augustin Görner) leaves home and fiancee Edwige (Miriam Kutrowatz) to find a fortune in distant lands. Instead he gets stranded on a far away island, finds a companion in Freitag (Virginia Verrez) against a people that want to eat them, and is rescued by Edwige and the servants Suzanne (Sarah Defrise) and Toby (Andrew Dickinson) six years later. Since it is a concert version of the opera, a story teller (Andreja Schneider) is introduced to inform the audience about the entire happenings in the libretto by Eugne Cormon and Hector-Jonathan Crmieux.
All is well at the end, thus it is light-hearted entertainment, just perfect for an end of the year enjoyment. The singing is a perfect compliment to the music, a delightful concert to a promise for a better new year. But an opera performance it is not. May the year 2025 find Berlin in better ways as to support of the arts than what is feared.