A charming flower of Bad Ischler with a political depth

A charming flower of Bad Ischl with a political depth

Lehár Festival: premiere of Paul Abraham's operetta "The Flower of Hawaii"

Photo: fotohofer.at

The question that always arises in the context of the operetta is: Can we reproduce the works of the late 20s and early 30s? Years like they did on stage so not so much because they are flat and musically uninteresting – quite the opposite. Many former librettists and composers have been persecuted and expelled by the National Socialists. For example, Fritz Löhner-Beda, librettist of the operetta "The Flower of Hawaii", which opened on Saturday the festival Lehár in Bad Ischl, was murdered in Auschwitz. Director and director Thomas Enzinger has cleverly integrated the story of the last Hawaiian Queen Lili & Uokalani and the annexation of Hawaii by the United States in a background scenario: it traces the fate equally tragic of Composer Paul Abraham (escaped by Paris and Cuba in the United States in 1940)

The pleasure is not forgotten

Two people – Governor Paul Abraham and Jim Boy embodying jazz legend Al Jolson – kick again and again out of the plot. They break the comic plot, which is riddled with aberrations and confusions, highlight the injustices of forced emigration and deportation and confront them to the refugee movement of today. .

Nevertheless, the pleasure is not too short. Enzinger leaves the story joyful at the moment of action – that is to say shortly before the turn of the century around 1900 – unfold in a fabulously colorful interior of the famous Toto and thus achieves contrasts even sharper. It focuses on the two rare couples who play the game very differently and vigorously counterbalance the slow relationship between opera princess Laya and Prince Lilo-Taro, which has been promised since childhood. Significantly contributed to the ideal on then-current dances such as Foxtrot, Slowfox and Charleston influenced the detailed choreography Abraham's music of Ramesh Nair, who also shines in the role of John Buffy. On the podium of the orchestra perfectly orchestrated by Franz Lehár, Marius Burkert – not only with an infallible sense for this music, but it also reveals the depth of the score.

The "Buffonists" in dance and force Hall as animated Jim Boy, Susanne Hirschler as a serious Hawaiian Raka and Nina White as an almost hyperactive niece Bessie Worthington. In collaboration with Ramesh Nair, she is a perfect quartet of actors.

Sieglinde Feldhofer makes sensation as an actress and singer as a lava flow between worlds – and shows her wonderfully comic side with the Schwips-Lied. Fine is also the musical design intensely conceived by Clemens Kerschbaumer, languishing with love, Prince Lilo-Taro, who threatens to drown himself a little in action. René Rumpold (Captain Stone) and Stefan Jovanovic (Kanako Hilo) are as convincing as the choir and the musical ensemble of the Lehár Festival. Mark Weigel is the primordial reincarnation of Paul Abraham.

Conclusion: A bright color, with a spicy exotic touch, perfectly staged and yet an evening of operetta that shows the potential of this genre, if we attack it properly. On the road to Bad Ischl

Lehár Festival, Bad Ischl: "The Flower of Hawaii", operetta by Paul Abraham, directed by Thomas Enzinger. Premiere: July 14, Congress & House Theater Bad Ischl, Dates: 16, 22, 26, 28, 7; 3, 5, 8, 9, 15, 17, 24, 26, 8; 1. 9. Maps / Info: 06132/238 39, www.leharfestival.at

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