THE MANNHEIM NATIONAL THEATER

It seems the high points in my life often have to do with theater, either attending or participating. (Have I mentioned I was a theater major the first time around?) That of course includes opera. There will be no shortage of that here.

I knew Mannheim had some kind of opera company. I did not know how far-reaching it was until I got here. Mannheim has not only an opera company, but a professional theater company as well; in fact, they are the same company, housed in one building. Like the Blumenthal in Charlotte, it has an opera house and a somewhat smaller theater for spoken plays, but, unlike Charlotte, one organization produces for both houses (produces, not merely schedules). The Mannheim National Theater is surely the brightest jewel in Mannheim's cultural crown.

And the really nice thing is that this is a true repertory company. Unlike Opera Carolina and all of the theater groups in Charlotte, here you will never find the same show presented two nights in a row (much less three or four). You have one show one night and a different one the next, and you might have the same show repeated a month or more after it was first presented. (Scheduling must be a nightmare.) An opera might be performed only three or four times in the season, but these performances are scattered throughout the year, not done all at once, as they are in Charlotte. So you actually have more opportunities to see a given show. The season runs from September through July. And there are, if I counted correctly, 30 operas in this year's repertory.

And 25 plays.

And that doesn't count the children's theater wing.

I started in on all this one Thursday last September with Richard Strauss's "Salome". Two days later I saw Verdi's "Otello", and in October the first of the "Ring" operas, "Das Rheingold". All of this was on the spur of the moment. Got my tickets at the last minute at the box office right before the show. In Charlotte, operas usually sell out (or nearly) in advance. Here, for "Salome", the house wasn't even half full. There were more for the Verdi (but that was a Saturday). It may have been 80 % full for "Rheingold" (a Sunday). Makes you wonder how they make ends meet. But of course, they probably have a government subsidy. And that's only three performances out of ... what? ... (30 operas at 3 times each would be 90, and if you add in the plays...) ... 150 at least.

But are they any good? Well, they're not bad. I didn't recognize the names of any of the singers (but since Charlotte is so poorly served by the media when it comes to opera --- are you listening, WDAV? --- that doesn't mean anything). But they all sang quite well, some outstandingly so. Unfortunately, the inside of the opera house is a big empty nondescript box, and the singers' voices have a tendency to get lost in it, especially when the orchestra is loud. The place was built in the 1950's, to replace the old theater that was destroyed in the war. I guess they didn't know much about acoustics back then. But that is a problem only at certain moments.

The orchestra plays solidly. There are a few occasional mistakes, mostly in the strings, but that is to be expected in a town this size. This isn't Berlin, after all. At least they do a good job of filling up the cavernous space. If only they'd back off a bit for the singers.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is the productions themselves. Although the "Otello" was a traditional staging, both of the German operas I saw were, as I believe is the prevalent practice here in Europe, done in a fashion best described as "experimental". "Salome", which is the Biblical story of the death of John the Baptist, took place in a nondescript industrial setting, or perhaps it was the deck of a cruise ship --- no way to tell. Most impressive was the fact that John the Baptist's cell was contained within an elevator that rose out of the stage at appropriate moments, so you got to see a lot more of him than you usually do. But the soprano, of course, was the star. There is no such thing as a young opera singer, but this lady was still in good enough shape to be believable in the part, even to pull off the dancing. But in this production it was not about the dancing; the choreography illuminated the psychology of the characters, not only Salome but Herod and his wife as well.

You found the same sort of innovation in "Das Rheingold", with the Rhinemaidens living in a submerged apartment (with couch and floor lamp, both of which remained onstage in all scenes), with a large round window (porthole?) through which fish (including a large shark) could be seen swimming by. And the dwarves, of course, wear miners' helmets with the little flaslights on them and push around big carts on tracks (they are miners, after all). That sort of thing.

Whether there is any unifying element or something that would make sense of it all in this production of the "Ring" remains to be seen: I later found out that the entire "Ring" cycle is being done here in May, over two weeks. So maybe it is OK that I won't make it to Bayreuth (I hear the waiting list for tickets is eight years long).

In fact, I have identified seven not-to-be-missed presentations at the National Theater over the coming months: Strauss's "Die Frau ohne Schatten" (in my opinion, the last great German opera) in March, then the "Ring" in May, immediately followed by "Parsifal", Wagner's treatment of the Holy Grail legend, and only a few days after that, some lightening up with Strauss's brilliant comedy "Der Rosenkavalier". All here in Mannheim.

I must also mention two more things. This season, on the playhouse side, the National Theater is doing Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" --- in German --- which I saw in November. This being perhaps the most well-known of all American plays, and having read it once and seen it at least twice, I thought I would be able to understand a good bit. I was wrong, but I could tell it was a thoroughly professional production, although the Germans, as always, are not afraid of messing with the material. It was half as long as it should have been, so a lot must have been cut, and I think a lot was re-arranged. E.g., the wife's monologue, what was left of it, was at the beginning, not the end. All kinds of images of modern America flashed on a big projection screen at the back of the stage. Trying to make a commentary about America and the evils of capitalism. Fair enough. But is not Germany, and all of Europe, heading down that same road?

Finally, the semester ended (nearly) with a gala concert in December featuring Ben Heppner, a singer I have heard of --- the world's leading Wagnerian tenor. No trouble hearing him. (How often does this kind of talent come to Charlotte? OK, so Renee Fleming came to Charlotte, but she was here in Mannheim in November, too.) All selections from the "Ring". Thrilling. Champagne reception afterwards. Then I went home and celebrated further with a bit of the Nibelungen Trank I'd bought in Worms. Wine flavored with honey and herbs, including parsley. Delicious.

Speaking of Worms, I have learned that this year's Nibelung Festival will begin in July, not August as was the case in 2006. So I will get to see Part II of the mammoth adaptation of the "Nibelungenlied" after all: "Siegfried's Women" last summer, and "The Last Days of the Burgundians" this summer. Enacted once again on the grounds of the imposing Worms cathedral. It will be one of the last things I do here before I have to leave. So my time in Germany will be book-ended by the Nibelungs in Worms.