Hoffmann 1 - Uwe Schönbeck
Hoffmann 2 - Dominik Köninger
Hoffmann 3 - Alexander Lewis
Stella / Olympia / Antonia / Giulietta - Nicole Chevalier
La Muse / La mère d’Antonia - Alexandra Kadurina
Lindorf/Coppélius/Le docteur Miracle/ Dapertutto - Jens Larsen
Andrès/Spalanzani/ Pitichinaccio - Ivan Tursic
Cochenille/Crespel/Peter Schlémil - Alexey Antonov
Choir, Extras and Orchestra of Komischen Oper Berlin
Conductor - Daniel Huppert
Director - Barrie Kosky
This new production of Offenbach's unfinished opera by Barrie Kosky was the one I felt most inspiring and well executed during my stay in Berlin and musically there were many high points.
Since there is no final version of the opera, Kosky production focuses on the psychology and illusions of the protagonist himself. Unlike others, there are three Hoffmann in this production. The spoken role plays by Uwe Schönbeck is a reference to Kleinzach, who is ugly and deform in outlook, believes he will meet the beautiful actress Stella from the theatre even until in the coffin at the end. Although on stage, he acts as is watching with us in theatre with commentary in German on the sequence of tales. The Hoffmann, sung by the baritone, in first half plays the mad lover after the robot Olympia despite blindly believes she is a real human being. The tenor sings the other one in second half, who is already the lover of Antonia and later falsely believes Giulietta in love with him but a set up only. In the middle of the stage there is the moveable platform to maximise the effects of characters and surroundings in Hoffmann's fantasy/madness/nightmares. They represent his experience of desires, frustrations, conscience, joys and pains from the affections for the imagined lover. The evil Lindorf, or devils in different forms, is not the one causing the downfalls/failures of Hoffmann in the three love tales, but a harsh voice in the head condemning himself with consequence. The muse is his imagination of being youthful, motivations to be in love but also conscience when things should stop and look back into the reality.
The chorus is the ever changing group of spectators reinforcing the madness of the scenes and watching Hoffmann as he walks near to the death trap each time. Kosky skilfully articulated the deform and ironic aspect in each scenes with the chorus portraying as drag queens, hardcore partygoers, killers of Antonia with violin bows and the evil masked crowd. The stage evolves from a sewing workplace to produce robots, then dancehall until the coffin is brought to put a nail in all madness at the Venice tale. In the opening scenes of first and second half the tone is already set for followings, as we see Hoffmann in the midst of drinking bottles and later playing the violin alone frantically, and combining with dim chilling stage lights. Dark humours receive a particular attention on the theme of each tales. Though one cannot not decide strongly whether to feel pity for Hoffmann misgivings, or he simply not deserve any sympathy because we are watching him as a cycle of madness instead of a trapped human being. As the audience we have a good laugh from the bizarre demonstration of Olympia with long limbs and facial expressions from the cupboard. Whereas the death scene of Antonia is emotional and tragic before we come to the final part to see how Hoffmann is punished and tricked. All these come to the conclusion that Hoffmann is a victim of his obsession.
Nicole Chevalier was outstanding in the role of Stella/Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta both as singer and actress, which I would want to hear more from her in future. Let alone doing all four roles by herself, rarely a singer could act so well, sing competently to meet all the technical challenge with the right timbre. Her rendition of the 'doll song' by Olympia had a lot of fun with exaggerated facial expressions, while nailing all the top notes accurately and not a sign of strain. She was also adaptable to the change of character by presenting a vulnerable Antonia in negotiation between passion and survival. There were also many moving musical moments as she sang the arias in part two beautifully. In terms of singers for Hoffmann, I preferred the baritone Dominik Köninger than the tenor Alexander Lewis. The former had a warmer and more beautiful timbre for the ears to enjoy, also smooth and natural in phrasing the lines. Uwe Schönbeck should be credited for his portrayal of Hoffmann as an old aged lunatic. He captured the mental anguish and deform physical expression vividly while maintaining the irony and humour at the same time. Alexandra Kadurina made a youthful and energetic muse but mixed results on the vocal side. I enjoyed her timbre with a darker colour, but her intonation and smoothness in singing were more secured in solo arias than duets and recitatives. Jens Larsen made the evil figure Linhorf alike a Mafia boss in outlook with good vocal projection but his voice was more a baritone than a bass. The chorus lived up to their reputation after being voted choir of the year by opernwelt. Not only they sang well with good intonation, vocal volume and good on the French diction, but also excellent in acting and dancing. The men particularly had a lot to do and wearing a dress did not stop to them to go wild in dancing or exaggerated gestures playing the violins, at the death of Antonia, while unleashing the sheer vocal impact. The chorus built such a climax in the cabaret scene towards the end of first half that no productions I known of could have captured the irony, craziness and excitements so successfully. The orchestra delivered many musical excitements and exquisite solo playing especially at the opening of part two. Daniel Huppert maintained a good musical direction and no hesitation to push the ensemble for climatic moments when necessary. As a whole, I would like to watch it again in future and another triumph from Komische Oper.
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