Csar and Carpenter

Few works have slipped from the programmes of German-language opera houses to the extent experienced by the operas of Albert Lortzing. Where works such as The Poacher, The Armourer and Undine were still fixtures in the repertoire only thirty years ago, they have now all but vanished from the calendars of theatre venues. Not even Lortzing’s greatest triumph, his comedy of errors Csar and Carpenter (1837), has escaped the neglect – and this despite old chestnuts like the “Clog Dance” and the aria “Lebe wohl, mein flandrisch Mädchen.”

Doubly surprising if you consider that this tale of Tsar Peter the Great, who strikes up a friendship with an army deserter with the exact same name while acquiring the skills of a carpenter incognito in a Dutch shipyard, was arguably one of the best musical comedies of its time, with Lortzing’s protagonists retaining all their relatable flaws and yearnings in the face of all their ups and downs. The young deserter, who just wants a quiet life, the feisty Marie, who’s determined to decide her own path, the Tsar with his thinly veiled leanings to violent domination, and van Bett as the mayor and a loveable caricature of a German bigwig… all these characters confer a timeless humanity on the comedy.

Conductor Antonello Manacorda and director Martin G. Berger have now set about showcasing these qualities inherent to Lortzing’s masterpiece at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In his capacity as long-standing Principal Conductor of the Kammerakademie Potsdam, Manacorda brings to the task his experience of staging period pieces and his knack of timing in Rossini’s comic operas. Berlin director Martin G. Berger, for his part, has made a recent name for himself as one of the most accomplished cross-over practitioners between the opera, operetta and musical genres – often tweaking dialogues himself to add a fresh, modern touch – skills that will doubtless benefit Csar and Carpenter too.

Nadja Mchantaf is a known quantity to Berlin opera fans. Over the last nine years she has become one of the brightest stars in the firmament of the Komische Oper, where she has sung some of the great roles of the lyric soprano fach ranging from Mozart’s heroines to Debussy’s Mélisande and Puccini’s Musetta and Mimì. Quite apart from her voice, her agility as a performer will have raised her game even more: alongside her training as a singer Mchantaf pursued a successful career as a competitive ballroom dancer, with a sideline in classical en pointe ballet as evinced in her debut at the Behrenstrasse opera house as Massenet’s eponymous heroine, Cendrillon. And who can say that this skill set is not also standing her in good stead for the clog dance in Csar and Carpenter?

45 minutes before curtain: introduction in the right circle foyer