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Psychedelic Summer Night’s Dreams München
Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz
07/13/2026 - & July 14, November 4, 2026, February 27, March 18, 2027
« Bel Canto Me – Sommernachtsträume »
Warren Casey & Jim Jacobs: Grease: “We go together”
Mitch Leigh: Man of La Mancha: “The Impossible Dream”
Stephen Sondheim: Evening Primrose: “Take to the world”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Così fan tutte, K. 588: “Soave sia il vento” & “Smanie implacabili”
Charles Gounod: Roméo et Juliette: “Mab, La reines des mensonges”
Antonín Dvorák: Rusalka, op. 114, B. 203: “Song to the Moon”
Franz Schubert: An den Mond
Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw, op. 54: “She is here”/Nacio Herb Brown: “Singin’ in the Rain” (Medley)
Arthur Sullivan: H.M.S. Pinafore: “Kind Captain, I’ve got important information”
Henry Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z.629: “One Charming Night”
Francis Poulenc: Banalités, FP 107: 2. “Hôtel”
Giuseppe Verdi: Ernani: “Infelice!... E tu credevi”
Georg Friedrich Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17: “Son nata a lagrimar”
Elton John: Aida: “I Know the Truth”
John Adams: Doctor Atomic: “Batter My Heart”
Yoojin Lee (soprano), Tamara Obermayr (mezzo), Thomas McGowan (baritone), Juho Stén (bass‑baritone) Hibiki Sagae (piano), Stephen Delaney (musical direction)
Fleur Snow (stage director), Selma Agirgöl (sets), Sarah Silberman (costumes), Volker Jenner (lighting), Kerstin Ried (choreography)
Gärtnerplatztheater’s Opernstudio offered an evening of opera and musical theatre in a production that attempted to weave its varied arias, songs and ensembles into a coherent narrative. The selection of musical numbers was delightful, but the constructed storyline ultimately failed to convince.
A beach setting proved appropriate given the summer heat. Four young people applied a “magic” sunscreen that caused hallucinations, awakening passions ranging from love and sexual desire to jealousy, revenge and despair.
Director Fleur Snow framed the evening as a dreamlike sequence in which reality gave way to fantasy, allowing the young ensemble to move effortlessly between comic sketches, lyrical introspection and moments of unabashed theatrical flair. The concept felt slight, but it nonetheless provided an effective showcase for the singers’ versatility.
Vocally, the Opernstudio members impressed with freshness and commitment. Rather than competing for individual star turns, the cast functioned as a true ensemble, listening to one another and shaping each number with generous musicality. Stephen Delaney’s musical preparation was evident throughout: phrasing was consistently polished, diction was clear, and the performers navigated the stylistic shifts between Mozart, Verdi, Handel and Broadway with admirable ease and confidence. Accompanist Hibiki Sagae worked wonders in unifying the disparate pieces with elegance and taste.
Despite the beauty of some selections, such as Handel’s “Sono nata a lagrimar” from Giulio Cesare in Egitto, they did not always suit the available voices. A lyric soprano and a mezzo‑soprano could not fully do justice to a duet written for contralto and mezzo‑soprano. The South Korean soprano’s silvery voice proved much better suited to Rusalka’s famous “Song to the Moon”, which also fitted perfectly into the nocturnal episode of the constructed narrative. Likewise, the trio from Così fan tutte seemed well suited to the beach setting, but it remained unclear what had triggered the characters’ shifting passions.
The Austrian mezzo-soprano gave a gratifying rendition of Dorabella’s “Smanie implacabili” from Così fan tutte, convincingly conveying the character’s rage. Within the convoluted beach plot, however, the motivation for her outburst remained difficult to understand.
British baritone Thomas McGowan impressed with his delightful diction and virile baritone in the two French selections, “Mab, la reine des mensonges” from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Poulenc’s “Hôtel”.
Finnish bass-baritone Juho Stén demonstrated his powerful low register in the bass aria “Infelice!... E tu credevi” from Verdi’s Ernani. Endowed with excellent diction, he proved most moving in Schubert’s “An den Mond”, revealing a clear affinity for the German Lied.
Kerstin Ried’s choreography lent the evening a buoyant energy, while Selma Agirgöl’s understated staging allowed the performers to remain the focal point. The production avoided unnecessary spectacle, relying instead on imagination, movement and personality. Not every transition landed seamlessly, and the episodic structure inevitably led to a few uneven stretches, but the momentum rarely faltered for long. After a while, I stopped trying to understand the narrative and simply enjoyed the singing.
At just over an hour, the evening was an engaging and affectionate celebration of youthful artistry, light enough for a summer programme yet substantial enough to leave audiences eager to see where these singers would go next. Given its rather contrived plot, it did not aspire to the emotional weight of a full‑scale opera, but as a showcase of talent and imagination, it proved an undeniable success. I look forward to hearing these four young singers in future productions at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz and beyond.
Ossama el Naggar
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