Les Contes d'Hoffmann

Christoph Marthaler's wacky 2014 Madrid production of Offenbach's final opera (VL-1/16) looks positively staid compared to this Stefan Herheim mounting at the 2015 Bregenz Festival. Quite properly described as an adaptation and staged at the Festspielhaus rather than on the Festival's huge outdoor lakeside platform, this version follows no standard reconstruction of the unfinished score—not only picking and choosing among the musical numbers but also shuffling them around to make what the composer himself called an opéra fantastique even more bizarre. This staging retains the basic story—about the failed loves of the poet Hoffmann (for the mechanical doll Olympia, the consumptive singer Antonia, and the courtesan Giulietta)—but uses the narrative as a springboard for a wild phantasmagoria dealing not only with self-delusion but gender identity. Characters change from male to female and back again with dizzying speed—men are constantly showing up in drag—and few of the principals of either sex escape from playing long scenes in female undergarments (some are also occasionally replaced with life-sized mannequins, or simply trade roles). Meanwhile, an Offenbach stand-in attempts to preside over the extravagant goings-on, sometimes wielding a conductor's baton. The point that Herheim is trying to make with all the hubbub isn't terribly clear, but the result is certainly eye-catching, while the music is a notch above the Madrid production—featuring energetic playing from the Vienna Symphony under Johannes Debus, and strong singing by Daniel Johansson (Hoffmann), Michael Volle (as the succession of villains who foil him), Kerstin Avemo (Olympia/Giulietta), Mandy Fredrich (Antonia/Giulietta), and Rachel Frenkel (as Hoffmann's muse Nicklausse). Presented in DTS 5.0 (DTS-HD 5.0 on the Blu-ray release) and PCM stereo, this off-the-wall Hoffmann is a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)