Teatro de la Zarzuela (live stream), 22/04/2021

 Pablo Luna :  Benamor

Coro Titular del Teatro de La Zarzuela

Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid

José Miguel Pérez-Sierra

The Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid is a venerable institution, founded in 1856, and for much of the latter half of the 19th Century was Madrid's primary opera house, playing, and introducing to Spanish audiences, the mainstream operatic repertory as well as the Spanish operettas for which it is named.  It continues to be a very important cultural centre, with a unique repertory, which I have never seen in context, and of which I only know the arias and dances that find their way into compilations here and there.  Discovering that they now have a YouTube channel, and are putting up complete shows, is something I hope to explore extensively in the future, and it begins with this live broadcast, before an audience, of Pablo Luna's 1923 "opereta" Benamor.

I don't know enough about the genre to identify the differences between opereta and zarzuela, save, perhaps that those zarzuela of which I know have a Spanish setting, whereas Benamor is set in a fantasy 16th Century Isphahan, though it features a Spanish character in a leading role.  However, it is, certainly, an operetta, by any standards, by turns comic and gently sentimental, colourful, tuneful and light-hearted, not to mention with a somewhat preposterous plot.  

This 'Persia' is ruled by the young Sultan Darío who, his harem bemoans, appreciates his ladies' beauty but shows absolutely no interest in them romantically.  However, he has decided that it is time for his younger sister, the Princess Benamor, to be married, and has summoned three suitors to the court.  Benamor, for her part, is not particularly interested in men, but is willing to consider marriage as a possible escape from the restrictions of palace life as a princess - she wants to learn fencing, to ride to the hunt, in short, to be free.  Darío meets the three suitors, and finds himself strangely drawn to the Spanish adventurer, Juan de Léon, who presents himself as one of the suitors.  

What we learn from the Queen Mother, Pantea, is that there is a law which states that if the Sultana's first-born is a girl, the child must be forthwith put to death, and if the second-born is a boy, the same fate awaits him.  Therefore, obviously, Pantea lied about the gender of her first child, and then lied similarly about the second.  The rest is, in true operetta style, a bit too convoluted to go into, but you can imagine for yourselves, and of course it all ends happily ever after.

Luna, born in the province of Zaragoza in 1879, was a prolific composer of zarzuelas, and close ties to the Teatro de la Zarzuela from the beginning of the 20th Century.  Benamor is the last of an 'oriental' trilogy, and counts as one of his most successful works, although this was its first re-staging since the original in 1923.  The production team, lead by Enrique Viana, has certainly done it proud, with a very handsome set and beautiful costumes, as well as good choreography for the dozen dancers of the cast.  The staging is quite traditional - though it's really hard to imagine any operetta subject to regietheater - and I suppose it's not exactly politically correct, but it should be viewed in context, a little like silent movies of the period, which frequently indulged in oriental fantasies.

Vanessa Goikoetxea (Benamor) and Irene Palazón (Nitetis)
 Benamor, Teatro de la Zarzuela
(© Javier del Real, April 2021)

Like the more familiar Viennese, French or British operettas, though, this needs real voices for the main parts, and also adapts to current affairs - there was talk about Value Added Tax, which I hardly imagine was part of the original dialogue.  The first and second acts were introduced by comic monologues - both delivered by the director, Enrique Viana, which were not subtitled, unlike the operetta itself, I presume because they are substantially ad-libbed and can vary from evening to evening.  My Spanish is almost non-existent; there were consistent references to the first night of the work, in May 1923, and to a bakery/pastry-shop, but I didn't get much more than that.   However, Viana turned in an excellent number in drag for the interlude between the first and second acts, resplendent in an Erté-style gown, and the audience was clearly amused.  

The chorus was excellent, clear and clean, discreet when required, but otherwise enjoying themselves in the more comic aspects, such as the janissaries' opening number, and all of the secondary roles were solidly taken.  Damián del Castillo was Juan de Léon, a robust baritone, a little one-dimensional in terms of vocal colour but pleasing nonetheless, while Irene Palazón brought a high, bright soprano to the role of Nitetis, who becomes Benamor's love-interest.  Vanessa Goikoetxea took the title role, a slightly heavier soprano than required for Nitetis, and she too relished the comic aspects of her part, butching it up cheerfully, but I felt the best singing, and the most appealing performance came from the mezzo Carol García as Darío, beautifully bewildered by the confusing sentiments 'he' feels for this Spanish stranger ostensibly intended for his sister.  Lively orchestral playing from the excellent Community of Madrid Orchestra completed the picture.

This was a delightful evening's entertainment, all the more so that it was live, and in front of an actual, if reduced, public, which was evidently enjoying the occasion, and I look forward to learning much more about zarzuela from this source.