Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier at Oper Köln | Live Review

Patrick Zielke threw himself fully into this new view of Ochs

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When the new opera house in Cologne opened in the 1950s, it was emblematic of West German reconstruction – cultural and physical – after World War Two. But the renovation of the theatre and its associated buildings, lasting nearly 14 years and with costs estimated at €1.5 billion, has been symptomatic of Germany’s less enviable recent record for going over budget and over time on large building projects. Still, it has finally reopened and, to mark the event, Oper Köln chose to stage a new production of Der Rosenkavalier.

It’s not an obvious choice, perhaps, for such a festive occasion, nor was Marie-Ève Signeyrole’s Konzept-heavy production, in which the #metoo movement is shown catching up with Baron Ochs and his misdeeds. It’s not a bad idea, per se, but while some might simply have chosen to underline and sharpen criticism already implicit in a work that hardly condones Ochs’s lecherous ways, here the French director opts for the wholesale imposition of a new scenario.

And it takes some explaining. Marie Therese is now an actress and director, starring in her own film about the historical Marschallin and her lovers. During the filming she falls in love with the actress Octavian. Ochs is a Harvey Weinstein-esque producer, who takes a shine to the starlet Sophie. Act 1 loosely takes place on a film set, busy with cameras and assistants. For Act 2 we’re at the Silver Rose Film Awards, where Sophie is a prize-winner. By the time we got to Act 3, I’d rather lost track.

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