Short Summary
The traveling opera takes place at three different venues. The audience is accompanied by musicians as they wander from venue to venue.
The operatic character is thus retained along the way. The audience is introduced to Senta's birthday party guests at venue one. A friendly ship rat welcomes everyone. In location two, the audience is on Senta's dad Daland's houseboat, where he has prepared everything for the big birthday party. But the Dutchman and his ghost pirates "crash" into this exuberant party atmosphere and the story takes a completely new turn. The big showdown then takes place at location three - on the beach, where the cursed ghost ship is anchored.
Nina Blum is a successful actress, director, artistic director and psychologist. With her work, she wants to "whet young audiences' appetites for opera - for the music, for the story and for the fantastic Staatsoper building." Her aim is to immerse young audiences in the opera genre and to fascinate them: "The audience is introduced to Senta's birthday party guests at venue one. Between venues two and three, the audience dives into the depths of the ocean together with the singers and musicians."
The Cursed Ghost Ship sounds for long stretches like Richard Wagner's original music, but it is broken up, regrouped, shortened and sharpened. Of course we wanted to use the most beautiful melodies from The Flying Dutchman , but in order to make the opulence and expansiveness of Wagner's music more concise and brisk, the ship's rat, for example, which brings surprising twists and turns to the action and provides the necessary lightness, has a completely different music: very lively, so that funny situations arise when the rat meets the mysterious Flying Dutchman and his naturally heavier music.
There is also an exuberant birthday song by Senta's father Daland, who in our interpretation is a kind of likeable hippie, as well as atmospheric underwater music, to which the audience "dives" together through the underwater worlds of the Vienna State Opera, solving various puzzles along the way..
Following Die Entführung ins Zauberreich, Das verfluchte Geisterschiff, freely adapted from Richard Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, will be performed as a touring opera from December 2023. Once again conceived by director Nina Blum, the audience will experience a new version of The Flying Dutchman at three different locations in the Vienna State Opera. Well-known Wagner arias are enriched by compositions by Gerald Resch and wrapped up in a new story arc by librettist Margit Mezgolich. The central figure of identification for the young audience is a charming ship rat. She is Senta's best friend, adventurer and narrator of the 80-minute children's opera. Boredom is guaranteed not to be an issue with this interactive opera format: The audience is closely involved in the action and - accompanied by the 13-piece stage orchestra - not only immerse themselves in Wagner's operatic cosmos, but also rescue Senta's best friend Erik from the clutches of the famous ghost captain. A children's opera that whets the appetite for adventure and tells of the fascination of the world of pirates and ghosts as well as the power of friendship.
In cooperation with the
INNOVATIVE CHILDREN'S OPERA ASSOCIATION
Please note: The individual stages of the traveling opera can only be reached on foot.
