Die Schöne Galathée Open Air

In the organizer's words:

THE BEAUTIFUL GALATHÉE
Operetta by Franz von Suppè
Munich's smallest opera house
Summer season 2024: July 11 to August 18
Open Air Blutenburg: July 18 to July 23

This summer will be cheerful - at Munich's smallest opera house in the Pasinger Fabrik in any case. The beautiful Galathée will cause quite a stir with her whims, drive her stage company mad and bring tears of joy to the eyes of the audience.

Franz von Suppè's operetta Die schöne Galathée, which premiered in Berlin in 1865, was the German-language counterpart to Jacques Offenbach's Die schöne Helena, which had premiered in Paris just six months earlier in 1864. Both works are parodies of an antique theme. Although Suppè's work is less well-known, the music is no less catchy. The overture will certainly not only be familiar to fans of New Year's concerts. And the story of the sculptor Pygmalion, who chisels the perfect statue for himself, has it brought to life by the goddess of love and ultimately despairs at her demands, is highly amusing. And also very topical, because can the perfect person really be created?

With a completely new version of the text including humorous dialogues and an arrangement for eight-piece orchestra, enriched with suitable music by the composer and his contemporaries, Marcus Everding and Andreas P. Heinzmann have created a perfect work for the diverse audience of Munich's smallest opera house. Claudia Weinhart sets the story in a studio loft with charming technical effects and closes the circle to the beautiful Helena with her costumes.

New version and production: Marcus Everding
Musical direction: Andreas P. Heinzmann
Arrangement: Andreas P. Heinzmann, Jörg-Oliver Werner
Stage and costumes: Claudia Weinhart

Content
Cyprus, 31 B.C. The popular sculptor Pygmalion is in a crisis. He wants nothing more than to create the sculpture of the perfect woman. His servant Ganymede, Alexis Papandopolus, sinks into despair - business is at rock bottom. Then Venus, the Roman successor to Aphrodite, appears, freshly chosen as the goddess of love. Pygmalion begs her for divine inspiration. He receives it and the nymph Galathée emerges from a block of marble. Because the goddess has her generous Friday, she brings the stone Galathée to life.

But no one expected the nymph to be perfect. Perfect is a matter of opinion, at least in life. Everything revolves around the beautiful Galathée - including the greedy, lustful art dealer Midas and the tabloid journalist Lukian. It is sung and played in such a way that it is quite something: Arias, duets, tercets, quartets and, as an orgiastic climax, a sextet. Everything is mixed up, the characters despair, the audience laughs. The bitter sweet moral: you can't bake a perfect woman. And thank the gods: it was only like this in ancient times.

Recommended for ages 14 and up, duration: approx. 140 minutes incl. interval