Sekretärinnen and Verdi's Nabucco bring life to the Deutsches Theater's spring stage.
The poster alone is making tongues wag. There are even reports that it is fast becoming a coveted collectors item. The telephones at the Deutsches Theater box office are ringing off the hook. Ticket sales are soaring. What has made Munich’s usually mild-mannered theater crowd go wild? Sekretärinnen (Secretaries), a new musical, has stormed the stage of that grande dame of Munich theaters, the Deutsches Theater, after having raised the body temperature of cold-blooded theater-goers in Hamburg, Cologne and Vienna. Billed as a “schlager musical” (English speakers must be content to understand schlager music as anything from easy listening to elevator music to cheesy pop), the show has united the critics in praise and is being hailed as the first real German musical, if not in the league of New York’s Broadway and London’s West End, than at least that of Off-Broadway and the Fringe. Boasting 40 tunes drawn mostly from the treasure chest of golden oldies (including such gems as “Satisfaction,” “The Dock of the Bay,” and “This is a Man’s World”) the brash cast (primarily women) croon and warble their way into hearts and souls of spectators. Nine secretaries, trapped in their tidy world of typewriters and telephones, awaken to their sexual fantasies and yearnings. In one hilarious revelation after another, the calm of the office shatters into the pandemonium of the libido. The “hidden” personalities of such reserved characters as the “Wallflower,” the “Crybaby,” the “Bore” and the “Naive-One,” and those of the wilder “Vamp,” “Nymphomaniac” and “Rebel” rise to the surface in a confession of burning desire and sexual freedom. One woman longs for a shower of red roses, while another dreams of a sea voyage with blond sailors. In this burlesque, it is the secretary as Every(wo)man, dreaming of release from the Everyday. The nine little devils of the desk-set move us to rollicking laughter and bring us a bit closer to our own fantasies and secret desires. And what about the picture-perfect sensual man of the poster you ask? Alas, he too is part of the dreamworld, nowhere to be found on the stage. A promotional sleight of hand, he is available only as a poster and calendar at the box office. To heighten the fever of spring, the Deutsches Theater has planned, following directly on the heals of Sekretärinnen, musical theater of another kind, Guiseppi Verdi’s Nabucco. Although performed in all its pomp at the great opera houses of the world, Nabucco is also at home in the world of “popular opera” (Volksoper), where its more nuanced charms also become apparent. It is in this frame of mind that the Deutsches Theater, in cooperation with Italy’s Teatro Ventidio Basso, will present this dramatic work. In a colorful new production replete with ornate sets and luxuriant costumes, the stage of the Deutsches Theater will come alive with the sounds of this rousing opus. The first-class soloists include Walter Donati as Nabucco, Paola Romano as Abigaile and Paola Pelliciari as Fenena. Nabucco was Verdi’s first opera to concern itself with his long-cherished theme of freedom and was, at its premiere in 1842, a triumph for the then 29-year-old composer. The story of the ancient Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and his enslavement of the Hebrews is one of captivity and release, madness and redemption; a piece as moving as it is provocative. Although the melodies may not be as dance-inspiring as those of Sekretärinnen, the famous prisoners’ chorus will have you humming long after the opera has ended. Sekretärinnen: Premiere: March 25, 1999 - April 18 1999 Nabucco: April 21 - May 9, 1999