The prestigious German stage director Christof Loy (Arabella, Rusalka or Capriccio) will be premièring two pieces by Hungarian musician and composer Béla Bartók on the power of love on 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 November at the Teatro Real.
The Miraculous Mandarin is a ballet pantomime composed by Béla Bartók between 1918 and 1924, with the libretto by Melchior Lengyel. This is a short piece that tells how a young girl is forced by three delinquents to attract men from the window of a room in order to seduce them so that the thieves can then rob them. One day, a miraculous mandarin arrives, who is intensely and obsessively attracted to the young girl. They try to kill him in several ways (stabbing him, hanging him and strangling him) but the mandarin does not die. Only when the young girl gives herself to him freely does the Mandarin finally die in peace. The production symbolises uncontrollable desire, the body as an object of power and the emotional chaos of a dehumanised society.
Bluebeard's Castle is an opera in one act by Béla Bartók, with the libretto by Béla Balázs. The story revolves around Bluebeard and his new wife, Judith, who has come to the castle for the first time. Once there, she discovers seven locked doors, which represent hidden aspects of Bluebeard’s soul. Although he asks her not to open them, Judith insists on finding out the whole truth and saving him with her love.
As she opens the doors, she discovers treasures, weapons, gardens, tears and finally... other women: the three previous wives who are not dead but are trapped in his memory. In the seventh door, Judith observes her destiny: she too will remain trapped in the castle, turned into another of his shadows.
Artistic File:
- Conductor - Gustavo Gimeno
- Stage Director and Choreographer - Christof Loy
- Stage Design - Márton Ágh
- Wardrobe - Barbara Drosihn
- Lighting - Thomas Kleinstück
- Choirmaster - José Luis Basso
The Miraculous Mandarin
- Ballet pantomime in one act, Op. 19, Sz. 73
- Based on a tale of the same name by Menyhért Lengyel (1917)
- Music - Béla Bartók
- Production by the Teatro Real in co-production with the Theater Basel
Bluebeard’s Castle
- Opera in one Act
- Libretto - Béla Balázs, based on the tale of La Barbe bleu by Charles Perrault (1697)
- Music - Béla Bartók
- Production by the Teatro Real in co-production with the Theater Basel
Cast:
The Miraculous Mandarin
- Mandarin - Gorka Culebras
- Girl - Carla Pérez Mora
- First Tramp - Nicky van Cleef
- Second Tramp - Jarosław Kruczek
- Third Tramp - Joni Österlund
- First Libertine - Nicolas Franciscus
- Second Libertine - Mário Branco
Bluebeard's Castle
- Duke Bluebeard - Christoph Fischesser
- Judith - Evelyn Herlitzius
- Prologue - Nicolas Franciscus
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