In 1787, Mozart debuted Don Giovanni in Prague, a city he loved and one that loved him back. The National Marionette Theatre has been staging its version of this opera since 1991. As an admirer of the craft of puppetry, I wanted to experience a world famous marionette troupe and also see how this piece could be staged as a family friendly entertainment. The Don, after all, sings about his “conquests” of women as follows: 640 in Italy, 231 in Germany, 100 in France, 91 in Turkey and 1,003 in Spain. He sings “Madamina, il catalogo è questo” which translates as “My dear lady, this is the catalog.”
The company does not shy away from the material. On stage this chronicle is depicted with banners which flow down from the puppeteers onto the stage and feature classic images of women as in paintings. The whole opera is abbreviated but the general plotline is followed. Two of the ladies he woos the most are puppets that vaguely reminded me of Celine Dion and Cher.
Mozart conducted the premiere of Don Giovanni. In this show, his marionette is exaggeratedly kooky. The creators developed a number of very funny bits for this musical genius including a drunken episode prior to an onstage party scene. For the record, I am not an opera fan and I became bored through much of the first act once the novelty of watching clunky, large wooden puppets move around the stage to a reasonably nicely performed soundtrack. I was not alone. About half the audience left at intermission.
Only one of the puppets seemed to possess a moving mouth, the rest sort of bounced around while “singing.” The movement of walking was loud as wooden shoes clomped on a wooden stage. When choreography happened, the effect was clog dancing gone wild. Years ago I saw the Salzburg Marionette Theatre’s production of The Sound of Music which was breathtaking in its technical proficiency and set design. This show felt primitive by comparison. Perhaps this was a historically true to form representation of this type of marionette production.
The second act was far superior to the first which was a shame for those individuals unwilling to stick around. The scenes were more cleverly executed (such as the graveyard of the Commendatore) with more pointed humor and a nice, surprising finale. I cannot recommend this Don Giovanni, however. When half the audience leaves during the interval and more escape throughout the second act, there can be no adjective to describe the production other than to call it “wooden.”
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