Keep calm and look up occasionally... there may be spiders, or zombies above your head. A spook show? Why, yes indeed it is. The Komische Opera in Berlin has premiered a gothic musical theatre work by Heinrich Marschner... and it is a gory, good romp.
The original composition, Der Vampyr, was written in 1828, and offered three hours of vampires and victims to its public. Most fortunately, experienced musical theatre director Antú Romero Nunes edited his production to a solid 90 minutes of bloody, good singing. The resulting musical theatre performance retains its compositional charm, and while the story is not too cheery – a vampire must kill three virgins to remain alive for one more year – humour is ever-present. Here I must wonder why a vampire would even want to remain alive for another year.
With so much murder and mayhem about, there is little time for any deep character exploration. Even as some of the characters spring directly from the audience, none are truly sympathetic, or engaging. Maria Fiselier's Emmy most touches the heart and her soprano arias are lovely. She clambers from the audience and goes rather gladly into the arms of the vampire, a happy ending of sorts for her? Emmy's husband, who also jumps out of the audience onto the stage, sings with the impotence of a man who has lost his wife to another man – a pale, bald, combed-over, (much) older man who just happens to be a vampire. We could feel sorry for Emmy's husband, but alas, he is just not interesting enough to bother.