Worthy revival of Kleider machen Leute never finds its footing

Joseph Dennis (Wenzel Strapinski) and the State Opera Chorus

Ivo Hrachovec, Pavel Švingr, Philippe Castagner, Jan Hnyk, Jan M Hájek and Joseph Dennis

Jana Sibera (Nettchen) and the State Opera Chorus

Joseph Dennis (Wenzel Strapinski) and Jana Sibera (Nettchen)

Jan Hnyk, Sylva Čmugrová, Pavel Švingr, Adéla Abdul Khaleg and Jan M Hájek

By Frank Kuznik, 26 February 2023

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“so bold and fresh, it sounds like the music was written last week”

Reviewed at State Opera (Státní opera), Prague on 24 February 2023

Zemlinsky, Kleider machen Leute

Prague National Theatre Opera

Giedrė Šlekytė, Conductor

Jetske Mijnssen, Director

Herbert Murauer, Set Designer

Julia Katharina Berndt, Costume Designer

Prague State Opera Orchestra

Prague State Opera Chorus

Jitka Slavíková, Dramaturgy

Joseph Dennis, Wenzel Strapinski

Daniel Matoušek, First tailor's apprentice

Michal Marhold, Second tailor's apprentice

Jana Sibera, Nettchen

Markus Butter, Melchior Böhni

Pavel Švingr, Litumlei

Philippe Castagner, Häberlein

Jan Maria Hájek, Federspiel

Sylva Čmugrová, Frau Litumlei

Jan Hnyk, Pütschli

Prague State Opera

Dustin Klein, Choreography

Adolf Melichar, Choirmaster / chorus director

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Frank Kuznik

Frank Kuznik is the former Editor-in-Chief and Culture Editor of The Prague Post, Central Europe’s premier English-language weekly newspaper. He currently divides his time between Prague and his hometown in the US, Cleveland, where he covers northeast Ohio's dynamic classical music scene. In Prague he is an habitué of the Rudolfinum, National Theater, State Opera and other storied classical music venues, and an unabashed fan of Czech music.

A worthy revival of Zemlinsky's Kleider machen Leute never finds its footing in Prague