Les Contes d'Hoffmann – Offenbach - Bayerische Staatsoper Munich

Image taken from the Bayerische Staatsoper website

The evening didn’t start well.  The writer’s request for a complimentary programme to enhance information for a review was soundly rebuffed by the Vorderhausmanager in charge of the Opera House, Charles Edward Maxwell.  His riposte of ‘This is not how it’s done in Germany, you have to write and fill out a form’ was somewhat akin to ‘We have ways of making you feel unwelcome’!  But then perhaps Mr Maxwell’s unkindly intervention could be somewhat reflective of the rather stiff attitude at the top at the Munich Staatsoper? 

The revival of Richard Jones’s 2011 production really fared no better.  An entertaining first act was never matched by the following two acts.  The same sets were used in each of the three acts and the action became less interesting in the following two acts as a result.  Perhaps it was too much to expect a repeat of the quality singers eight years ago – Villazon as Hoffman and Damrau as the four female heroines.   

In this performance only the Olympia of the Armenian soprano Nina Minasyan produced outstanding singing.  The American tenor Michael Spyres singing Hoffman is somewhat of a journeyman, slightly uneven with a tight top.  The Canadian mezzo soprano Michele Losier singing Hoffman’s Muse sung attractively throughout, but perhaps the vocal substance of the evening came from the bass baritone Alex Esposito, who was outstanding in his four villainous roles.   

The rest was frankly underwhelming, particularly the chorus with its Drinking Song and the pedestrian uneven pace taken by the Conductor Constantin Trinks.  Three stooges walked around following the action, never really adding anything to the production as indeed neither did Hoffman’s younger alter ego.  Whilst all the action was intricately directed in Jones’s inimitable style there was a considerable lack of bite during the evening and certainly no ‘intoxicating chemistry’, which was the least one could expect between the artists.   

For an Opera House that prides itself on being amongst the first ranked of worldwide houses, this frankly was not good enough.