Vienna The Operas 2 - Andrea Chenier.

So I was looking forward to this one very much, mainly because I had never seen it before. There was an additional draw, which we hadn't known about when we booked the holiday, that Jonas Kaufmann had been cast in the title role. I wouldn't have booked on the strength of that alone, but it was a bit of a bonus. 

It was performed on our third evening in Vienna, and I had started to wonder why people had been constantly checking somewhere to 'see if Kaufmann was still supposed to be singing' practically since we arrived. I found out in the late morning of the day of the performance when someone told me in doleful accents that 'Kaufmann has cancelled after all'. I gather he is notorious for cancelling performances at the last minute which I think is not a good look, but obviously as long as he can  get away with it he will continue to do it.

Some people in the group were very downcast at the news but we weren't because  as I say his appearance would have been a bonus, but wasn't  our reason for being there. Good tenors may be rare, but when you've heard some of the best live, ticking off another, and extremely temperamental one, doesn't really loom large on the priority list. So we were prepared for the pre-performance announcement that Kauffman would not be appearing. What we were not prepared for was learning that, not only had Kauffman cancelled, but the cover was ill as well, and the only reason they were able to put on a performance at all was by getting the tenor from the previous evening's Tosca to sing the role from the side of the stage while some poor sap from the stage management team walked through it on stage. 

Since  had not take to the tenor on the previous evening this prospect did not fill me with unadulterated joy. nor was the stage management person a good actor, or indeed a good fit for the costume. There were some very very odd moments. 

But - but but but - all was not lost. The tenor was much better as Andrea Chenier than he was as Cavaradossi. The women were all really good, the production was a bit OTT but fine, the plot was bonkers but you know ... it's opera, and the music was lovely. I really enjoyed it. I'd have enjoyed it more if they had managed to persuade the tenor to actually act the part, but at three hours notice I suspect he felt he was giving his all agreeing to sing it, especially after Tosca the previous evening. Cavaradossi is, after all, a big sing. And at the end of the day, Herr Kaufman  was not missed. Well, not by me.