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Roll out the canon

An underwhelming start for the opera season
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By Frank Kuznik
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 12th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Tomáš Černý moves in for a kiss, but Maria Haan is determined to make him wait.
The Kiss

When: Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 7
Where: National Theater
Tickets: 80–900 Kč, available through Bohemia Ticket and at the venue
Performed in Czech, with English and German titles

It’s not a promising new season for opera fans, with the five new productions at the National Theater including yet another version of The Bartered Bride and only one major work, Verdi’s Falstaff. The State Opera has just two premieres, both scheduled for next year.
So while the tepid opening of Smetana’s The Kiss (Hubička) last week was disappointing, it seemed an appropriate harbinger of the months to come.
The apparent simplicity of The Kiss belies its origins. When Smetana composed it in 1876, he was almost totally deaf. In that sense it’s an amazing piece, a lovely lyrical composition that stands alongside the first four segments of Má vlast and other works from what was ironically one of his most productive periods. The material comes from a short story by Karolína Světlá, who so effectively captured the rhythms of life in Czech villages, and the libretto is by Smetana’s brilliant collaborator Eliška Krásnohorská, who created some fine verse for this work.
The story line centers on a lover’s quarrel. Lukáš, freed from an unhappy marriage by his wife’s death, is eager to reunite with a former lover, Vendulka. She’s interested but not in the rush that he is, particularly with her father opposed to the union. When Vendulka refuses Lukáš a kiss, he goes on a bender, creating a scandal. So the pair not only have to overcome their personal problems, but win the approbation of the entire village.
An excellent set of program notes delineates some of the dark undercurrents of the story: “the tolling of the funeral bell, the blood relation of the lovers Lukáš and Vendula ... cold hatred for the imposed and unloved first wife, unending toil, folk superstitions about dead mothers, the erotic appeal of Vendulka’s lips.” Unfortunately, very little of this makes its way onto the stage in this production, which is handled as a straight-ahead, cotton-candy story about a cute couple having a domestic spat. In that sense, it’s a lot like watching a prime-time television show: familiar story, stock characters, predictable feel-good ending.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since much of director Marián Chudovský’s work has been for Slovak Television. He also has plenty of theater and opera productions to his credit, but the one-dimensional staging of this piece seems better-suited to TV cameras than a theater audience. Chudovský also has an annoying habit of littering the stage with detritus that the singers constantly have to step over and around. He did it with piles of pillows in last year’s Samson et Dalila at the National Theater. This time the set is almost entirely giant jigsaw puzzle pieces, which he has the performers pull apart and scatter around the stage. The singers are forced to spend the rest of the night carefully walking on and around the pieces, and occasionally tripping over them.
The flat direction extended to the musical performances at the Sept. 5 premiere, which were adequate but nothing special. To be fair, The Kiss is not a great work for singers; you can count on one hand the number of solo showcase moments. Maria Haan made the most of the famous lullabies in the first act, and Kateřina Kněžíková almost stole the show with her exuberant rendition of Skřivánčí Píseň. Otherwise, the most impressive singing was by the National Theater chorus, which was particularly good in the call-and-answer exchanges in the first act. The orchestra, under the baton of Zbyněk Müller, was warm and expressive but noticeably lacking in precision and passion.
In the end, The Kiss may be a case of cultural disconnect. From the opening projections of vintage postcards to the final scene in the Paloucký home, this is a love note to village life that will never have the same meaning or resonance for foreigners that it does for natives. Smetana’s music is sweet but hardly memorable in the way that, say, Janáček’s Jenůfa stays with you. This is not a complaint: The National Theater is obligated to do the Czech canon, but not to adapt it for foreign audiences.
So if you’re a Czech completist or simply have visitors in town who would enjoy a lightweight night at the opera, this production should satisfy. If, on the other hand, you’re a serious opera fan, save your money for what will hopefully be a change in the season.

Frank Kuznik can be reached at fkuznik@praguepost.com


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