Princesse Néfertiti

Description

The operetta composers used and abused chinoiseries and Spanish themes. In a more original way, Nico Dostal dared with his "Prizessin Nofretete" (Nefertiti)… an "Egyptian theme." To his credit, to be performed in a German theater in 1936 without contributing to Hitler's propaganda, it was better to choose a subject far removed in space and time. The action takes place at an archaeological and tourist site in Egypt at the beginning of the last century. There is an aristocratic couple and a plebeian couple. They meet in Act I, and there is a happy ending in Act II. Between the two, there is an interlude in the form of a flashback to ancient Egypt, where the characters, led by Nefertiti, experience more or less the same harmless adventures as their 20th-century counterparts. Musically, it’s "low-cost" Viennese operetta, with true opera singers alongside actors who sing as best they can, directed by an efficient conductor. The humor in the dialogues will be reserved for German speakers since the publisher does not bother to provide a translation. An enjoyable moment of music, as always with Dostal, but the DVD would have been more suitable to fully appreciate this performance. (Olivier Gutierrez)