Nayun Lea Kim not in the role of the "Fan", but in the role of the gamer of the "Fan" avatar. Photo: Sascha Kreklau. Where have we got to from my point of view? He was equally full of praise for the perfectly cast quartet of four singer-actors.
But every sound remains advanced. His music never falls back into the epigonal or harmlessly eclectic. Where is the difference between the real and the unreal, between statement and irony and quotation? I am still struggling with it. Now, the name of the NOperas! Projects that, in whatever way, go beyond the traditional narrative of the opera genre. When awarding the project, the jury expected this above all from the concept of using smartphones to involve the audience in the musical theatre experience.
For some, their browser got in the way. The idea of gamifying musical theatre is currently on the minds of many. Rarely have I seen this goal achieved in a convincing way.
But Bremen and Darmstadt are still waiting here. The audience is not tied to seats. The art form is not that of an opera. It is that of an environment of light, sound and rather symbolically withdrawn theatre action. A meta-level does the trick: the four performers do not embody characters in the play, they are players who lead these characters as avatars. But it is a game, even if it is primarily narrated.
Nonetheless, the audience should remain active. Some let themselves be carried away by the ensemble as animators to rave. The evening was sold out and the average age was a good half that of normal opera evenings. A striking example of the fact that music theatre needs new forms and probably also new formats if it wants to reach younger audiences in future. Provided they had realised that the sung text often refers to drugs, they experienced an intoxicating evening even without them.
