Ferdinand Schmalz himself wrote the libretto for this enjoyable, self-ironic dystopia. Two cleaners philosophize about heteronomy, while the boss of the cleaning company summarizes her rocky path through various cleaning buckets to the company management. A frozen food salesman sprinkles in his wisdom and is asked by a customer with a death wish to dispose of his – future – corpse in his freezer truck so that it is not found by his daughter. Cliffhanger: The salesman goes into the basement and wants to get the dead man out of the freezer, but there is no body there. That’s why the daughter is standing in the door.
Lukas Kranzelbinder has poured all of this into tones that range from classical to blues to Viennese songs. For this purpose he brought in the experts for the “New Viennese Song”, David Müller and Klemens Lendl (Die Strottern) and Wolfgang Vincenz Wizlsperger (Kollegium Kalksburg).
Director Alexander Charim relies on a lot of slapstick on this short evening, and the colorful group of actresses and singers implement everything with a lot of joy and weird humor. Tino Hillebrand as the frozen food representative exudes genuine salesman charm, Raphaela Möst plays the resolute company boss and the mysterious daughter, while Sieglinde Feldhofer sings as clear as a bell as a suicidal old man. Mathias Lodd as Hirsch is not only funny, but also somehow touching, and Martin Fournier complements the crazy group in a tartan.
If you want to know what happens next, you have to watch the second episode on November 28th. Episode three will premiere on April 6, 2025. The premieres of episodes four and five are scheduled to take place in the 2025/26 season.
(By Karin Zehetleitner/APA)
(SERVICE – “My favorite animal is called Winter” by Lukas Kranzelbinder, libretto by Ferdinand Schmalz. Production: Alexander Charim, stage and costumes: Ivan Bazak. With: Tino Hillebrand (Franz Schlicht), Mathias Lodd (The Deer), Raphaela Möst (Sabine Teufel/Astrid Schauer), Sieglinde Feldhofer (Dr. Schauer), Martin Fournier (Fabian). Next performances: October 11th, 8 p.m., in the Lehár Theater, Bad Ischl; October 17th and 20th, Studiobühne Oper Graz; https://oper-graz.buehnen-graz.com)
