Review by Benjamin Lamb
Wagner’s Die Meistersinger is a rare occurrence on the stage, due to its famously long runtime of 6 hours (with intervals). This was no small feat for Melbourne Opera, who took over the Melbourne’s iconic Royal Exhibition Building for their run of the Wagner classic comedy.
Something about walking into the venue felt true-to-form, it felt old school, like we were walking into a new musical from a hot new composer. This is thanks to the space Melbourne Opera set up in the Building for their short run.
While the show covers a lot of ground and is far too long to sum up here, simply put, the show details a group of poets and musicians in Nuremberg, all preparing for an upcoming singing contest. One of the knights, Walther, wants to win so he can ask Eva for her hand in marriage.
The story sits apart from many other works of Wagner, it set in a real place, and focusing on a story that’s a little more down to earth.
Story aside, there are many elements to the show that made it something that you’ll never forget.
To begin with, the stunning architecture of the Royal Exhibition Building sat beautifully against the ornate stage design and costumes, nothing standing out too much, all perfectly suiting the needs of the show. You could almost consider the set as an extension of the set, it looking like it could’ve existed in the time of early Nuremberg.
The cast also used the stage really well, using each prop to their advantage and ensuring everything felt a little bit more alive. This also helped any lull in plot to stop and bring the audience back in.
Musically, the show cannot be faulted. Wagner expert Anthony Negus led the stacked Melbourne Opera orchestra, every note they played was hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck inducing. With an untried venue, putting on a big musical is no easy feat, but you wouldn’t be blamed if you thought this was venue was a staple of the Melbourne Opera.
The cast were a sight to behold, each member clearly treating the stacked book with the utmost of respect, the cast provided us with a lot of chemistry as well, it’s like they were born to be performing Wagner.
Warwick Fyfe’s Hans Sachs a clear star, each note uttered from his mouth really felt by each member of the audience. It’s also important to note the picture-perfect performances of James Egglestone, Christopher Hillier, Lee Abrahmsen, Robert Macfarlane and Deborah Humble.
It’s also easy too see fatigue occur as any show progresses, but if anything, this show got more energetic as it went on, no cast member was lacking at any point during the 6 hours.
The 6 hours flying by, Die Meistersinger is a show perfectly suited to the Royal Exhibition Building, the audience felt every moment of the show, here’s one vote to Melbourne Opera to make sure every future show is at the Royal Exhibition Building.
