THE JOURNEY TO REIMS • SALZBURG OPERA FESTIVAL
★★★★★★
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
REVIEW: THE TRIP TO REIMS: KOSKY SHINES WITH A HYPERACTIVE ENSEMBLE BONANZA
Barry Kosky’s production of Rossini’s madcap operatic farce has been called the Salzburg Festival’s answer to the Duracell bunny. The comparison isn’t entirely off the mark.
A fast-paced, hyperactive ensemble extravaganza blows the audience away with a light-hearted reimagining of the story that ultimately canonizes the Salzburg Festival’s uncrowned queen and artistic co-director, Cecilia Bartoli, as a true diva saint.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
The Journey to Reims unfolds as a seemingly endless series of marvelous tableaux, in which a massive cast rarely stands still for more than two seconds at a time. There is probably not a single one of Kosky’s well-known signature tricks that isn’t featured here. The result is an unparalleled crowd-pleaser that entertains at a sky-high artistic level from the first minute to the last.
Rossini is and always will be the king of opera buffa, and this farce demonstrates exactly why. The style will be familiar to anyone who knows *The Barber of Seville*: a frantic jumble of plotlines, misunderstandings, eccentric characters, and musical virtuosity.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
It’s simply full throttle from start to finish. Kosky has staged the work as a piece of nonstop, frenetic, physical theater, with a multitude of doors opening and closing as a massive cast in phenomenal costumes rushes in and out of the stage.
The attention to detail is so precise, so consistent, and so thorough that there’s always something happening, no matter where you look. The stage is packed with little gags and visual touches that make the performance almost impossible to take in at a single glance.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Musically speaking, Rossini certainly has his lyrical side as well, with beautiful arias, acrobatic bel canto coloraturas, and tender duets. In this production, they are at times overwhelmed by the frenzied torrent of theatrical action that Kosky unleashes on stage. That isn’t necessarily a weakness. Rather, it was a conscious choice to make the performance a celebration of movement, timing, and comic precision.
In the original story, a group of international VIP guests is on their way to a coronation ceremony in Reims but ends up stranded at a luxury hotel, where all hell breaks loose when they never make it to the festivities.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
In this version, the plot has been streamlined and updated so that the group is instead on its way to a big celebration honoring the legendary diva Cici. We are unable to reach our destination. Fortunately, she shows up anyway.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
In the finale, the fictional diva jumps out of a giant layer cake sent to the stranded hotel guests and turns out to be none other than Cecilia Bartoli herself. The crowd erupts in cheers. In fact, the cheering was so intense that the finale had to be repeated as a full-fledged encore—something you rarely see in the theater today. Rossini may seem old-fashioned with his playful and at times almost childlike humor. But Kosky has cranked every knob all the way up and delivers a completely overwhelming production that you simply have to surrender to. Profound or not.
6 stars from *Det Sku’ Du Se* for this year’s undisputed audience favorite at the Salzburg Festival.
