Onstage: Dionysus and Ariadne. Backstage: scheming, ego, and sarcasm. In between? A dazzling production by the Israeli Opera that turns the spotlight on theatre itself – as a realm of contradiction, desire, wit, and unbridled imagination.
Later this month, the Israeli Opera stages Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, a work that is at once a revered classic and a rebellious theatrical circus. Under the direction of Ido Ricklin and conductor Asher Fisch, the opera becomes a hypnotic mix of high and low, tragedy and comedy, canon and cabaret – wrapped in state-of-the-art technology and a rich, contemporary theatrical language.
“This is an opera about everything,” says Ricklin, returning to the Israeli Opera for the first time since directing Hanoch Levin’s Schitz. “It’s about love and loneliness, idealism and self-interest – and it’s at the same time about art and life itself. At its heart lies chaos. But not just any chaos: a creative one, the kind that births wonder.”
The opera’s prologue offers a sharp yet tender parody of backstage theatrics: A wealthy Viennese patron hosts an evening of culture, only for his staff to disastrously combine a classical opera with a comedic cabaret, both scheduled to perform simultaneously, on the same stage. Tensions spiral as the cast stumbles toward opening night. In this version, the real drama unfolds well before the music begins.
Orchestrating the madness is the Major-Domo, a wry, manipulative figure played by acclaimed actor-director Itay Tiran, whose performance is projected via video.
“He’s half producer, half agent of chaos,” says Tiran. “He takes pleasure in watching everyone tangle themselves in their own contradictions. There’s something disarmingly human about him. He knows exactly where to poke, and it’s both funny and a little unsettling.”
The mythical story of Ariadne
In the second act, the mythical story of Ariadne, the abandoned Cretan princess mourning the loss of Theseus, takes center stage. But where Greek myth traditionally delivers Dionysus as her divine savior, Ricklin sends in a glittering, Eurovision-style band, crashing through Ariadne’s grief with bold color and brash sound.
Strauss’s lush music is accompanied by larger-than-life characters, most memorably Zerbinetta, a magnetic cabaret singer played by soprano Hila Fahima, who here transforms into a caricature of today’s pop divas. The collision of these two worlds, mythic drama and brassy entertainment, isn’t just a clever gimmick: It’s a serious attempt to challenge artistic hierarchies and explore how “lowbrow” sensibilities can shed fresh light on so-called “high” art.
“There’s something deeply moving in that collision,” says Ricklin. “When you put what we call ‘low’ art beside what we revere as ‘high’ culture, you begin to see how close they really are. Both opera and pop are striving for the same things: to tell a story, to stir emotion, to reach the heart.”
A co-production with the Krakow Opera House, this Ariadne uses a bold visual language: 3D-printed costumes (in collaboration with Israel’s Print D3), interactive video projections, and effects that blur the line between stage and screen, between theater and cinema.
At the heart of the production is the Composer, a role written for a mezzo-soprano but performed here by soprano Anat Czerny. An idealist clinging to the dream of “pure art,” the Composer is repeatedly forced to compromise, crushed between budget cuts, creative interference, and other people’s egos. For any artist, and for anyone caught between vision and reality, it’s an achingly familiar struggle.
“This character is deeply personal to me,” Czerny shares. “Everyone’s constantly telling her how to trim, adapt, fit in. But all she wants is to write her own piece. She’s searching for beauty, for truth. That feeling, of not wanting to please anyone but just be true to yourself: I know it well; I think a lot of women do.
“Her encounters with the other characters become a kind of funhouse mirror,” she says. “She insists on keeping her voice while the world collapses around her. It’s hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time – and that’s exactly what drew me to this role: how poetic it is, and how completely unhinged.”
Though written in 1912, Ariadne auf Naxos feels very relevant, both today and here. In an era where cultural prestige and clickbait blur, Ricklin’s production manages to ask urgent questions without preaching or condescension.
Ariadne auf Naxos, May 19–30, Israeli Opera House, Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center. Conductor: Asher Fisch | Director: Ido Ricklin | Cast includes Itay Tiran, Anat Czerny, Karina Plicets, Marina Mnashkin, Gilad Dahan, and members of the Israeli Opera Ensemble
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