The Fall of the House of Usher
Philip Glass after a story by E. A. Poe

Set design........Rifail Ajdarpasic
Costume design........Ariane Isabell Unfried
Light design........Rolf Essers
Video........Raphael Kurig
Conductor........Lukas Beikircher

première: 25 March 2011 München, Germany
compamy: Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz

REVIEWS

That the operas of prolific US composer incite stylized productions is not new. Carlos Wagner did this in a unique and striking way. He entrusted himself to the vocabulary of Japanese Buto dance. One admires the action on a stage (Rifail Ajdarpasic) that is dominated by a huge skeleton. A ribcage that arches like a gothic vault – the cursed House of Usher as the remainders of a gigantic Joe Black. These 90 minutes that are as bizarre as they are poetical, rarely release one's attention. The expressiveness of the excellent singers Harry van der Plas and Gregor Dalal are guided and channelled through the Japanese gestural language. Six dancers with schematic movements and strangely trembling heads enhance the ritualistic quality of the evening. The incestuous aspect of the relationship between Roderick and his twin sister Madeline, a fettered birth machine that is supposed to ensure the survival of the lineage of Usher. But this is no doubling realism, no superficial psycho-tour, instead a staging that responds to Glass' endless formulas in a fascinating way.

Opernwelt

“The undead on a scenic vacation”
Literary existentialism realized 60 years ago: “We are all dead souls on vacation” nonetheless there was very life affirming, unmitigated applause and cheering, for the highly expressive solution the team presented for director Carlos Wagner’s sinister concept. Once again southern German opera lovers can be happy: unlike Berlin, Munich’s second opera house offers an impressive alternative to the repertory of the State Opera, theatrically well crafted, on a “State level” musically and artistically horizon broadening.

Bayrische Staatszeitung

The Fall of the House of Usher
Thanks to Carlos Wagner, director of this premiere, the musical loops and oszillating endless formulas are driven even further with a stylization that is as peculiar as it is magical, rooted in the expressive dance of Japanese Butoh theatre. No realistic psycho horror-musical that forces the scary effects, but rather a fascinating action to be admired through a bluish shimmering darkness. 90 minutes that keep your attention with hardly a respite, in which the balance between action and musically perfectly timed emptiness, between surprise and scenic prolongation succeeds. It is one of the best productions under the term of office of Intendant Ulrich Peters.
At the end no orgy of destruction as a finale, the architectural skeleton spirals slowly into the depths und thus falls. What a concise and laconic ending, and what a powerful show.

Münchner Kurier

Suspended
Everything is in almost constant motion. This mobile architecture includes six dancers. They dance Butoh, the Japanese reaction to European Expressive Dance. Their small, jerky head and arm movements guide the ear to the music.
Images, movement and sounds combine to create an intense, unreal atmosphere that keep the audience in an inescapable spell. No one coughs for 100 minutes in the Gärtnerplatz Theatre. Everything seems to be floating between day and dream, life and death in the  house of Usher. Carlos Wagner has achieved a captivating staging.

Opernnetz.de