A stormy night at Kiel Opera

Although I had heard that parking downtown was sometimes problematic, I was surprised to find no difficulty in locating a parking place, as long as I parked on the side furthest from the nearby, attached Sabbis Center. I was glad for the close parking space, as it was raining on this particular evening. As I walked through the storm to the theater, I was also surprised at the rather dark and somber appearance of the venerable old opera house. While the 1930s Deco exterior was lovely, the lack of any signs announcing the night's performance on the outside of the building was puzzling, as was the general lack of lighting. It was with some difficulty that I even managed to get into the building.

Once inside the Kiel Opera House, things were even darker. Hallway lights were so low as to be undetectable and there were neither ushers nor box office clerks to be found. Despite the lack of an usher to help me locate a seat, I did manage to find my way into the auditorium. It appeared that either I was later in arriving than I had thought or they had neglected to turn up the house lights, for it was very dark in the auditorium. Still after my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I was able to make out the plush red seats and ornate gilt scrolling of the lovely old theater. Despite the darkness, I could see it was a very beautiful theater, in the grand traditional mode of early twentieth century theaters, appropriate in a city renown for its beautiful architecture from that period. Disappointingly, the crowd was surprisingly sparse. It appears that opera is poorly attended in St. Louis.

The stage itself was very dark, making it hard to discern the production at all. Darkness seemed to be the major theme of the evening, a grim and brooding kind of darkness that seemed to muffle even the singers. I must admit I found the sound quality poor; it was really impossible to hear the singers at all. The choice of minimal lighting and the preference for dark colors, with a predominance of pitch black, did nothing to brighten the somber mood. It was a very dark performance, perhaps with a dark humor edge.

Even during intermission, the house lights didn't come up and a foray into the lobby did not lead to a concession stand, so I had not even a drop of dark wine to take the edge off the crushing mood. Groping my way back to my seat confirmed my impression of the thinness of the audience. In fact, it appeared I was the only one there.

The very dark production at the Kiel Opera House has little to recommend it, even if you are a big fan of tragedy. In fact, it was the darkest opera I have ever seen, unremitting in its darkness. The opera was both very dark and very tragic.