{"id":406830,"date":"2026-02-04T05:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/406830\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T05:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:16:13","slug":"monsters-paradise-lampooning-trump-has-world-premiere-at-hamburg-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/406830\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Monster’s Paradise’ lampooning Trump has world premiere at Hamburg Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) \u2014 Tobias Kratzer spoke in disbelief ahead of the world premiere<\/a> of \u201cMonster\u2019s Paradise\u201d by Olga Neuwirth and Elfriede Jelinek, which features a gluttonous, ravenous, insatiable President-King, lampooning U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe metaphor has become a reality,\u201d the Hamburg State Opera artistic director said in his office Sunday morning. \u201cI\u2019m really hoping in \u2014 what is it, eight hours? \u2014 the piece is not completely outdated because up until now it has always gone closer and closer to not being a satire but being reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jelinek, 79 and winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature, collaborated with Neuwirth for the first time in two decades, the Austrian duo combining on a German-language libretto. The 57-year-old Neuwirth won the 2022 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, three years after she became the first woman composer with a work presented at the Vienna State Opera.<\/p>\n

Chorus members dressed as zombies and roamed the foyers before the opera and during the intermission, along with Disney-styled princesses and dancing hot dogs. The opera began with a Las Vegas-style LED sign and action on a passerelle.<\/p>\n

A 19th-century satire was the starting point<\/p>\n

Alfred Jarry\u2019s 1896 play \u201cUbu Roi\u201d was the inspiration, a profane, scatological work that had a one-performance run in Paris, cut short by an angry audience response. <\/p>\n

Aspects of Jarry\u2019s King Wenceslas and Ubu characters were adapted into The President-King for what Neuwirth and Jelinek call a Grand Guignol opera, which has a six-performance run through Feb. 19. It moves to the Zurich Opera from March 8 to April 12 and next season to Austria\u2019s Oper Graz. An audio recording is planned.<\/p>\n

The President-King entered in a gilded Oval Office with a Coca-Cola filled refrigerator. A golden crown sat on his desk along with a red button that jettisoned visitors such as an Elvis Presley impersonator in the manner of a TV game show as a trio of red X-shaped lights flashed. A woman resembling Melania Trump lurked in the background.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have long known Jarry\u2019s play, but when Trump came to power, I instantly thought of it,\u201d Jelinek said in an emailed response to questions translated from German. <\/p>\n

Vampi and Bampi, a pair of pun-prone vampires sung by Sarah Defrise and Kristina Stanek, are avatars of the authors during five scenes that unfold over 2 hours, 45 minutes, and they frame action in the manner of Wagner\u2019s Rheinmaidens and Norns. The President-King (sung by Georg Nigl) is opposed by Gorgonzilla (Anna Clementi), a monster spawned by a nuclear accident. One of the early titles was \u201cGodzilla,\u201d but it was changed because of a rights issue.<\/p>\n

Mickey and Tuckey, the President-King\u2019s adjutants sung by countertenors Andrew Watts and Eric Jurenas, were patterned after Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, according to Kratzer, who directed the production. They sing lines such as: \u201cNobody has such high numbers as you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlotte Rampling, in several projected videos, portrays a character called The Goddess who defends nature and civilization. Gorgonzilla devours the The President-King, but the creature also becomes an authoritarian. The opera ends with video of the vampires drifting on a platform along the Elbe while playing Schubert on a B\u00f6sendorfer piano, worrying the Earth has been destroyed by its leaders.<\/p>\n

Outlandish portrayal of Trump-like character<\/p>\n

The President-King grows to huge dimensions while wearing a diaper and golden necktie in Rainer Sellmaier\u2019s set and costume design, and he plants a golf club on Gorgonzilla\u2019s rock, much like the White House AI photo of Trump landing on Greenland. The President-King boasts of winning \u201cOhoho\u201d and \u201cTuxus,\u201d and his lead in \u201cPennsilfania\u201d isn\u2019t even close.<\/p>\n

Wearing Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy masks, the vampires attack The President-King with sledgehammers and saws, which have no impact. The one resembling Miss Piggy mimics missing with a rifle, prompting The President-King to raise a fist in defiance.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople of power are always afraid of humor,\u201d Neuwirth said. \u201cFor example, Hitler was so afraid of Charlie Chaplin\u2019s `The (Great) Dictator\u2019 \u2014 he watched it secretly in his room in Berlin \u2014 because they are afraid to be laughed at. They have this ego, which is not allowed to be questioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neuwirth composed for a Mozart-sized orchestra adding an electric guitar and a drum kit, as characters often used Sprechstimme \u2014 spoken-word singing. Conductor Titus Engle melded Neuwirth\u2019s many musical genres.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not playing the American president, but it\u2019s very close,\u201d Nigl said. \u201cI am playing a misogynist. I am playing a braggart. I am playing a fraudster, a despiser.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nigl portrayed Russian President Vladimir Putin last year in Gordon Kampe\u2019s \u201cDie Kreide im Mund des Wolfs (The Chalk in the Wolf\u2019s Mouth).\u201d Nigl said his most important words in this opera are when he sings: \u201cHe who has millions does not need voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s reaction is on their minds<\/p>\n

Neuwirth vowed \u201cI\u2019m never going to write an opera again,\u201d adding she will reveal her reason at a later date.<\/p>\n

She is aware she could face repercussions from the U.S. administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m kind of a little bit afraid because I want to still enter the United States,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jelinek remained unconcerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not afraid. I am a small, unimportant European woman,\u201d she wrote in her emailed responses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAMBURG, Germany (AP) \u2014 Tobias Kratzer spoke in disbelief ahead of the world premiere of \u201cMonster\u2019s Paradise\u201d by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[151526,151527,151533,6491,32329,151530,86844,141,151522,995,18254,96,151532,151525,151531,8793,151535,3302,7203,422,151523,80719,229,151534,151528,144782,15001,151529,151524,56,54,55,159],"class_list":["post-406830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-alfred-jarry","tag-andrew-watts","tag-anna-clementi","tag-celebrities","tag-charlie-chaplin","tag-charlotte-rampling","tag-classical-music","tag-donald-trump","tag-elfriede-jelinek","tag-elon-musk","tag-elvis-presley","tag-entertainment","tag-eric-jurenas","tag-georg-nigl","tag-gordon-kampe","tag-hamburg","tag-kristina-stanek","tag-las-vegas","tag-mark-zuckerberg","tag-melania-trump","tag-olga-neuwirth","tag-opera","tag-politics","tag-rainer-sellmaier","tag-sarah-defrise","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-theater","tag-titus-engle","tag-tobias-kratzer","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vladimir-putin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}