Lohengrin review: Wagner locks bullies and victims in a state of chaos at the ROH

In David Alden’s new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin the action takes place in an unspecified early 20th-century state under military occupation and teetering on the brink of implosion.

Both the weak king (the excellent Georg Zeppenfeld) and the people are desperate for a charismatic leader. When Lohengrin disappoints them, the land slides into fascism.

But this Lohengrin is also a controlling figure: he bullies Elsa (the accomplished Jennifer Davis) into agreeing to his egregious pre-nup condition (never to ask his name or origin). And Alden’s representation of Elsa as a victim of abusive control, from childhood to marriage, is as powerful as his political perspective. If the wedding procession in Act 2 seems to go nowhere, it can be read as a graphic symbol of the chaos gripping the country. Elsa is literally placed on a pedestal, like a Spanish madonna, but she palpably rises to a highpoint of self-determination, offering Lohengrin redemption.

The Telramund/Ortrud scene is riveting, Thomas J. Mayer dangerously threatening, Christine Goerke no less menacing as she uncoils the sexual component of her power play. Klaus Florian Vogt‘s plaintive choirboy tone is popular in some quarters, but his poor breath support, erratic intonation and lumpen phrasing make him difficult to take seriously.

Andris Nelsons integrates some boldly expansive passages within a nuanced, inspirational reading.

Until July 1