A bandit, a bartender, and Puccini walk into a saloon—what happens next will SHOCK opera purists.
A celebrated new production of Puccini’s La fanciulla del West from the Vienna State opera featuring Jonas Kaufmann and Nina Stemme. Staged by Marco Arturo Marelli, who sets it in a modern-day mining village, with the feel of a gritty modern drama, during the American gold rush of 1849. An unlikely setting for an Italian opera, but one that has a happy ending. It tells the tale of Minnie, the bartender in the saloon whom all the local men adore, and Dick Johnson alias Ramerrez, a notorious bandit. Dick and Minnie fall in love on first meeting, so much so that he vows to change his life as a bandit, sung by two contemporary great singers: Nina Stemme and Jonas Kaufmann. A new production from Marco Arturo Marelli brought one of Puccini’s rarely performed works to the Vienna State Opera stage in September 2013. Jonas Kaufmann in his role debut as the wanted and notorious bandit Ramerrez proves ideally cast, full of power, with his breathtakingly beautiful baritone timbre.
Acting
Kaufmann's debut Ramerrez—bandit vulnerability meets vocal power.
Production
Marelli's modern mining village staging is divisive but bold.
Score
Puccini's most American score—less famous, arguably more interesting.
Director
Marco Arturo Marelli
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Kaufmann's first-ever Ramerrez, and critics called it 'ideal casting'—rare praise for a role debut. He reportedly spent months studying American Western films to nail the physicality.
Puccini based this on a David Belasco play that was itself adapted from a novel—making this one of the most American stories in the Italian canon, yet it remains his least performed mature work.
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