The sultan Darío wants to marry off his sister Benamor at long last. What neither of them suspect: Darío is in fact a woman, while Princess Benamor is really a man. Their mother Pantea raised them both as the opposite sex because, by ancient law, a first-born daughter must be killed and so must a second-born son. But now princes are coming from near and far in hopes of winning her hand, and the gender swap is in danger of discovery – especially since Benamor stubbornly refuses to behave like a princess and the sultan is developing a disconcerting interest in one of her suitors …
Pablo Luna, born in 1879, was one of the most successful composers of revues and zarzuelas, the Spanish version of operetta, between 1900 and the years of the Spanish Civil War. His operetta Benamor was first performed in Madrid in 1923 and, with its double gender swap and numerous cultural and sexual references, perfectly captures the spirit of the “wild” 1920s, a time when Spain, too, felt that a new age was dawning. Like Franz Lehár in Vienna, Luna combines traditional music, in his case the zarzuela (in the famous Fire Dance in Act II, for example), with the fashionable dances of the day, the shimmy and the foxtrot, to create a unique musical language. Director Christof Loy discovered Benamor when he witnessed a performance in Madrid, and this rarely performed work will be the first operetta he directs in Vienna. On stage, an ensemble of experienced zarzuela performers can be seen, led by two rising opera stars, Marina Monzó as Benamor and Federico Fiorio as Darío.

In Spanish with German and English surtitles
Introduction to the work 30 minutes before curtain-up

The production was generously supported by Maja Oeri.