With Benamor, the MusikTheater an der Wien is bringing a real rarity to the Viennese operetta stage for the first time in the 2025/26 season - a musical jewel from Spain in the 1920s, staged by Christof Loy.
Sultan Darío finally wants to marry off his sister Benamor. What neither of them suspect: Darío is actually a woman and Benamor is a man. Their mother Pantea has raised them both in the opposite sex because, according to ancient law, a first-born girl must be killed just like a second-born boy. But now people of royal descent from near and far are coming to marry them, and the gender swap is in danger of being exposed - especially as Benamor does not want to conform to the expectations of a princess and the Sultan develops a disturbing interest in one of the suitors ...
Born in 1879, Pablo Luna was one of the most successful composers of zarzuelas, the Spanish form of operetta, and revues between 1900 and the time of the Spanish Civil War. His operetta Benamor premiered in Madrid in 1923 and, with its double gender swap and many sexual and cultural allusions, is very much in the spirit of the "wild" 1920s, which were also a time of upheaval in Spain. Similar to Franz Lehár in Vienna, Luna combines the traditional music of the zarzuela (for example in the famous fire dance in the second act) with the fashionable shimmy and foxtrot dances to create a very unique musical language. Director Christof Loy discovered Benamor during a performance in Madrid and will be staging an operetta with this rarely performed work for the first time in Vienna. An ensemble of well-rehearsed zarzuela performers will take to the stage, led by the two rising opera stars Marina Monzó as Benamor and Federico Fiorio as Darío.
Austria Premiere January 23
Further performances: January 25, 27 and 29, February 1, 3, 5 and 7, 2026
