First off, let me apologize for my partially unexcused absence from posting my blog. I planned on composing my review of the Chicago Lyric Opera production of Die Fledermaus right after Christmas, but I became lazy as a result of the polar vortex that froze my mind and fed my procrastination. I will endeavor not to disappoint the throngs of readers that encompass my fan base.
With that, I attended the opening night production of Die Fledermaus and had listened to a few different productions of it in order to reacquaint myself with the goings on. I was especially fond of the 1990 Covent Garden production with Nancy Gustafson in the role of Rosalinde.
The operetta, Die Fledermaus, composed by Johann Strauss II, had its premiere in the spring of 1874 at the Theater an der Wien. Although the plot of Die Fledermaus is a bit convoluted, it surrounds the personal intrigues of a handful of individuals looking to have a good time at a Russian aristocrat's costume ball, consisting of a husband with a 7 year itch, his devoted wife, their scheming maid, a friend with a grudge, the local prison governor, the wife's ex-lover, a bored Russian Prince, a drunken jailer, and load of party guests, all arranged for the sole purpose of exacting revenge. Gabriel von Eisenstein has been ordered to jail for 8 days as a result of being held in contempt of court over a misdemeanor and his friend, Dr. Falke, sees an opportunity to get back at him for a prank that Eisenstein had pulled a few years earlier. Falke enlists the aid of Prince Orlovsky, who demands amusement, to strike at Eisenstein before his jail sentence. Adele, the Eisenstein's maid. is invited through her sister to the costume ball and claims that she needs leave to visit her dying aunt in order to attend the party. As one could imagine, the well spun lies of the attending party guests become interwoven and in spite of the plot holes that resemble I-94 after a long winter, the seemingly lost cause of all is resolved at the night's end, where it should have started. The Jail. In addition to the light hearted fun of Die Fledermaus, the operetta has a flexibility in the specific aspects of the action that help to keep the work fresh and new, which is vital for any production to remain in the standard repertoire.
The part of Gabriel von Eisenstein was sung by internationally renowned lyric baritone, Bo Skovhus. From his first entrance to the final curtain, Mr. Skovhus looked and sounded as if he was having a great time. No stranger to operetta, Mr. Skovhus' voice was ideally suited for the high tessitura of Eisenstein, a part that is sometimes sung by a tenor. He had little trouble singing in the upper part of his register and was one of the few singers who could be heard with little exception. Mr. Skovhus has a unique sounding lyric baritone voice that is tenorial in color with a slight silvery edge to it. He was full of energy and seemed to take delight in the giddy nature of the production. A critique of his performance would be that it was a bit one sided in that he was constantly shuffling around like a Heidelberg university student with his mates in a bierstube.
The part of Rosalinde in her American opera debut was German soprano, Juliane Banse. Ms.Banse's round and dusky soprano projected in to the large space of the Civic Opera House, but sounded strained and held in the top of her range which, in addition to being unpleasant, stripped the color from the sound. Ms. Banse's rich and rounded voice was nicely suited for her aria, "Klange der Heimat", in which her character is disguised as a Hungarian Countess. Her acting was a bit stiff, but in her defense, Die Fledermaus is not a character study or a psychological drama. There's not much to develop for the singers and are relegated to playing archetypes ornamented with shtick.
Also making her American debut in the part of the Eisenstein's house maid, Adele was sung by Austrian soprano, Daniela Fally. Ms. Fally has had plenty of experience in this role, evident not only in how natural she was in mugging for the audience, but how comfortable she was singing while moving around the stage. It was as if the role was written for her with the obvious highlight being that of "Adele's laughing song" in the 2nd act, which was a triumph. My overall disappointment with her, was not in any way her performance, but the size of her voice in so large a theater. It was hard to pick out while singing with the ensemble or having to project over the entire orchestra. Like her acting, I missed the color and dynamics of her voice because, once again, the Civic Opera House is so large and forces singers like Ms. Fally to abandon their musicality just to be heard.
The part of the foil, Dr. Falke was sung by Austrian Baritone, Adrian Eröd making his Lyric Opera debut. I was quite disappointed by his performance, both in singing and acting. I found the innate sound of his voice to be bland and he didn't sing with much musicality. He seemed to be of little energy throughout the production, especially in the 2nd act canon, " Brüderlein und Schwesterlein", which features the part of Dr. Falke. The staging of it did not help, as Mr. Eröd stood center stage with Adele's sister at his side. Each time he asked her for a kiss, I felt as though I had been given a glass of flat champagne.
The daunting part of Alfred, the tenor who longs to romance his ex-lover, Rosalinde, was sung by Michael Spyres, who sounded as if he had no trouble jumping from interpolated high note to high note. Again, the character of Alfred does not require much acting skill, but Mr. Spyres was quite funny and didn't pile it on too much. Listening to him got me to thinking why those in charge of casting did not have him sing the role of the Duke in Rigoletto last season, instead of the tenor who cracked 2 times in his first aria alone.
Frank, the prison governor was sung by British baritone, Andrew Shore who was well suited for the part of the jovial middle aged man, searching for a little extra fun. Mr. Shore had no problem being heard and while many singers in this role tend to bark their way through the piece, he sang with line when it was called for and switched to a Rossinian patter in the faster sprech-stimme parts. Mr Shore was the best at inhabiting the rotund character of Frank and much like his singing, employing varying dynamics and colors without overdoing it.
The trouser part of Prince Orlofsky was sung by Mezzo Soprano, Emily Fons. After hearing a recording of this role being sung by a countertenor, I much more prefer it to be sung by a mezzo soprano, especially one with the dark color and warmth of Ms. Fons. She was faithful to the staid character of Prince Orlofsky which helped to create a nice counterbalance to the energetic Eisenstein. Ms. Fons' voice was perfect in the aria, "Chacun a son gout".
The remaining comprmario roles were sung admirably, given the little content that had been written for them. Ryan Center alumni, tenor David Cangelosi, sang the Basilio like role of Dr. Blind nicely. My one wish which has yet to be fulfilled is to hear Soprano and current Ryan Center member, Julie Anne Miller sing a substantial role and unfortunately, her only singing was in ensemble moments.
The orchestra and chorus sounded wonderful and although it was difficult to hear some of the main singers, I don't think that there was much that conductor, Ward Stare could have done given the type of production this was. The sets were very nice for the setting as well as the choice of having dancers during the 2nd Act party scene rather than the common option of having A-list guest singers come in to sing arias and duets. If I had my druthers, it would have been to switch the dialogue from German to English. I know that most all of the main singers are native German speakers, but the recurring problem throughout the performance was that the punch lines were projected for the audience to read before the performers spoke them which took away from the action on stage. For that reason, I think it would be better to have the dialogue spoken in the language of the audience who is listening.
All in all, the performance was quite enjoyable and a nice change of tune from the heavy productions that had come before this season.
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