THE LOS ANGELES OPERA STAGES AN AFFIRMATIVE LEHAR'S “THE MERRY WIDOW”
The Los Angeles Opera is heading toward a less presumptuous epilogue of this 2006-7 season. It presented Franz Lehar's “The Merry Widow” in its premiere of last April 28, and there are two other works on tap of relative importance yet to be staged: George Gershwin's “Porgy and Bess”, once retained a musical, and a zarzuela, Federico Moreno Torroba's “Luisa Fernanda” which will close the season.
“The Merry Widow”, a lilting operetta composed by a musician with Moravian, Czeck, Slovakian, Hungarian and German extraction, was staged on December 30, 1905, at the Theater an der Wien (Vienna), with the composer himself conducting the orchestra.
Those were, parenthetically, the times of Richard Wagner, whose “Salome” was being produced for the first time in the same month, of Sigmund Freud, and Arthur Schnitzler, as well as of amusing Viennese operettas usually sung by a good soprano, Mizzi Gunther, and Louis Treumann, a good dancer with a passable tenor voice, who were engaged for the roles of Anna Glawari (the widow) and Count Danilo.
Montenegro, the poor Balkan nation used as a model-theme by librettists Victor Lean and Leo Stein, became Pontevedro, then Marsovia in Great Britain, which staged the new work 778 times at the Daly Theatre, four of which were attended by King Edward VII.
Among the singing stars who have interpreted the two protagonists were such sopranos as Maria Jeritza (a famous Tosca), Kirsten Flagstad (an unequalled Wagnerian), film star Martha Eggerth, and Beverly Sills, as well as famous Danilos like Jan Kiepura (the husband of Eggerth) and Placido Domingo himself.
The Los Angeles Opera, though, prefers to entrust the main roles to lower voices: Anna Glawari to celebrated American mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, and Count Danilo to lyric baritone Rod Gilfry. A matter of taste, even though we prefer higher voices.
But what stands out most in this relatively new production directed by Lotfi Mansouri, the past general director of the San Francisco Opera which courteously lend it to Los Angeles, are the rich costumes of Thierry Bosquet, the sets of Michael Yeargan, and the choreography (at times over-stated) of Peggy Hickey.
These are, parenthetically, the necessary ingredients that render this “Widow” emphatically more genial at times, effervescent and sporadically brilliant, even though it is essentially and basically a carbon copy of the production staged a few years ago.
It was, also, the mixture of colors: the bright red dress worn by the 5.11 inch mezzo-soprano in the first act, in direct contrast with the black and white worn by the Pontevedrans, the pale green and blue over white of the second act, as well as the red and black of the customers of Maxim's Restaurant in Paris which unchained the ovations of the public, which were also addressed in great measure to the dancers.
Maestro Sebastian Lang-Lessing brough safely in port this “Widow” tranquilly, and in an orchestral calm sea which had a moment of incoherent trepidation at the beginning.
Notwithstanding personal tastes, Susan Graham could be an excellent “widow” with that warm voice of hers if she worked more on the interpretitive spirit. She was enthusiastically and copiously applauded, an she merited each applause and each “brava”. And so was baritone Rod Gilfry, who began roughly and ended optimally with a voice that so many have warmly applauded during his operatic career.
With his stature and presence, he and Miss Graham could be two magnificent interpreters of this operetta so enriched with colors and overflowing with waltzes and flowing melodies.
Not so the second couple of “lovers” interpreted by lyric tenor Eric Cutler (Camille de Rosillon), easily a foot and a half taller than the Valencienne of miniscule Norwegian and Italian soprano Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz, entirely too short to give the necessary balance to the role.
Cognizant of their roles all the others: the Baron Mirko Zeta of Jack Garner, the Cassada of Malcolm MacKenzie, the Raoul de St. Brioche of Greg Fedderly, the Bogdanowitsch of Jamie Offenbach, the comical Njegus of Jason Graae, and the Maitre d'Hotel of Mark Capri, and above all, much admired and appreciated the dancers.
Accomplished the chorus of Maestro William Vendice, good the English version of the text of Christopher Hasall (with addendas of Lotfi Mansouri) and brilliant the lighting of Mary Louise Geiger.
Luigi Smaldino
10631 Vinedale Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352 - Phone (818) 767-3413 - Fax: (818) 767-1410
