Above: Julie Lea Goodwin and male cast in one of many effective tableaux that punctuate this vibrant, physical version of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow. Featured image: Alexander Lewis as Danilo Danilovich with Julie Lea Goodwin as Hannah Glavari. Photos: Carlita Sari.
There’s a party going on right here! Three parties in fact; they are built into each act of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow, currently playing in a glittering return to the Sydney Opera House. Lavishly appointed, the contrasting parties take us from an embassy reception through an expat community’s traditional cultural celebration to a raunchy nite club blast complete with chorus lines and dramas a plenty on the dancefloor.
The Sydney Opera House’s Dame Joan Sutherland Theatre is the venue for this early twentieth century triptych of venues, nudged into art deco packaging, with stunning lighting and scintillating 1920s Paris couture. At each party the embassy staff for the flailing Balkan state of Pontevedro work to snare widow Hanna Glavari’s hand in marriage to a Pontevedrian rather than a Parisian, so her wealth will boost the broke Balkan state.
But there is a backstory here, and Danilo the favoured bachelor has a history with Hannah that puts courtship and a proposal off the cards. Other locals and expats are playing with fire as indfidelity runs rife, a woman’s fan with love notes on it is likely to expose the cheating wife of the Baron, and the action is jam packed with secret meetings, glances, dances plus cover ups.
Above: John Longmuir as Camille de Rosillon, Alexandra Flood as Valencienne, David Witney as Baron Zeta and Richard Anderson as Alexis Kromov.
This madcap, almost farcical, sitcom of an operetta was a signature vehicle for Dame Joan’s dramatic coloratura voice type throughout her career. It is now reborn with transferable high-society Gatsby-esque relationship machinations with champagne flowing and hearts wandering. Graeme Murphy’s direction and choreography adds slick packaging, a high level of physicality and exemplary momentum to the modern ‘Merry Widow version 2.0’.
The parties in each act are veritable dance parties, but they also contain some very hard edged and believes tranche de vie style emotional content. No surface salute to feelings here in a weak salute to seriousness, with comedy and turn of the century class or gender clashes. The dialogues and drama between Hannah and Danilo (especially the moments of spoken word) with their past love and hurts is as palatable and tense as lovers in any current film, play or soap opera.
Above- a tight knit here group realising Murphy’s innovative movement is: Richard Anderson as Alexis Kromov, David Whitney as Baron Mirko Zeta, Tom Hamilton as Konrad Pritschich, Iain Henderson as Raoul De St. Brioche, Alexander Lewis as Danilo Danilovich, Nathan Lay as Viscount Nicolas Cascada and Alexander Hargreaves as Dominik Bogdanovich. Photo Carlita Sari.
Cast and creatives are well chosen here, bringing a modern shine to this theatrical favourite. Conductor Vanessa Scammell is a perfect choice for delivering the undulating tension/release, folklore/fancy party and vulnerability/bold humour dualities.
Her experience in film score concerts, blockbuster musicals and popular operas delivers a wide range of colour in a forward leaning curve that matches the modern predicament and sheen on stage. The score is presented to both fans and newcomers to opera with a clear and effective gesturing.
Michael Scott-Mitchell’s set design creates the three contrasting worlds with fine detail, colour and awesome use of line and detail which made audience around me gasp when each act’s intricate atmosphere was revealed.
These sets are brought to shining, shimmering scintillating life by Damien Cooper’s stunning lighting. The embassy and club Maxim’s scenes contain some terrific visuals and the muted lighting for the garden party in the central scene is subtle, sensual perfection.
The title role is to be shared by Julie Lea Goodwin and Emma Pearson. Goodwin devours this role with thrilling vocal placement and coloratura effects. Her acting and swoop into the role is consummate, physically faultless and totally endearing. Her ‘Vilja’ tale is seamlessly sung whilst executing slick and challenging choreography with stamina and ease.
Chemistry between Goodwin and her ex-lover Danilo Danilovich (the well cast, svelte but bitter Alexander Lewis) makes for assured singing plus a range of emotion, hurt and contentment in an excellent arch. Theirs is a battle which jumps off the stage in spoken, danced or sung interactions. Their pacing makes the characters’ plight in the 121 year old non-opera an intense, believable, lovable piece of edgy swoon with fiery, finely wrought moments.
Above: Benjamin Rasheeed, Alexander Lewisand Julie Lea Goodwin with cast. Photo: Carlita Sari.
Supporting this watchable, no-holds-barred couple is a cast with an impressive amount of operatic and musical theatre experience between them.
Character acting, ensemble comic timing and group comment warm our theatrical hearts and musical minds. Notavle is the tenor excellence of John Longmuir as Camille de Rosillon, who turns some possible pedestrian fills of dialogue and sung storytelling into well shaped wow factor morceaux with amazing leaps into the high register.
As the unfaithful Valencienne, Alexandra Flood sings solo moments and joins in the contemplative Mozart-esque sextet in the garden with smooth silvery vocal shapeliness. Her naturally good comic timing and gorgeous elements of high society caricature are ideal for making sense of what could be outdated character flaws or fuss.
Chorus (party goers) are in full, agile voice throughout and the switches between spoken and sung scenes is never jarring. Comedy and subplot is in good hand with our local stars David Whitney (presenting a layered, hilarious and touching cuckold-Baron Mirko Zet. Benjamin Rasheed’s secretary Njegus is also a variegated link between shifting emotions, awareness and momentum in the storyline. His solo moment and comic song in the final Maxim’s act is a winner.
Above: Richard Anderson as Alexis Kromov, David Whitney as Baron Mirko Zeta, Tom Hamilton as Konrad Pritschich, Iain Henderson as Raoul De St. Brioche, Alexander Lewis as Danilo Danilovich, Alexander Hargreaves as Dominik Bogdanovich and Nathan Lay as Viscount Nicolas Cascada. Photo credit: Carlita Sari.
His work with other embassy men and male ensemble members (particularly Richard Anderson’s Kromov, Nathan Lay’s Cascada and Iain Henderson’s Raoul de St Brioche) both separately or in group moments is more stuff of triple threat buffa genius where these men so confused by the ‘Science of Women’ sing and carry off dynamic Murphy movement shapes without being cliche, exhausted or looked over as minor characters.
Once more, the role given to Domenica Matthews is smaller but she smashes her characterisation out of the park. Matthews excels in bringing superb timing, accent and movement together in her cameo as Praskovia. This caricature is instantly hilarious and scene stealing in her hands.
In a non-monoculture and perhaps tourism-conscious move, the surtitles feature both English and Chinese text.
Moreover, the snappy libretto, originally in German (as Die Lustige Witwe) was the creation of Viktor Léon and Leo Stein
They based the original German text on the 1861 comedy play L’attaché d’ambassade (The Embassy Attaché) by Henri Meilhac. Since its creation, this operetta has enjoyed performance and translation into many languages across the globe.
So long after the operetta was written the flow never is at risk of being incomprehensible or irrelevant to any audience member from any background.
Rather, we dance with the modern operatic and theatrical stars by the light of a new moon that shines on a chorus line of creatives plus triple-threat singers who we are lucky to have calling Opera Australia home.
Who wrote the brilliant dialogue and lyrics? None of what’s on stage would happen without the script.
Many thanks Fae, review updated. Paul