THE MERRY WIDOW
THE MERRY WIDOW, Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House, August 4-November 4 2011. Photos by Branco Gaica.
Fans of Franz Lehar’s romantic confection will not be disappointed by the new production. While the setting is restrained rather than rococo, it’s wittily imaginative with, for instance, the mandatory chandeliers represented as images on vertical banners. The budget has clearly been spent on the cozzies and they are sumptuous in the extreme. And the most sumptuous of these are filled out by the luscious Amelia Farrugia.
She is clearly going to be the company’s Widow of choice for the foreseeable future and that’s a very merry prospect. Farrugia is in great voice, the role suits her range and she’s comfortable in it; she’s a fine actress and comic; and she’s sexy and gorgeous too. That her Countess Hanna Glawari has a string of lovesick chaps trailing behind her is entirely credible; never mind that her accent reveals humble Yorkshire origins and her late hubby only lasted eight days and left her rich as Croesus’s daughter. At the same time, her tender treatment of the famous Vilja makes it a tune reborn.
As her reluctant lover Danilo, prince of the teensy principality of Pontevedro, David Hobson is a dashing and sweet-voiced, scallywag. Here is a man who knows all about seduction but doesn’t want to know about marriage; especially when instructed by his avuncular pater (John Bolton Wood) to secure Hanna’s hand – and fortune – for the fatherland.
Frankly, however, if you need or care about a synopsis of the story – boy meets girl, they squabble, they part, they pine, they figure out it’s all a mistake, they reunite, ergo, happy ever after – this is not the operetta for you. It’s an amuse bouche for the ears and eyes and utterly delicious. In a version translated and adapted by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and director Giles Havergal for the UK’s Opera North and Opera Australia the light dressing of feminist politics lends a gleam of relevance to the elderly comedy that’s a bit like sherbet in a bon-bon: a delightful surprise.
The other principals are also delightful: Warren Fisher, Lisa Cooper, David Lewis, Richard Mitchell, Sharon Olde and Samuel Dundas are the variously unfaithful or hopefully unfaithful courtiers, while the dynamic Sian Pendry, in particular, is a terrific Baroness Valencienne; and, when called upon, more holds her own with the can-can dancers.
All in all, this Merry Widow is one that should please the pickiest traditionalist subscriber. At the same time, its sharp clarity and attention to detail in the storytelling and comedy makes it a sure-fire bet for musical theatre fans and anyone who think opera isn’t for them. The Merry Widow has glittering spectacle, laughter, romance with a capital R, wonderful tunes, a gorgeous heroine and a handsome hero. What’s not to like?
