Strauss’s Die Fledermaus at Lyric Opera, 2013-2014

Last night my wife and I saw the new-to-Lyric production of Johann Strauss, Jr.’s 1874 operetta, Die Fledermaus. Die Fledermaus is one of only two German-language operettas to make it into the common repertory, the other being Lehar’s The Merry Widow, and it’s easy to see why it’s proved so enduring. The music is delightful and effervescent, its characters memorable, and its comedy truly funny.

This production which originated with the San Francisco Opera is a “traditional” production, i.e. it’s done as a period piece. The sets, costuming, and staging were all wonderful, the staging in particular being a cut above the Lyric norm. So far it’s the highlight of our Lyric season.

The stand-out performance was by Daniela Fally as Adele, the parlormaid posing as an actress. She’s Austrian and something of an Adele specialist. Her look, manner, acting, and especially her singing were all perfectly suited for the part, her singing in particular executed with ease and grace.

I would characterize the other performances as “workmanlike”. I could have wished for more from Juliane Banse as Rosalinde. Perhaps she was out of voice last night—we noticed that she did not hold her high notes.

The season so far: Die Fledermaus, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly

The Critics

I see that John Von Rhein saw the same things as we did:

Who would have thought that the strongest overall ensemble effort of the Lyric Opera season so far would be “Die Fledermaus”?

Many companies, Lyric included, have treated the perennially popular Johann Strauss Jr. operetta, with its irresistible waltz tunes and familiar plot involving amorous antics among the Viennese upper crust, as a brainless parade of tired gags and groaners, a silly diversion to pass the time between helpings of Strauss’ greatest hits.

No so here. Just ahead of the holidays, Lyric unveiled a new-to-Chicago production of “Fledermaus” Tuesday night at the Civic Opera House that had the audacity to take this wonderful work seriously. The 1870s period-sitcom plot may be predictable, but the champagne hasn’t lost its sparkle nor the music its ebullience.

This “Fledermaus” is, in short, a singing and dancing delight, with plenty of laughs that arise naturally out of the comic situations and don’t feel forced. It’s the fifth time around for Strauss’ melody-rich Viennese confection at Lyric, and most certainly the best.

I was remiss in not mentioning the dancing in this production of Die Fledermaus. Probably the best we’ve seen in a production at Lyric for some time.

Wynne Delacoma, writing at the Sun-Times remarks:

Lyric Opera has whipped up a perfect holiday confection for opera lovers in “Die Fledermaus (The Bat)” by Johann Strauss Jr., which opened Tuesday night at the Civic Opera House. This new-to-Chicago production is as fizzy as fine champagne and as pretty as a pop-up Victorian Christmas card.

“Fledermaus” is one of operetta’s most durable hit shows and it contains some of Strauss the younger’s most infectious tunes. But in the wrong hands, this 140-year-old comic tale of duplicitous spouses, their ambitious parlor maid and random eccentrics can fall flatter than an overcooked souffle. It isn’t easy to keep the energy high and American audiences engaged for three-hours-plus of German-language song and dance and snappy patter.

But aided by a superb cast and production team, stage director E. Loren Meeker and conductor Ward Stare managed that difficult feat. Making her Lyric debut with this production from the San Francisco Opera, Meeker filled the stage with non-stop action that generally avoided contrived shtick. Wolfram Skalicki’s sets and Thierry Bosquet’s costumes were delicately charming fantasies. The cut-away view of the Eisenstein’s two-story apartment took us inside a 19th century dollhouse, complete with a curving staircase and fanciful plaster work. Prince Orlofsky’s grand ballroom was a vast space full of soaring arches and shadowy walls painted to resemble crowded theater boxes.

I found Chicago Theater Beat to be reviewing the opera a bit more than the production but its critic was favorably impressed as well:

The froth never settles in E. Loren Meeker’s intoxicating staging. Wolfram Skalicki’s brilliant cut-away sets open with a stage-stretching blow-up of the original program for the 1874 “Komische Operette,” then reveal the Eisenstein mansion as a huge Victorian doll house. Orlovsky’s Viennese villa is first shown as a noble façade, which opens up into a vast vestibule with huge semi-erotic painting, and finally the balcony-laden ballroom (inevitably recalling the venue for Verdi’s masked ball). Finally, a very empty jail soon fills to bursting in the hung-over third act: At last all the “mistakes of a night” are sorted out in a cascade of poetic justice.

As playful as regal, these storybook settings serve up Strauss’ strudel with contagious delight. So does the fail-proof cast, with Michael Spyres almost too animated as the horny husband, his mischief-making elegantly undermined by Juliane Banse’s commanding Rosalinde (a tad weak on the final note of the famous “Czardas,” but bewitching enough). Like many here, Banse fully engages in the second act’s elaborate ballet: Choreographer Daniel Pelzig cleverly integrates other selections by Strauss into the already irresistible social dances of the soiree’s programme, ¾ glories performed by the tipsy “Bruderlein und Schwesterlein” with “chacun a son gout.”

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