Die Fledermaus
Operetta by Johann Strauss
Volksoper, Vienna, Austria
December 31, 2015
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| Orlofsky's Ball Photo credit: Volksoper |
Lei: The third stop this holiday season in our opera tourism series is Die
Fledermaus at Vienna’s Volksoper – on New Year’s Eve, no less. And yes,
with back-to-back tickets for a gala Viennese ball immediately after the opera.
One must do things right or not at all.
Lui: Nothing says New Year’s Eve quite like the effervescent waltzes of
Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus. This was our third Fledermaus
in a little over a year, but our first entirely in the original German. And if
there’s one place where you think they might know where to do it right, it is
definitely here: in Vienna. What a city. Culturally it is hard to beat. It is
full of great art and museums. And there is music, whether classical or
otherwise everywhere. The opera-going experience is unique as well.
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| Die Volksoper all lit up for the new year Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco |
Lei: The opera-for-the-people theater was our backup plan (the Wiener
Staatsoper was sold out), and although it looked and felt less glamorous, grand
and centrally located than the main Vienna opera house, it was nevertheless
very well suited for an operetta like Die Fledermaus. The Volksoper is
pretty intimate and very unfussy in terms of its décor yet very civilized on
the things that matter: there’s a coat check on every floor and the main foyer
is nicely decorated and serves champagne minions. Also, acoustics and views
were excellent, even in our nosebleed seats. The only flaw to me were the
English supertitles that translated the arias verbatim but only summarized the
general gist of the dialogue-heavy interludes, which forced non-German speakers
to miss out big time on the many jokes (and we could tell they were good ones
judging by the many belly laughs that frequently cascaded through the
audience).
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| Chacun à son goût Photo credit: Volksoper |
In the English adaptation
performed in the most recent production at the Met they tidy up this little bit
of princely barbarism and turn him into an advocate for radical individualism
and self expression. The text sung by the Met’s Orlovsky homilizes his
commitment to creating an atmosphere at his parties in which everyone feels at
ease to be whomever they please. Chacun à son goût! In an entirely
different interpretation of the “to each his own” motto, the Orlovsky’s cruel
frat boy tendencies have been whitewashed and he becomes a quainter feel good
character.
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| Two fake Frenchmen Photo credit: Volksoper |
On the same note, whereas
the Met’s adaptation manages to foil the bat’s plans and turn the whole debacle
into a comedy of remarriage between the temporarily estranged Eisenstein
couple, the Volksoper’s take on the ending emphasizes the successful completion
of the revenge of the bat. A very subtle shift that leaves you with a different
feeling at the end of the night. And it runs deeper than just casting. When you
play the Eisensteins (Jorg Schneider and Melba Ramos) as a couple awash in the doldrums of middle age and Herr
von Eisenstein in particular as a dirty old man, then the whole trajectory of
the plot takes on a different tone. The final image the Volksoper leaves us
with is that of an only slightly repentant old lecher who is forced to publicly
acknowledge the mistakes he was duped into making by the sly Dr. Falke (Marco Di Sapia) and
grant the bat satisfaction in his revenge. There is little of the
reconciliation between the Eisensteins that makes for a much more uplifting
ending: the couple in their mid-marriage crisis rediscovers love. The German
take leaves us where we began only with their faults revealed to the world.
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| The Hungarian countess makes her entrance Photo credit: Volksoper |
Lei: This was my first “authentic” Die Fledermaus as in NYC so
far I’ve only seen various degrees of English bastardizations of it. When fully
performed in its original German, in this articulation Strauss’ operetta flows
way better since the musicality of the language matches the score and also
moves much faster, particularly when compared to the Met’s production that
extended the show by almost another hour with its lengthy dialogues. Sure the
Volksopera’s sets were pretty traditional and far less spectacular than the Met’s
lavish production, however the overall performance was no less entertaining for
that reason. Orchestra led by maestro Rudolf Bibl was tight and energetic and captivating, making the
delicious tunes as danceable and enjoyable as ever. Singers were solid and
obviously all very comfortable in their parts and had terrific comic chops, the
most endearing aspect, however, was to perceive how the Viennese public so
obviously adored this operetta, responding with warmth to uber-familiar musical
numbers and jokes.
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| Die Fledermaus unwinds his revenge Photo credit: Volksoper |
Lui: The cast was solid. In the role of Alfred, Vincent Shirrmacher
was particularly pleasurable. He has a solid tenor voice and an infectiously
flamboyant, playful stage presence. His coiffure and facial expressions lent
him the air of a caricature or cartoon character. He was a lot of fun to watch.
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| Einsentein and his infamous gold watch Photo credit: Volksoper |
Lei: I particularly enjoyed mezzo Martina Mikelić as Prince
Orlofsky. Not only was her vocal delivery the perfect mix of regal flair and
princely ennui, but her stage presence was sensational. Tall and lanky, with
her long hair in a low ponytail, tight black pants, knee high boots and a
fabulous embroidered robe, she moved on the stage as true royalty and dominated
each scene she was in.
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| A joyously cynical finale Photo credit: Volksoper |
Lui: Our neighbor during the opera was a passionate local gentleman by the name of Peter – a retired gardener, he seemed to indicate in his broken English – who was there with his elderly mother. He was a big fan of Strauss and conducted along with the orchestra during all of the big set piece waltzes, laughed exuberantly with the comic interludes and mimed all the key plot points for us. He vaunted of having seen the opera at least twenty times and knew all of the scenes by heart. His joy was infectious and during the intermissions he told us a barrage of Austrian drinking jokes in colorful German – or so we were told by other opera goers equally captivated by his method of delivery that tended toward the Chaplin-esque. If only my German was good enough to catch their meaning. One of the beats I did catch was that when Peter’s mother is around, Peter is in prison with his hands cuffed. Without his mother, Peter is free! Peter die schauspieler! Indeed.
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| Die lovely Volksoper Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco |
Lei: It was a colorful, joyous evening. The festive spirit was in the
air. Even despite its sadistic, less feel good slant, with all its bubbly tunes
and bouncy waltzes, Die Fledermaus is a great way to get your party
started. And from there we were off to an Orlovsky-esque ball of our own at the
Rathaus in the center of Vienna to waltz our night away into the new year.
– Lui
& Lei
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| From one ball to the other - Rathaus Silvester Ball Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco |
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| Die magnificent Rathaus Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco |
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