THE MERRY WIDOW

Count Danilo is the luckiest man in the Pontevedrian Embassy in Paris. It’s all play and very little work, until he is called on to do his duty. How could he refuse to save his beloved country from bankruptcy by wooing his former sweetheart, millionairess Hannah Glavari? Opera Viva invites you to an evening of glamour, love and laughter with Léhar’s most popular operetta.

Reviews

The Merry Widow is an operetta with music written by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehar and the librettists Vikto Leon and Leo Stein. It is based on an 1861 comedy play, L'attaché d'ambassade (The Embassy Attaché) by Henri Meilhac. The story centres on a rich widow Anna Glavari, and the attempt by her fellow countrymen to keep her money in their principality by finding her a new husband from their county.

This was a very enjoyable production of the “Merry Widow” Produced by Jim Craig. Opera Viva has once again produced some very fine singing and acting with some excellent performances from the talented cast, which included two very fine separate interpretations of the double cast role of Anna Glavari (The Widow) in the shape of Pam Ashcroft and Clare Hyams, who each brought their individual strengths and skills to the role. David Palmer was excellent as always in the role of Anna’s love interest the man about town Count Danilo and Heather Heighway has a lovely singing voice and was outstanding as the coquettish Valencienne. Mark Rawlinson brought his trustworthy acting talent to the part of Valencienne’s husband Baron Zeta which resulted in a very comedic double act with Brian Williams as Njegus his secretary who had superb comic timing and great facial expressions. Neil Alcock was very good as Camille de Rosillon Valencienne's lover and Eric Cymbir and Peter McColgan in the supporting roles of Cascada and St Brioche both gave very dependable and funny performances. The remaining smaller roles produced some nice characterization and they were also very supportive of the previously mentioned principle cast. The chorus sang very well throughout, however some members appeared rather unsure when it came to the movement, but all the cast worked hard with energy and enthusiasm and all appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely. Generally diction, clarity of voice and pace was just right which meant the audience could follow the story easily.

The company was accompanied superbly by Robert Chesters on the piano and they performed under the very capable baton of Musical Director Isobel Jenkins.

Once again as is usual with Opera Viva the set was minimalistic, the platform to perform on and the atmosphere for the action was achieved through an effective use of props. Costumes were lovely and very colourful, well thought out and just right for the period, they also enhanced the production.

Congratulations to Producer Jim Craig and to all involved in bringing this enjoyable entertaining production to the stage, including front of house, my colleagues and I thoroughly enjoyed our visits. I look forward to seeing you for your next production