Die Fledermaus - Coliseum, 30 September 2013 (first night)
This was a frustrating evening. A few good ideas are buried in Christopher Alden's surreal take on Die Fledermaus but they simply don't cohere. The director's Freudian perspective is awkwardly framed in a Weimar-meets-Rocky Horror aesthetic, each diluting the impact of the other. There was romance and realism, there was out-there absurdism, but they failed to mesh. It was clear we were not in for an evening of golden-hued Andre Rieu-style nostalgia, but what Alden left in its place was too unfocused to be called a 'concept'. Next to his superb, pointed Midsummer Night's Dream, this show seems thrown together.
And it's not in any way shocking, whatever the photos and the Daily Telegraph suggest. There are underpants aplenty and a fat bloke in a tutu, but the promised 'orgies and S&M' turn out to be no more than sweetly titillating diversions. Unsure of whether it's aiming for straight comedy, post-modern ironic wit or revisionist critique, the production flounders until it sinks.
The final death blow is dealt by an embarrassingly dreadful translation from Stephen Lawless and Daniel Dooner, unsingably couched in greeting-card rhymes. Perhaps it was fortunate most of the spoken sections were either garbled by the singers or muffled by the unfriendly acoustic, or both.
The musical results were equally patchy. Only Edgaras Montvidas (Alfred) hit all the targets - singing, acting and speaking. The Lithuanian subtly parodied the traditional handsome dimwit tenor, articulating his words more clearly than most of the native speakers. Rhian Lois was the other standout. She had the spunk, sparkle and comic timing to make a delightful Adele, but the volume often fell short.
Julia Sporsén's Rosalinde was uncertainly pitched between reality and absurdity and Tom Randle's Eisenstein too intense. Andrew Shore's prison governor Frank was overburdened with unconvincing and unfunny 'business' to compensate for his shortage of actual lines. I suspect we should blame Alden rather than Jennifer Holloway for her bizarre, manic Orlofsky.
A better conductor might have compensated for the production's shortcomings, but Eun Sun Kim was merely efficient. The tempos seemed correct but the music was poker-straight, criminally undanceable. Fizz and froth don't often have a place in classical music, but they were desperately needed here.
production photos (above) Robert Workman/ENO
curtain call photos (below) intermezzo.typepad.com
Well at least it's a lot prettier than the Fidelio and Lesley Garrett's bottom is no longer on display (readers with long memories will be trying vainly to erase that one). The production concept sounds reasonable, and I think it might be better to wait a while for everyone to relax into it. And of course the Coliseum is rather too big for operetta.
Posted by: PushedUpMezzo | 01 October 2013 at 07:08 PM
The Coliseum might be too big for Léhar or Stolz, but surely Die Fledermaus can hold its own in almost any house, provided it's a great performance. It gets regular outings at the Met, Wiener Staatsoper etc.
Posted by: Nik | 02 October 2013 at 09:53 AM
I'm intrigued by the reviews I'm reading of this. I haven't seen the ENO version but I did see the production twice when it was given in Toronto. There it was very much "of a piece". The performances and the conducting matched Alden's overall concept really well. Michael Schade was a suitably neurotic Eisenstein, Ambur Braid was a curiously Lulu like Adele and Johannes Debus conjured a sound from the orchestra that was curiously akin to Berg. At one point I sat in on him rehearsing the orchestra so I know this was very deliberate. When I read the ENO reviews it sounds more like singers and conductor doing their standard Fledermaus thing in an Alden wrapper and I can well see why that might seem disconnected or less than coherent.
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Intermezzo replies - It was sung in German in Toronto, and I suspect that would make difference too.
Posted by: Operaramblings.wordpress.com | 02 October 2013 at 03:50 PM
Replying to Intermezzo's response to Operaramblings... As it was sung in German in Totonto, I presume most of the audience had no idea what was going. I know this comment will be unpopular with a number of the followers of your blog, but Fledermaus, like the Magic Flute, Marriage of Figaro and Cosi are so much better in a language which an audience can understand! What on earth did the audience in Toronto make of Frosch's goings on?
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Intermezzo replies - I assume they have surtitles in Canada. I agree in principle with your view, but the translation has to be faithful (in a broad sense) and singable. This one was neither
Posted by: Jonnie Ash | 02 October 2013 at 04:43 PM
Tom Randle and Andrew Shore look miserable in those curtain call pix.....
Posted by: Nikolaus Vogel | 02 October 2013 at 06:05 PM
Johannes Debus is an excellent conductor who possibly has more experience of Fledermaus than Ms Kim.....Isn't COC's MD? Not many companies where the music director does Fledermaus, more's the pity. I wish I'd been in Munich for the Kleiber performances in the 1980s.
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Intermezzo replies - However counter-intuitive it seems when people are slagging off Alden left right and centre, I strongly suspect the reason Toronto loved the show and London didn't is down to the conducting. These 'easy' pieces are always the hardest to get right.
Posted by: Nikolaus Vogel | 02 October 2013 at 06:08 PM
Unsurprisingly it did feature that great Toronto invention surtitles!
Posted by: Operaramblings.wordpress.com | 02 October 2013 at 06:45 PM
Yes, Johannes is the COC's MD. He worked overtime last season conducting, I think, 4 of the 7 productions including Tristan. I have been very impressed with his work since his arrival here and what he did with Fledermaus was really interesting.
Posted by: Operaramblings.wordpress.com | 02 October 2013 at 06:47 PM
It's been a loooong 45 minutes - think I'll join the throngs heading for the exit
Posted by: Richard | 02 October 2013 at 08:25 PM
I made it a bit further: until about 21.35 when I finally could stand it no more. I think Intermezzo has got it spot on: one or two good ideas lost in a terrible muddle. It’s also not helped by the endlessly uplifting Strauss score seeming to be at war with the direction. And the fact that it was impossible to hear or follow large parts of the spoken text.
Posted by: Sarrusophone | 02 October 2013 at 11:50 PM
oh well another one to missing at ENO ! Only Rodelinda is a definite for me this season.
Posted by: amac | 03 October 2013 at 02:41 PM
We found that in both Fledermaus and Fidelio it was almost impossible to hear the spoken dialogue. It seem strange that singers who can belt out notes to the far reaches of a theatre when singing are inaudible when speaking... can someone explain please?
The evening dragged on because the whole production seemed to lack any pace or comic timing.
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Intermezzo replies - I agree that Fledermaus was inaudible, but the dialogue in Fidelio was amplified, not to mention clearly articulated. I could hear it perfectly from the back row of the stalls.
Posted by: Frances | 10 October 2013 at 10:14 AM