Johann Strauss’s work is the most popular operetta in the world—frothy, jolly, silly and unfailingly tuneful. Audience and singers have been carried away by the hedonistic energy and emotion of the music since its première in 1874.
Chacun a son gout, as they say in French. I have yet to see a really good production, but the melodious music and the singing usually win me over.
The story of revenge, deception, disguise and hypocrisy in a philandering society is vaudeville farce. The social satire, which once shocked and scandalised the bourgeoisie, no longer titillates. Strauss’s sparkling, bubbly champagne needs singers who are expert vaudeville farceurs.
Gaillardin (Guillaume Andrieux), sentenced to spend five days in prison, decides to go to a louche masked ball first where he can pick up somebody. His wife Caroline (Camille Schnoor) also goes to the ball disguised as a Hungarian countess. Gaillardin, unaware who she is, flirts with her. Meanwhile, Alfred, Caroline’s lover (Julien Dran) had been earlier discovered by the police, déshabillé in her arms; presumed to be her husband, he was arrested.
Marie-Eve Munger is delightful as Adele, the chambermaid, especially when she is impersonating her employers and denies her identity. Prince Orlofsky is singularly unappealing. The good news is that the tipsy gaoler, a non-singing role for a popular comedian, is much curtailed.
Laurent Pelly’s production, conducted by Johanna Malangré, maintains a zany, lively tempo but is completely spoiled by Chantal Thomas’s expressionistic setting. Strangely too, for a comic opera, famous for its waltzes, is that there is neither the ballet nor any ballroom dancing.
Opéra de Lille’s Die Fledermaus can be watched free on the OperaVision channel.