Elizabeth – This English production of Die Fledermaus was my first Fledermaus ever, and it felt more like a play than an opera. I understand Douglas Carter Beane, a playwright, was hired to do the dialogue and so that may explain why what could have been a fun little romp turned into a three and a half hour-plus grind. Also some of the English dialogue just didn’t make sense, contextually. It is a shame as the story could have been sharp and witty with heavy editing. And elements of the production were really rather terrific, like the chandelier with skimpily dressed dancers hanging from it and singers like Michael Fabiano (Alfred) and Paulo Szot (Dr. Falke) who were really giving it their all and shone on stage.
The music itself is catchy and fun. Despite having never seen the opera, I realized I was familiar with all the music, which always adds to the fun of the evening. But the tempo was too fast at points. Perhaps Adam Fischer was conducting vivace to keep the opera from coming in at over four hours?
And I appreciate Jeremy Sams’ approach to make this a more modern production but there wasn’t consistency with the time period. We were watching an English-sung opera set in Vienna in 1899, with a showgirl, the entertaining Betsy Wolfe, who had a Brooklyn accent, and a gay Russian prince, Anthony Roth Costanzo, with blond highlights in heels. And then layered on top of it were people pretending to be others and employing different accents—Hungarian, French, Russian. The whole thing seemed mixed up and confused.
The singers gamely tried to sell the story and I applaud their enthusiasm. Jane Archibald’s light voice and great acting made for an entertaining Adele, though she did sound artificially amplified. Susanna Phillips’ Rosalinde was vocally gorgeous and Anthony Roth Costanzo’s acting sold the effeminate Russian prince. I was surprised that the prince was a countertenor, but it definitely added more levity to the action and Costanzo was solid.
By act three when Frosch came on, I just sort of threw up my hands and wondered what the hell I was watching. A man was now doing a ten-minute stand up routine while making eggs onstage? I surrendered and ended up greatly enjoying Danny Burstein’s stand up routine. If the Met is going Broadway, then sure, bring in the comedians.
This production had a little bit of everything, including ballet. As opposed to some operas where the entire opera stops while we have a ballet interlude, here it actually worked. But some of the dancers were off. And while watching them I realized that the whole production looked like it needed another couple weeks of rehearsals to solidify lines, trim action, polish up choreography. But overall the entire opera had simply too many words. It ended up extended, distended and boring. There were many dropped lines, but I can’t fault the singers as they are supposed to be (mainly) singing, not reciting dialogue. It appears we’re gradually moving to musicals at the Met, as Magic Flute was the same. Confusing times over at the Metropolitan Opera.
Shawn – I had high hopes for Jeremy Sams’ new production of Die Fledermaus. Especially after his Enchanted Island was so well received.
Die Fledermaus when done right, is light, fun, engaging and moves quickly. My first inkling that something might be off with this production was that it clocks in at just under 4 hours. Eek. (For comparison the 2008 DVD of the 1972 Otto Schenk Die Fledermaus comes in at 137 minutes, the 2003 DVD of the 1984 Domingo conducted Herman Prey/Kiri Te Kanawa Die Fledermaus is 176 minutes.)And I have to tell you I felt almost every minute of those four hours. There was a technical glitch that caused the curtain to get stuck halfway down for nearly 30 seconds after Act One. I should have known that was an omen of what was to come, the audience and I sitting in the dark waiting for something to happen.
But first the good news, much of the singing was good. Especially Michael Fabiano as Alfred and Paulo Szot as Dr. Falke. Fabiano was actually funny and his clear piercing top voice always rivets me. As I have said before, Fabiano will become a Great Big Deal, just watch. And Paulo Szot, who I loved in The Nose, is refreshingly free and loose on stage for an opera singer but sacrifices nothing vocally for his physical ease onstage.
Susanna Phillips as Rosalinde was okay even though she dropped the high note at the end of the Csardas. As was Christopher Maltman as Eisenstein, although the moving set and staging during the Watch Duet were so distracting it was hard to tell what was good. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as Orlofsky was my favorite thing on stage whenever he was on it.
Now the super bad news, Jeremy Sams’ new lyrics do not work at all, on almost any level. The phrasing is awkward and often so off the beat structure of the music that the singers have to rush or slow down in order to make it fit the best they can. And when the words do fit, they still feel awkward and off. As if the singers themselves are uncomfortable with it. This could be due in part to the production being under rehearsed, or just the sheer, shrieking awkwardness of the lyrics.The dialogue by Douglas Carter Beane is equally awkward if not more so. A couple of the jokes worked, most of them delivered by the excellent and arch stage creature Anthony Roth Costanzo. “Breakfast Epiphanies” was funny. And I found the “Russian Bear” line funny enough although I was one of maybe four people who laughed out loud at it. (I clocked them. Me, far house left parterre, down right orchestra, and someone above me in either balcony or family circle.) But by that point we were dying for anything remotely funny and settled for vaguely edgy I think. As I said, Costanzo sold what he could but most of the tired old jokes just fell flat.
When Danny Burstein appeared as Frosch, things livened things up a touch. Of course the old days of Frosch REALLY saying something offensive and biting are over but he was okay. At least there was a joke involving the wide socio-economic disparities in the Met seating section. Something edgy. If only a little.
Additionally, you can make Falke more of a straight villain in Die Fledermaus, as Sams and Carter have, but not if adds ANOTHER five minutes of straight dialogue without any payoff.
The second act set was pretty enough to look at but it wasn’t enough to distract from the dragging pace of the dialogue. Setting Die Fledermaus on NYE 1899 is a good idea. But make it work for the love of god. Don’t make it drag. Several times the music got the momentum moving slightly only to once again be screeched to a halt by another section of interminable dialogue with little to no pay off. I also didn’t like the highly constrictive act one set (that used only the center of the stage). I understand that it is meant to emphasize the scope of grandeur of the act two set but I still didn’t like it. I didn’t like the similar conceit in act three of Ballo last year either.I’m worried about this Die Fledermaus. There are 11 more performances (14 total) and there were already empty seats when we were there on a Saturday night. The Met is obviously All In with this new production, which is a good idea in theory but it cannot drag and clock in at a very long 3 hours and 50 minutes.
However, the audience was clapping in rhythmic unison at the end which is always fun. AND I heard a mother with 2 young children leaving the Met say to her husband, “They loved it. They get so tired of just plays.” The Met needs to cater more to this audience. I get emails pretty often from people asking what opera they can take their children to as an intro. If they have missed the 8 performances of Magic Flute they are often out of luck. Die Fledermaus should be one of those intro operas, but it CANNOT clock in at nearly 4 hours. Period.
– Elizabeth Frayer and Shawn E Milnes
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