{"id":3438,"date":"2021-01-01T16:00:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T22:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/?page_id=3438"},"modified":"2021-01-01T16:05:16","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T22:05:16","slug":"die-fledermaus-review","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/die-fledermaus-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Die Fledermaus Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\u201cDie Fledermaus\u201d: A Sparkling Finale to\u00a0Sommerfest<\/h1>
Posted on\u00a0<\/span>

The Minnesota Orchestra\u2019s summer festival Sommerfest is drawing to a close, but there is still time to catch its grand finale: Johann Strauss\u2019 sparkling operetta,\u00a0Die Fledermaus<\/em>. There are a few tickets still available, and you should mob the Orchestra\u2019s website to snap them up.<\/p>

Let me tell you why.<\/span><\/p>

* * *<\/p>

To begin, let me share a few personal memories of\u00a0Die Fledermaus<\/em>, which may explain why the work will always have a place in my heart.<\/p>

I have had an extensive background performing in musical comedy\u2014I started out as Kurt in\u00a0The Sound of Music<\/em>\u00a0and never looked back\u2014but\u00a0Fledermaus<\/em>\u00a0was the first real opera I performed in. That in and of itself is enough to make me love it. But these performances took place while I was still teaching Latin American history at the University of Kansas; and while it was not unusual for the music faculty to perform on stage, it most certainly\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0unusual for the history faculty to do so. As a result, I was the subject for much gossip and speculation prior to opening night\u2026 from fellow instructors and students alike. Intrigued, many made their way to the performances.<\/p>

There, they had a bit of a shock.<\/p>

Die Fledermaus<\/em>\u00a0was originally set in Vienna during the late 1860s\u2014a time widely associated with reckless hedonism, and extravagance that was nearly violent in its intensity. Nowadays, these associations are largely forgotten, and we tend to think of the entire century as simply \u201cold.\u201d To help the audience better understand the \u201cfeel\u201d of the piece, the director chose to set it in the Roaring \u201820s, an era that has the same connotations to us as the 1860s did to Strauss\u2019 audience. And indeed, the\u00a0Great Gatsby<\/em>-like atmosphere fit perfectly. It also gave the creative staff a chance to let their imaginations run wild\u2014so much so that when the curtain rose on the famous party scene in Act II, the audience audibly gasped as they took in the jaw-dropping costumes and set, and immediately broke into applause.<\/p>

And trust me, my costume was something to behold. I was in a little fuchsia-and-purple number that fused Chinese and Persian elements with an Art Deco sensibility. The fabric was as diaphanous as it was sparkly, perfect for a drunken revel out on the town.<\/p>

Of course, I was also bedecked in matching makeup\u2014painted on so heavily that it would have startled a Maori warrior. Best of all, it primarily consisted of fuchsia\u00a0glitter<\/em>\u2026 and anyone who has ever worked with the blessed stuff knows that glitter gets\u00a0everywhere<\/em>\u00a0and stays with you\u00a0forever<\/em>. So naturally, my face and hair still had more than a few traces of glitter the next morning when I went off to teach. I think you can imagine the scene as I walked into the classroom, and 75 undergrads uniformly tilted their heads to the side and raised an eyebrow.<\/p>

I\u2019m sure this helped make my lectures on the Bourbon Reforms of the 1740s much more\u2026 dynamic.<\/p>

Anyway, the production was a sensation. The word of mouth from opening night was so good that ticket sales went through the roof, and each of the remaining performances were sold out. I personally gained a whole lot of street cred from my peers and students despite the fuchsia glitter\u2026 or maybe because of it. And most of all, the production rekindled my passion for performing\u2014a passion that is still very much alive today.<\/p>

* * *<\/p>

In many ways,\u00a0Fledermaus<\/em>\u00a0is a most unusual piece. It is a rare example of a revenge comedy. And for it to truly make its impact, both those elements have to be present. It is too easy to stage the work as a bit of madcap fun, but there has to be a hint of anger there, too. For me, the perfect description of\u00a0Die Fledermaus<\/em>\u00a0is a phrase Hal Prince once used to describe Stephen Sondheim\u2019s\u00a0A Little Night Music<\/em>: whipped cream with knives.<\/p>

The story is similar to the plots of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in that it is entirely logical, yet patently absurd. Sometime in the past, Gabriel von Eisenstein played a humiliating practical joke on his good friend, Dr. Falke. The two were at a fancy masked ball where Falke was dressed in an extravagant bat costume (the \u201cfledermaus\u201d of the show\u2019s title). Eisenstein got Falke drunk, then dropped him off outside of town, forcing his hung-over friend to stagger back into town on foot in an increasingly bedraggled bat costume that evoked jeers from children and his neighbors alike. Soon he became the laughing stock of the entire city; he never lived down the mocking epithet, \u201cDr. Bat.\u201d<\/p>

And so Falke devises a complicated plan to avenge himself by duping the philandering Eisenstein into trying to seduce Eisenstein\u2019s own wife in disguise, and thereby revealing his infidelity to all. The centerpiece of the story is an over-the-top masked ball, where multiple mistaken identities, close calls, and dubious antics make for joyous entertainment. And amid the final laughter at how things ultimately turn out, the audience more than suspects that like Eisenstein\u2019s original prank that set the story in motion, Falke\u2019s practical joke has also gone too far\u2026 and the cycle is about to repeat itself.<\/p>

To match the effervescent story, Strauss composed some of the most astonishing music of his career. It is wonderfully melodic, to the point that many of the songs are performed independently and have taken on lives of their own. The Overture, in particular, is a beloved concert piece that invariably moves people to dance. It only takes one or two measures for it to completely capture the listener and transport him or her to a glittering age of decadence.<\/p>

And this is one of the marvels of Strauss\u2019s score\u2014there have been few times which a score has come to almost single-handedly embody an entire era. It is impossible not to be swept up in Strauss\u2019 brilliant recreation of Vienna at the height of its glory. It\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0Vienna. The waltz, in Strauss\u2019s hands, isn\u2019t some old fuddy-duddy of a dance, but a dazzling example of unbridled revelry. The character pieces aren\u2019t just mindless bits of slapstick, but strike a perfect balance of being ironic, witty,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>hilarious.<\/p>

And the music is completely infectious\u2026 I remember as the curtain closed on Act II, I wished that party could just keep going.<\/p>

Another reason to go is to see the staging of the opera. Over the past few years, the Minnesota Orchestra has perfected its own unique style of presenting operas\u2014a style that is unique by necessity. Because it was built primarily for acoustic orchestra performances, Orchestra Hall is a difficult space to present stage works. It lacks space in the wings or backstage, and it is impossible to move fully-designed sets onstage. But over the last few years, director Bob Neu has worked miracles with a less-is-more approach, using minimalist props and sets to bring the operas to life in only a few deft strokes. And the results have been spectacular. Anyone who saw the Orchestra\u2019s staging of Humperdinck\u2019s\u00a0Hansel and Gretel<\/em>, done in partnership with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, will know what I\u2019m talking about\u2014those performances were absolute wonders that again drew gasps from the audience. Mozart\u2019s\u00a0The Magic Flute<\/em>, using these same forces, was equally astonishing. And who can forget Deborah Voigt\u2019s hair-raising suicide at the end of\u00a0Tosca<\/em>, handled simply by a brilliant trick of light and shadow.<\/p>

The Orchestra\u2019s staging (or semi-staging) of operas over the last few years has been an absolute triumph of maximizing minimal resources to create breathtaking productions. And, coincidentally, they have completely undermined assertions made by Peter Gelb from the Met\u2014Gelb seems to feel that opera only works when it\u2019s presented in extravagant, over-the-top stagings. Well, the Minnesota Orchestra\u2019s productions prove that, again, sometimes less is more.<\/p>

So go!\u00a0 Visit the\u00a0Orchestra\u2019s website\u00a0<\/a>and get your tickets if you haven\u2019t done so already.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss hearing this brilliant score\u2014one that evoked pangs of jealousy from such composers as Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss (not related). And see it in a wonderful rendition that will match the music\u2019s effervescence. You\u2019ll even get to see my friends and colleagues from the\u00a0Minnesota Chorale<\/a>\u00a0as drunken party guests\u2026 and let me tell you they are loving every moment of it.<\/p>

Go!\u00a0 I guarantee you will have a most enjoyable time!<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Minnesota Orchestra review: \u2018Die Fledermaus\u2019 gets a perfectly light touch<\/span><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/header>
\"\"<\/div>
\u201cDie Fledermaus\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>
By Ron Hubbard, PIONEER PRESS\u00a0|\u00a0<\/div>
news@pioneerpress.com<\/div>
PUBLISHED:\u00a0