Back in 1984 my friends and I were looking for a "festive" show to attend. I'm pretty sure it was the holiday season and we did not want to see The Nutcracker. I was a big fan of musical theater and liked Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Somehow I convinced my friends that the thing to do was attend a production of Die Fledermaus. It was an "off season" production from the young (under 10 years old) Opera Theatre of St. Louis at the old American Theater in downtown St. Louis. I remember that night. The theater was old and we were in the balcony. The operetta didn't have much of a coherent plot but it had exquisite music. The evening was a hit.
The next year, during Opera Theatre's "off season" they did a production of The Beggar's Opera in the upper ballroom at the Sheldon Concert Hall. I organized the same group to go. We enjoyed it again.
Hey, we said, if we've enjoyed these two productions maybe we should go to a "real" opera during the season. Opera Theatre has a short festival season that runs from the end of May through the end of June during which they perform four operas. We decided to go for broke and get season tickets to all four productions for the 1986 season.
Until 2020, when the world shut down, I didn't miss a season. This year is the 50th anniversary and it is the 40th anniversary of that first performance I saw in 1984. How appropriate (for me) that one of the operas this season is Die Fledermaus.
I saw a matinee performance today and it was such fun. It is a glorious production. Re-imagined to take place in 1959 New York, it still has a plot that isn't particularly coherent but the music is still exquisite. The Eisensteins (Gabriel and Rosalinde) are a suburban couple. Gabriel is old friends with Dr. Falke on whom he played a trick in the past. Falke pretends that he didn't mind but he plans "revenge" in the form of an embarassing prank. He arranges for Gabriel, Rosalinde, and their maid Adele all to be invited to a costume party being thrown by a Russian Prince at his nightclub in Greenwich Village. None of them know the others will be there. What follows is a wacky tale of "disguises, flirtations and comic deceptions" as Opera Theatre puts it. All set to the music of Johan Strauss II - the Waltz King.
Robert Innes Hopkins designed the sets and costumes. Act One takes place in the Eisensteins' mid-century modern kitchen complete with 1950's teal colored metal cabinets, a pink refrigerator and stove and Saarinen designed table and chairs. Act Two is in the nightclub in Greenwich village, all black and red with a long bar in the back on which various cast members end up at various times. Act Three is the police station, which in comparison is somewhat spare but has a circular station for the duty officer. The costumes, especially in Act 2 are eye catching and in the crowd at the costume party we spotted Andy Warhol and Barbie, among other costumes (or maybe Warhol was supposed to be real?).
The voices were perfect for this. Edward Nelson, as Gabriel, had a strong tenor voice that matched well with Joshua Blue's Dr. Falke and the gorgeous soprano of Sara Gartland as Rosalinde. Deanna Breiwick, as Adele the maid, also had a lovely soprano voice. But almost as importantly, the whole cast could act - sometimes that isn't true.
But my favorite part of the opera was the beginning. There is a long overture with lots of beautiful Johan Strauss music. During the overture the prank pulled on Falke by Gabriel is acted out - taking place on a New York subway platform and then on the subway as both of them are very drunk. They are coming from a costume party and Falke is dressed as Batman. Die Fledermaus means "the bat" and the operetta is known as the Revenge of the Bat. The choreography of this subway scene, with members of the cast getting on and off the subway, is very creative, very funny and sets the tone for the rest of the operetta.
George Manahan conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in the pit. The music is glorious, I left humming.
