Die Fledermaus

As a young critic I am an avid theatre goer but Opera? It has never evoked enthusiasm or excitement for me and stereotypes abounded: looking at it with untrained eyes and ears it felt a tad out of reach. Then ... The opportunity to see Welsh National Opera’s newest rendition of Die Fledermaus landed in my email, and never one to snub being proved wrong, I saw an intriguing challenge. I was happily proved wrong, Opera has something for everyone; it’s not just for the older, richer or classically leant. I am particularly glad it was Die Fledermaus, as its highly satirical content – originally and in this rendition – waltzed away from my suspicions of an over-zealous and highly emotional tragedy.

As a newbie I found that producer John Copley has created a clear-cut, well informed performance. There are so many facets to this Operetta; it juggles its stunning period costume and ornate set with contemporary influences and a truly international team. The modern piece of the pie is the genius comedy; from locked up bankers and politicians citing the prison as a second home, comparing characters to Bill Odie and his birds. Moments with Frosch the jailer being sung ‘Just one Cornetto, give it to me’ by an inmate and quoting ‘Go Compare’. There are comic moments for those truly into their Operas with nods to other opera’s via Alfred, Rosalinde’s admirer.  Nuccia Focile’s Italian accent is clear, yet she pulls off her spoken lines and the necessary Hungarian accent with panache, Desmond Barrit’s strong Welsh accent lends itself to his dialogue of depreciative and sharp satire.  

The plot itself is the elaborate ‘Revenge of the Bat’ designed by Dr Faulke’s, having been slighted by his friend Eisenstein at a previous fancy dress party and as entertainment for the bored youth Prince Orlofsky. Whilst the side narrative of Adele and Sister Ida adds meat to the already light hearted content, it was an added extra. Now this is nothing towards the spectacular performance of Joanne Boag (Adele Rosalinse’s housemaid) or accompanying Anitra Blaxhall (Ida) but can only be laid at Johann Strauss feet in 1874– another in joke that occurs, blaming Johann Strauss.  . With plenty of drinking, dancing, mistaken identity and convenient role switching the narrative flows along at a pace, keeping the audience entertained. Each character is so full of charm and wit you could forgive them their slights, as Eisenstein says “[blame it on the Champagne]”.

For a newbie having the opera sung in English was a bonus, feeling more at home with a language I could understand and nothing seemed out of place or off kilter as sometimes can occur in translations. Although one distraction were the subtitles above as it followed the main vocal, making following the secondary vocals sung in unison difficult to track so there were parts where I lost out on pieces.

Integral to the Opera are of course the orchestra, the singers, and the dancing: the cast are decidedly enjoyable watch and listen to. The choreography is executed with flare: from the spectacular choral dances to the fumbling comic flirtations between Rosalind’s Hungarian Countess and Eisenstein’s Marquis Renard. The orchestra performed well throughout, manoeuvring cleverly and effortlessly from piece to piece.

Welsh National Opera’s performance of Die Fledermaus, thanks to the clearly amazing team behind the scenes and on the stage, was fantastic – especially for someone as fresh to Opera as me but from catching snippets from regular opera fans in the audience it was just as brilliant for them. So please enjoy! Unfortunately this time around there was no opportunity for photos, for that, please blame technology!

For those new to Opera, http://www.fresh2opera.co.uk/ is a fantastic start to banish away all those excuses and suspicions about attending.

Welsh National Opera's Die Fledermaus is at Wales Millennium Centre from 12th Feb - 5th March.

Rachel Williams