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ENO
LONDON COLISEUM
I
A review by Marion Drew for EXTRA! EXTRA!
The curtain went up in the beautiful Coliseum and there was an air of happy expectation in the audience. And we were not disappointed; it rose to reveal a dazzling stage, a feast for the eyes, ad what followed was a feast for the ears as well. Often called 'The Queen of Operettas', The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar is one of the most celebrated and successful of its kind ever written, composed as it was at the height of the golden age of Viennese operettas. It tells the simple story of the reuniting of two former lovers under very different circumstances. Hanna was a farm girl who married a very rich man, who shortly thereafter left her a very wealthy widow; she is now worth 20 million. Danilo is secretary to the Pontevedrian embassy in Paris, and the ambassador wishes them to marry so that her fortune does not go to a foreigner, but to the impoverished Pontevedrian nation. The story winds its way through various difficulties they have in achieving this reunion, and along the way there are various sub plots and comic romantic intrigues. This production sets the famous operetta in the period that it was written, the early 1900s, and how successful this is! It does full justice to the beautiful music which the orchestra delivers in a wonderful full throated way under the baton and of Oliver von Dohnanyi, moving smoothly from graceful waltz to exuberant can-can, bringing out the beautiful lyrical qualities of the music. If it was a little too loud on occasion, sometimes making the words hard to hear, but this did not diminish its energy and beauty. The large stage was filled with the magnificently elegant sets by Tim Reed, from glamorous embassy rooms in velvet and marble, to a darkly rich garden scene complemented by brilliantly designed lighting by Howard Harrison. These provided the perfect setting in which to show off the sumptuous, lavish ball gowns of the upper class ladies and Hanna herself, and the gorgeous frothy vivid costumes of the grisettes, all designed by Deidre Clancy. Amanda Roocroft was charm itself and there was a beguiling warmth and sweetness to her voice which endeared us to this rags-to-riches girl who moved with a refreshing worldliness and candour through the bevy of her male Parisienne admirers in a society at the time full of moral hypocrisy. Her graceful singing of the famous ‘Vilja’ was a joy to listen to. Danilo, John Graham-Hall, sang beautifully and played the comic parts with obvious enjoyment, but I would have liked to see a slightly more rakish edge to his character. The two who stole the show for me were Alfie Boe as Camille de Rosillon, and Roy Hudd as Njegus. Boe’s voice was wonderfully smooth and rich and he acted the part of the arduous lover with infectious enthusiasm and intelligence. Hudd, in his mainly talking part, took full advantage of Jeremy Sam’s translation of the spoken dialogue which offered some very crisp comic punning and some quite surprising but thoroughly enjoyable innuendos. Hudd was completely engaging, and his timing in working in tandem with Richard Suart as Baron Zeta was perfect, emphasizing the essentially humourous nature of this operetta. His ‘Tres tres tres Francais’ was a real treat. Choreographers Anthony van Laast and Nichola Treherne had the chorus and dancers doing some delightful, exuberant dances, from burlesque to folk, beautiful slow waltzes and a wonderful unlikely ‘line dance’ in Act 2 with the principal men bemoaning their (lack of) understanding of women. Perhaps the house lights shouldn’t have gone up after Act 2, as some of the audience took it as time to have a conversation or to powder their noses, but the overture to Act 3 was delightful. Director John Copley I think rode the fine line between a boisterous almost at times campish pantomime quality to the work and the rather more serious satirical social commentary not too far from the surface, very successfully.
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