“Whether you know and love opera or are considering your first experience, Lyric has a great variety of exciting entertainment opportunities for you this season, including the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I.” “Lyric’s upcoming season represents a wonderful range of musical and dramatic styles, including the company’s first world premiere in more than a decade,” said the company’s general director, Anthony Freud. Artists making eagerly awaited Lyric debuts include Lawrence Brownlee, Adam Plachetka, Christiane Karg, Heidi Stober, Dmitry Belosselskiy, and more. International stars returning to Lyric’s stage include Renée Fleming, Thomas Hampson, Isabel Leonard, Amanda Majeski, Joseph Calleja, Tatiana Serjan, Danielle de Niese, Željko Lučić, and more. This season offers outstanding casts, tremendous titles, and a world premiere.
Photos by Todd Rosenberg and Andrew Cioffiįor tickets, call – Single tickets go on sale July 8 at 10:00am for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 61st season. This is how operettas are meant to be staged. There is spoken dialogue and stately waltzes, folk dancing and sword fights, tender arias and infectious laughter. Costume designer William Ivey Long gets rather more creative, too, clothing the cast in Pontevedran folk costume for Act II.Įndearingly entertaining and extravagantly fun, The Merry Widow packs plenty of variety into its three short acts. Lighting designer Paule Constable truly shines in Act II with simulated fireworks. Set designer Julian Crouch aims for period opulence and achieves it fantastically. And in the background, not only is there a splendid embassy interior, but behind that is a 3-D model of Paris crowned by Sacré Cœur. There is red carpet, round sofas, and crystal chandeliers. Every singer and dancer is clothed in evening dress, gowns for the ladies and tails for the gentlemen. Actor Jeff Dumas’s Njegus heightens the operetta’s comedy with his droll delivery.Įverything about this Merry Widow is designed to be aesthetically pleasing. Michael Spyres brings his sumptuous tenor to the role of Camille de Rosillon, Valencienne’s wooer. As Valencienne, the baron’s wife, Heidi Stober might not have any arias to sing, but proves that her sparkling soprano can easily hold its own against Fleming’s star-power. Thomas Hampson is suitably rakish yet instantly likeable as the count he and Fleming have real chemistry. The production’s uniformly excellent cast boasts fine performances from its principals, actors, choir and dancers. The baron’s goal is to keep the widow’s millions in Pontevedra, thereby propping up its precarious economy.
Worried that Hanna might marry a Frenchman, the Pontevedran ambassador Baron Mirko Zeta seeks to marry her to Count Danilo Danilovitsch. Recently bereft, extremely rich, and looking for love, Madame Glawari is pursued by all of the city’s eligible bachelors. Set in Belle Époque Paris, The Merry Widow centers on Hanna Glawari, Lehár’s eponymous heroine. Susan Stroman directs and choreographs each scene flawlessly, from the operetta’s intimate flirtations to its glamorous balls and nightlife. Her moving, lyrical rendition of Vilja’s song at the opening of Act II is one of the production’s highlights. Fleming does not disappoint as Hanna Glawari, a role that suits her fading voice to a tee.
Much of the success of the Met’s production is reprised here, including Sir Andrew Davis as conductor, Renée Fleming in the title role, and Susan Stroman’s superb direction and choreography. Sams does not introduce anachronisms or contemporary slang, nor does he water down the gendered stereotypes of the period. Originally staged last season at the Metropolitan Opera, this production features a brand new English translation by Jeremy Sams of Viktor Léon and Leo Stein’s German libretto. After the unbearable ugliness of Berg’s Wozzeck, Lyric Opera’s beautiful production of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow ( Die Lustige Witwe) comes as a breath of fresh air.