Review: The Merry Widow"The Merry Widow: Opera New Jersey offers a delicious revival of Franz Lehar's 1905 operetta"The Princeton Packet (Stu Duncan) THERE are three things you should know about the delicious revival of Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow, the third and final part of the centerpiece of the summer season at Opera New Jersey. The first is that in every way it lives up to the extraordinary standard set by La Traviata and La Cenerentola, both of which opened a week earlier on McCarter’s Berlind Stage — fine singing, superior sets, brilliant costumes, a strong pit orchestra and acting that matches — all signs of a first-rate opera company. The second is that stage director Marc Verzatt has chosen to mount the work much like a Broadway show. Lehar’s 1905 operetta creaks a bit with the burden of a century-old plot (a mythical kingdom about to run out of money, but determined that its wealthiest citizen, a widow, marry a countryman so that, at least, her wealth would remain within reach). Treating the material as a full-fledged Broadway musical might help cover up any of the barren spots. And third, perhaps most important, that same stage director has completely rewritten the dusty old dialogue to give modern audiences a real chance to laugh. Now add the work of conductor Stephen Mosteller, who has perfect control of the large orchestra; choreographer Mary Pat Robertson, who either located singers who can dance or taught them to; costume designer Patricia Hibbert, who amassed every shade of pastel in the palette for ballroom gowns and then every earth shade for bright native costumes for the mythical kingdom of Pontevedro; and lighting designer Barry Steele, who manages to blend indoor and outdoor with apparent ease. Meanwhile, soprano Jennifer Aylmer is having a wonderful time playing the widow, Hannah Glawari, flirting outrageously, but only occasionally with Count Danilo Danilovitch (Brian Jagde) because, after all, she once had a somewhat romantic entanglement with him when both were younger (and that isn’t entirely proper in Broadway musicals). The Baron Mirko Zeta (Jason Plourde) is most involved in trying to ensure that the widow marries a Pontevedrian (“for everything else, there is MasterCard”). But his own wife is having her own dalliances with a Frenchman (Benjamin Bunsold). That’s only part of the intricate plot line, but it should be sufficient to let you know that you are going to have to deal with character names such as Jou-Jou, Frou-Frou, Clo-Clo and the like. Of course, there are plenty of familiar waltzes that slip in along the way, stuff that you will be astonished you actually know — even after 100 years or more. |
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