Theater Review: We’ll Always Have Paris in ‘The Merry Widow’

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CHICAGO – Standing up at the Lyric Opera house in Chicago is unusual before a show. But in this case, it was the night after a tragedy, and the operetta “The Merry Widow” – set in Paris, France, in 1905 – was about to unfold. The orchestra struck up La Marseillaise, a reminder that we’ll always have Paris.

HollywoodChicago.com Comedy/Tragedy Rating: 4.0/5.0
Play Rating: 4.0/5.0

“The Merry Widow” is a bright and fizzy showcase of leisurely coupling, comic virtue and soaring voices. The popular operetta was given a sumptuous production at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, on an opening night that became a festival of joy, and brought back a Paris that in many ways will always exist. The lead role was beatifically performed by the “people’s diva,” the brilliant Renée Fleming, who brought down the house with her spot-on interpretation of Franz Lehár’s famous character. While shifting from an embassy to a fancy “maison,” and finally to the legendary Maxim’s nightclub – with their famous can-can dance – “The Merry Widow” brought the merry to a beleaguered and grateful audience.

Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming Captures All the Attention in ‘The Merry Widow’
Photo credit: The Lyric Opera of Chicago

In Paris, 1905, the country of Pontevedria is trying to raise funds at its fancy embassy in the City of Lights. Their treasury is near bankruptcy, and it is up to Baron Zeta (Patrick Carfizzi) to woo the Parisians to fund the country. His lovely wife Valencienne (Heidi Stober) is doing her part, flirting with the rascally Camille de Rosillon (Michael Spryes). One of Zeta’s concerns is a Ponteverdrian widow named Hanna Glawari (Renée Fleming), who seeks to connect her inherited fortune to a lucky gentleman – and Zeta hopes it will be a fellow countryman, to keep the fortune where it belongs. He even recruits a reluctant Count Danilo (Thomas Hampson), a “diplomat” who loves women but eschews marriage. When Hanna and Danilo “meet merry,” the realization is that they are former lovers. Will that bode well for The Merry Widow?

Who cannot embrace such a light comedy of manners and rogues, to distract from thoughts of the real world? The cast was magnificent as they sung and performed the familiar operetta, providing a necessary illumination in the midst of their celebration of Paree. Renée Fleming is the chanteuse of the ages, and brought a beauty and presence to Hanna, lifting her to emotional heights with the rendering of the polished operetta score by Franz Lehár.

Director Susan Stroman, of the musical version of “The Producers,” brings her Broadway chops to the staging, with the timing and antics of a typical Great White Way musical. The staging is a bright and richly costumed affair, the world of embassies, wondrous parties and a can-can nightclub obsessed in full life, with the situations as light as the concerns of the wealthy characters. The touches of comedy that Stroman places into the choreography, especially in a song by the men perplexing about the “Women” in their life, was welcome and emotionally captivating.

The Merry Widow
The Opening Scene at the Embassy in ‘The Merry Widow’
Photo credit: The Lyric Opera of Chicago

There were some opening night jitters. Some of the songs were drowned by the orchestra, and the dialogue was somewhat obscured. But in a light and airy way, “The Merry Widow” is simply not going to allow mere technicalities to get into the way of their escalating and tuneful orchestrations. “The Merry Widow Waltz” is most familiar, after receiving three film versions and a generous use in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt.” But operetta fans are also familiar with the “Vilja Song,” “Love Unspoken” and “You’ll Find Me at Maxim’s.”

And that is where we all should be found…in the “Maxim’s” of our minds. Where there is pure exultation, the beauty and truth of the can-can, plus a Merry Widow finding love again under the glorious atmosphere of a resilient and forever Paris. The Lyric Opera invites you there.

“The Merry Widow” is performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, 20 North Upper Wacker Drive at various days and times through December 13th, 2015. Click here for more information, dates/times and to purchase tickets. Featuring Renée Fleming, Thomas Hampson, Heidi Stober, Michael Spyres, Patrick Carfizzi and Paris. Score, book and lyrics by Franz Lehár. Directed by Susan Stroman.

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Writer, Editorial Coordinator
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2015 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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