Review: THE MERRY WIDOW

How can you go wrong wit Franz Lehar's music and one of the most popular operettas of the 20^th century?

Toronto Operetta Theatre's staging of The Merry Widow is all one could hope for and a good deal more.

For starters, the orchestra, under the firm direction Kevin Mallon is dreamily creamy when waltzing and properly playful when a march or can-can is called for. Best of all it supports the singers without overpowering them.

And what singers!  Elizabeth Beeler is the titular widow displaying a range of emotions from sombre to flirtatious. When she cries out "He Loves Me" near the end of Act Two you can feel her heart flutter.  Any Anna is judged by her Vilia, and there are no worries here. Her phrasing is effortless as she navigates the aria's sentimental flourishes.

Her Count Danilo is Theodore Baerg, and his robust voice soars above the orchestra. He can be childish and charming all at once but when he takes Beeler in his arms for their final dance, it's a moment of pure theatrical magic.

Gisele Fredette as Valencienne, the respectable wife and Stuart Howe as her lover de Rosillon have fun playing out their little affair behind the back of Sean Watson as her cuckolded husband. It's all so innocent yet supplying a look at how much and how little the relations between the sexes have changed in 100 years.

One thing that hasn't changed is Lehar's sparkling score that never wears out its welcome, and is given the most inspired singing here.  If there is any area to quibble with it is the simple though relatively unimaginative staging. It simply seems as if director Guillermo Silva-Marin has served as little more than a traffic cop instructing the performers to enter, play their scenes, the scamper off.  Of course, this is how operettas have traditionally been staged, but a more modern approach allowing scenes to bubble up inside each other might be an avenue to explore.

Still, the whole production is lighter than air, with everyone having fun though no one has more fun that Keith O'Brien kicking up his heels with Quite Parisian, a time-filler in Act Three that becomes almost indispensable here.

Do not miss this effervescent production.

 

The Merry Widow continues Friday & Saturday at 8pm with a 2 PM matinee on Sunday April 29. For tickets or more info call 416-366-7723.

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