Operetta is a blast from the company's past
by Michael Anthony, Star Tribune
June 15, 2005
To end its 25th season, North Star Opera is staging an anniversary party in the form of Johann Strauss Jr.'s classic operetta "Die Fledermaus," the show that launched the company back in 1980, when North Star emerged out of the ashes of Opera St. Paul.
It's a nice gesture. North Star has done well over the years with its focus on the much-neglected operetta repertoire.
The current production, which opened Saturday in St. Paul, achieves most of the time a handy balance between comedy and music, between bittersweet sentiment and sophistication, a balance that so often gets upset in bigger productions. Director Randy Winkler thankfully cuts most of the traditional interpolations: The guest performers in the party scene, the endless parade of sight gags for Frosch, the jailer, in the third act. Winkler cuts most of the ballet, too, which is no loss. And what we do get from Frosch (the estimable Luverne Seifert) shows no strain. He's funny, as is Alfred, our unstoppable tenor (Mark Calkins), who sits in his jail cell singing the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive."
The balance slips occasionally. Singing the role of Adele, the maid, the talented Jennifer Baldwin Peden delivers a sprightly Laughing Song, with assured coloratura flights, and offers some amusing moments, though the character veers too close to Lucille Ball. On the other hand, Peter Halverson, with his strong stage presence and firm baritone, strikes just the right note of urbanity as Falke, and Norah Long really shines in the central role of Rosalinda, showing us a passionate woman whose dignity is continually being subverted by her impulses, which is sort of what Viennese operetta is all about: the impulse to be naughty and to break out of the confines of bourgeois respectability, especially marriage. Long's Rosalinda is at war with herself. She wants a fling with her former lover, Alfred, but she also wants to punish her husband, Eisenstein, for being a philanderer. Long sang admirably, too, displaying agile top notes as well as the ideal chest tones for the czardas.
Among the rest, Charles Schwandt put forth a stalwart character and a strong baritone as Frank, and Jill Anna Ponasik was that rarity in the "trouser" role of Orlofsky, someone who actually looks like an 18-year-old Russian prince, rather than what is more customary in this part: a 50-year-old mezzo in male drag. Mark Calkins brought a suave and well-modulated tenor to the part of Eisenstein, a part more often sung by a baritone. But his characterization, full of high spirits, needed a little more inherent dignity, to show the mold that Eisenstein is trying to break out of.
Chris Morris' sets, though minimalist, are attractive, as are Lynn Farrington's costumes. Steve Stucki's capable little pit orchestra can't convey the lush side of Strauss' elegant score, especially in this hall's dry acoustics, but he paces the show expertly.
Let's hope North Star manages to hang on another 25 years, and let's hope it reenergizes its devotion to the operetta rather than pursuing other, supposedly more fashionable repertoire.
[return to Die Fledermaus press page]
June 15, 2005
To end its 25th season, North Star Opera is staging an anniversary party in the form of Johann Strauss Jr.'s classic operetta "Die Fledermaus," the show that launched the company back in 1980, when North Star emerged out of the ashes of Opera St. Paul.
It's a nice gesture. North Star has done well over the years with its focus on the much-neglected operetta repertoire.
The current production, which opened Saturday in St. Paul, achieves most of the time a handy balance between comedy and music, between bittersweet sentiment and sophistication, a balance that so often gets upset in bigger productions. Director Randy Winkler thankfully cuts most of the traditional interpolations: The guest performers in the party scene, the endless parade of sight gags for Frosch, the jailer, in the third act. Winkler cuts most of the ballet, too, which is no loss. And what we do get from Frosch (the estimable Luverne Seifert) shows no strain. He's funny, as is Alfred, our unstoppable tenor (Mark Calkins), who sits in his jail cell singing the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive."
The balance slips occasionally. Singing the role of Adele, the maid, the talented Jennifer Baldwin Peden delivers a sprightly Laughing Song, with assured coloratura flights, and offers some amusing moments, though the character veers too close to Lucille Ball. On the other hand, Peter Halverson, with his strong stage presence and firm baritone, strikes just the right note of urbanity as Falke, and Norah Long really shines in the central role of Rosalinda, showing us a passionate woman whose dignity is continually being subverted by her impulses, which is sort of what Viennese operetta is all about: the impulse to be naughty and to break out of the confines of bourgeois respectability, especially marriage. Long's Rosalinda is at war with herself. She wants a fling with her former lover, Alfred, but she also wants to punish her husband, Eisenstein, for being a philanderer. Long sang admirably, too, displaying agile top notes as well as the ideal chest tones for the czardas.
Among the rest, Charles Schwandt put forth a stalwart character and a strong baritone as Frank, and Jill Anna Ponasik was that rarity in the "trouser" role of Orlofsky, someone who actually looks like an 18-year-old Russian prince, rather than what is more customary in this part: a 50-year-old mezzo in male drag. Mark Calkins brought a suave and well-modulated tenor to the part of Eisenstein, a part more often sung by a baritone. But his characterization, full of high spirits, needed a little more inherent dignity, to show the mold that Eisenstein is trying to break out of.
Chris Morris' sets, though minimalist, are attractive, as are Lynn Farrington's costumes. Steve Stucki's capable little pit orchestra can't convey the lush side of Strauss' elegant score, especially in this hall's dry acoustics, but he paces the show expertly.
Let's hope North Star manages to hang on another 25 years, and let's hope it reenergizes its devotion to the operetta rather than pursuing other, supposedly more fashionable repertoire.
[return to Die Fledermaus press page]