Craigmonie Centre, Drumnadrochit, 16 October 2008

The Merry Widow presented by Scottish Opera (photo - Mark Hamilton)

HANNA GLAWARI may have inherited twenty million from her banker husband, but it has not stopped this merry widow from entertaining the people of Scotland in twenty-five communities over a couple of months, courtesy of Scottish Opera’s 2008 touring production of the sparkling Franz Lehár operetta The Merry Widow.

Madame Glawari’s elegant progress arrived in Drumnadrochit just in time for her and her retinue of diplomats to celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Pontevedro.

Suffice to say that the plot of the operetta revolves around the efforts of the Embassy staff to persuade the wealthy Hanna to marry a Pontevedrian, and not one of the other diplomats who are courting her. It is essential that her wealth remains under Pontevedrian control, to prevent that beleaguered country from doing an Iceland.

Count Danilo Danilovitch, the First Secretary of the Embassy, is instructed, for the sake of the fatherland, to marry the merry widow, contrary to his basic instinct of playing the field, and despite the fact that the two of them have a history. After a catalogue of confusion and intrigue more akin to a Feydeau farce, a satisfactory conclusion for all concerned is reached, helped by a series of memorable foot-tapping songs.

One of the great benefits of these touring Scottish Opera productions is that they give valuable experience to recent graduates from the conservatoires around the country, who then go on to notable careers in the opera world. The names of Lisa Milne, Claire Wilde and Kate Valentine come to mind, all of whom delighted audiences in village halls and community centres up and down Scotland in previous productions. Time will tell which of this cast will become household names, but be sure that not a few of them have successful careers ahead of them.

There was a slight change of emphasis in the way that The Merry Widow was presented. Past productions, such as Die Fledermaus (2006) and La Cenerentola (2007), have had fully staged sets and a mere half dozen singers. For this tour, director Clare Whistler chose a more flexible and versatile set, but used a full cast of fourteen artists, thereby giving more presence to the ensemble sequences.

The audience were invited to use their imagination for the location of the various scenes, according to the positioning of curtains to indicate an embassy room, or a garden, or the ballroom in Hanna Glawari’s house. This is not a new technique; something similar, and even less elaborate, was utilised by Scottish Opera for a full-scale production of The Barber of Seville back in the company’s early days in the 1960s. And very effective it was, in that it encouraged the audience to concentrate on the music and the singers.

When casting the main roles for The Merry Widow Scottish Opera played it safe by using singers already known to the company, with one exception. In the title role was Welsh soprano, Stephanie Corley, last seen as Musseta in La Bohème. From her initial entrance in a spectacular helter-skelter shaped hat her presence commanded attention with an ideal balance between decorum and flirtatiousness.

In an intimate space like the Craigmonie Centre, and with no more than piano accompaniment, no voices needed to be stretched, and hers was sweet and appealing. Her reluctant suitor, Count Danilo, was sung by Alexander Grove, a Manchester graduate and past member of Essential Scottish Opera. Another pleasing voice, but some fine- tuning would enhance his acting.

The Ambassador, Baron Mirko Zeta, was played by Australian Adam Miller, a part of last year’s Essential Scottish Opera tour. He was convincing as a genial, if naïve, patriot, determined to do the best for his country, but unable to notice all the attention being paid to his wife, Valencienne, by the French attaché, Camille, sung by Eire’s Mary O’Sullivan and John-Colyn Gyeantey, making his debut with Scottish Opera.

Other roles in this tortuous delight of intrigue and high living were played by Andrew Dickinson, Giles Davies, Daniel Grice, Catharine Rogers, Francis Church, Louise Collett, James Arthur, Susan Boyd and Harry Ward. But maybe the most demanding role of all was filled by pianist Ian Ryan, capably and energetically impersonating a full orchestra.

Past autumn tours by Scottish Opera have returned to the road the following spring, but with a small orchestra rather than piano accompaniment, which always raised the sense of occasion. Unfortunately, I understand that there are no plans to give The Merry Widow the same treatment. But perhaps the staging is insufficiently complicated to justify the higher level of production, and maybe the economics do not add up when the cast is so much larger.

It is a fashion in opera to stage works in the present day, to make the inevitably unbelievable storyline more timeless and relevant to the audience. One thinks of Prince Orlofski in Die Fledermaus sporting an eastern European accent and wearing a Heart of Midlothian football shirt.

But The Merry Widow was firmly rooted in the years before the First World War, with the costumes designed by Dody Nash being typical of the time. Imagine if this production had not been firmed up before the current global financial turmoil. It could have been such a wonderful feast of satire as well as a most enjoyable night out.

© James Munro, 2008

Links

• Scottish Opera