Die Fledermaus, Batty and Entertaining Fun

Die Fledermaus

by Johann Strauss

musioal director Werner Sun

at Dunster House

through February 19

Die Fledermaus, Dunster House's latest operatic production, was greatly successful in its depiction of wholesome, late nineteenth century aristocratic frolicking. Remaining true to the playful spirit of Johann Strauss' Viennese intrigue of love and revenge, the production smoothly wove its many characters and sub-plots into one cohesive whole, maintaining its drunken, nonsensical energy throurghout its entire two and a half hours.

The success of the Dunster House operetta is particularly impressive considering the potentially fatal obstacles it overcame. For example, the opera requires a high standard of singing from not only it leads, but also from its secondary characters as well. Indeed, the Dunster House production steered clear of this potential pitfall, the smaller parts holding their own amongst the powerful voices of the leads, highlighting their uniformly excellent cast.

Also problematic for the procuction was its rather small stage, where its 29 members were frequently assembled. While the size constraint often made the ensemble scenes appear static, the enthusiasm of the actors and occasional inclusion of dance piece helped lighten the mood.

What remained an insurmountable problem was the lack of a orchestra pit. While the overture captivated the audience and its later accompaniments were well-timed, the 28 member orchestra tended to overshadow the singers, rendering many of the lyrics incomprehensible and sometimes difficult to hear.

Despite these setbacks, the charisma of the players carried the production through with verve. Catherine deLima, playing the spirited Rosalinda, dominated the production with her dynamic voice and smirking facial expressions. Particularly charming was the duet in which deLima seduces Edward Upton (Eisenstein, Rosalinda's husband) in disguise, wielding a Hungarian accent and faintly pouting demeanor to entrap him. Upton provided a good counter-weight to deLima's antics, playing the impish and persecuted husband with an infallible good nature. Although Upton's voice suffered under the daunting orchestra and paled in comparison to his buoyant coplayers, his cutesy acting nonetheless compensated for want of volume.

The chemistry between the characters was especially explosive, and came off particularly well in the duet between Upton and David Collins (Dr. Falke) in Act I. Here Collins persuades Upton, with the utmost of alacrity, to attend prince Orlofsky's party. Collins enchants the audience, as well as Upton, with his crisp, charismatic antics atop the living room furniture. Collins maintains his devilish role of orchestrating his plot of revenge on Upton through the many twists and turns of the production, and the audience enjoys sharing his secret through to the end.

Also a winner of audience sympathy was David A. Smith with his portrayal of the love struck Alfred. Confident and quirky, Smith injected a boyish ingenuousness and emotive dramatics into his portrayal. Awet Andemicael occasionally titillated the audience in her role of Adele, but generally suffered under he mundane, often pointless role.

The chorus complemented the leads well with respect to singing but nevertheless remained a bit wooden in the overall acting department. Although certain dancing interludes animated the ensemble, the contrast between the movement of the leads and the stiffness of the chorus was often jarring. This was unsettling to the otherwise even pace of the production. Congratulations, however, should be extended to all on their uniformly energetic portrayal of drunkenness. Complete with graceful staggering, and slurred speech.

Stage Directors Victor Chiu and Adam Hertzman deftly coordinated the large cast, balancing cute episodes such as Martin Lebwohl's (Frank) passionate dance with a coatrack with the ensemble scenes.

Essence McGill also extended the choreographical refinement of the production with drunken flamenco dancing, a matador pantomime, and Russian dancing which featured cartwheels and somersaults. Especially fun was the Finale of Act II, in which the entire cast pranced around a colorful maypole.

With an undersized and sparsely decorated stage, the festive and timely costumes of Costume Designer LeAnn Tzeng greatly livened up the aethetics of the production.

Dunster House's production of Die Fledermaus thus combines its fun-loving, ridiculous plot with strong singing and albeit mediocre acting to create an overall entertaining night of endless antics.