‘FLEDERMAUS’ a comic opera of pranks gone wrong
The Santa Fe Opera opens its 2017 season with the pop of “Die Fledermaus” champagne on Friday.
Johann Strauss Jr.’s comic operetta bubbles with the composer’s trademark waltzes, mistaken identities, pranks gone wrong and excursions from the bedroom to the ballroom. Many critics consider the masquerade to be the greatest of all Viennese operettas.
“It’s funny, it’s in English, it’s totally easy to understand,” said tenor, Albuquerque native and former SFO apprentice Kurt Streit, who plays Gabriel Von Eisenstein, the clueless husband who romances a masked “Hungarian countess” who turns out to be his wife.
“He’s got a little bit of the sevenyear-itch,” Streit said. “He’s one of those guys who remembers his good old days before he was married. The character is a little bit bored in his marriage.”
As payback for a previous prank, Dr. Falke hovers over the action, orchestrating a party where Eistenstein’s wife arrives in disguise.
“He’s going to this party to meet lots of girls there –– ballerinas and actresses,” Streit said of Eisenstein. “He has this expensive watch, and he dangles it before them. He never sleeps with them; he just wants a good flirt.
“My character’s definitely oblivious,” he added.
His wife, Rosalinda, is very much in on the scheme. She’s there to flirt with her old love, her voice teacher.
“She just sort of (crumples) when Alfred says an Italian word,” soprano Devon Guthrie, also a former SFO apprentice, said.
At first, Rosalinda merely wants to trap her husband. But the exchange rekindles some simmering passion.
The music ranges from an instantly recognizable overture to ensembles and solos.
“There are certain moments that are Gilbert & Sullivan,” Guthrie said. “But there are definitely vocal challenges that are exacerbated by the altitude.”
The Hungarian dance is especially challenging, she added.
“It calls for a lot of vocal acrobatics,”
Guthrie said. “What’s fun about it is it’s really based on the Hungarian dance. When they’re seducing each other, the whole 2½pages is me on ‘ah’.”
The Act 1 trio features the Eistensteins and their maid, Adele, shedding minor-key crocodile tears about their supposed fates, but they can’t suppress their excitement about attending the festivities.
The second-act finale opens with a hymn to champagne.
“Champagne is a huge aspect of this,” Guthrie said. “If you need a champagne/wine pairing, this is definitely a champagne opera.”