Graeme Murphy magic gives Merry Widow a makeover
GRAEME Murphy has taken a tired, rather dated Merry Widow, dusted it off, injected charm, humour, spirited dancing and, with the help of a talented cast, produced a bubbly confection.
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GRAEME Murphy has taken a tired, rather dated work, dusted it off, injected charm, humour, spirited dancing and, with the help of a hugely talented cast, produced a bubbly and entertaining confection that sets a high bar for the remainder of the opera season.
Franz Lehar’s 112-year-old operetta has never looked or sounded better.
Murphy and assistant director-choreographer Janet Vernon, with the backing of all of Australia’s state opera companies, have surely hit the jackpot with this stylish and very personable production.
Much of its success is due to the talent of the two leads: Danielle de Niese in sparkling form as the wealthy widow Hanna and Alexander Lewis as the dissolute Danilo who must win her to save the impoverished principality of Pontevedro from losing her millions if she marries an outsider.
Melbourne-born de Niese, an accomplished soprano with Sri Lankan, Dutch and Scottish connections, swiftly made the part her own on opening night, her silvery voice soaring and falling as her onstage moods alternated.
DEBUT
Listening to those first notes, you probably wouldn’t have guessed how far she has come. In 1988, aged nine, she became the youngest winner of Australian TV’s Young Talent Time. Her Whitney Houston medley earned her $5000 and a Yamaha baby grand piano, which she says she still owns. You can still watch that sequence on YouTube although there are many other more notable clips of her performances.
She went on to make her professional operatic debut at the age of 15 with the Los Angeles Opera.
Lewis also has impeccable singing credentials. The gifted tenor and musical theatre actor is the son of baritone Michael Lewis and mezzosoprano Patricia Price. He won the Opera Foundation Australia New York Study Award in 2006, the Australian National Aria Competition in 2009, and the Sir Robert Askin Fellowship in 2010.
PLAYFUL
One of the pleasures of this opulent production is the chance given to lesser players to display their talents.
Soprano Stacey Alleaume made a warm and playful Baroness Valencienne, a wife sorely tempted to succumb to an affair with the besotted Camille, played with relish by tenor John Longmuir.
David Whitney, almost unrecognisable behind grey whiskers and with an aged stoop, played Valencienne’s husband, Baron Zeta, as a twittering fuddy-duddy blind to his wife’s agonies of temptation.
Who’d have thought it? A Merry Widow with sexual undertones, especially as performed by the luscious and high-spirited de Niese and the stylish and oh-so-beautifully mannered Lewis.
Vannessa Scammell effortlessly urged the orchestra on to new heights, designer Jennifer Irwin deserved a bow for the inspired costumes, the chorus contributed to the overall feel-good air of a production hitting its straps and Michael Scott-Mitchell’s sets, particularly in Act II, hit the mark.
DETAILS
● OPERA: The Merry Widow
● STARS: Danielle de Niese, Alexander Lewis, John Longmuir, Stacey Alleaume
● AT: Sydney Opera House
● UNTIL: February 3
● BOOKINGS: www.sydneyoperahouse.com, 9250 7777