Shows - Die Fledermaus - June 2002

The show was performed at the Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park, Bracknell between the 18th - 22nd June 2002. This ever-popular musical comedy of revenge and marital intrigue features the wonderful Viennese music of Johann Strauss.

The version of the show, is an English adaptation by Phil Park and Ronald Hanmer (responsible for innumerable amateur shows from "The Merry Widow", to "Calamity Jane" and "Viva Mexico"!). The script is funny and accessible (much more so than the original in my humble opinion) and the score has lots of good chorus arrangements to accompany Johann Strauss's wonderful music.

• Chairman's Welcome
• Synopsis
• About This Production ...
• Credits
• The Cast
• Scenes & Musical Numbers
• Production Team
• Orchestra
• NODA Review

(Picture by Alan Bowman, Director)

More photo's are available here!!!!!
(Thanks to George Riddell for taking these linked photo's and hosting them on his web site)

Chairman's Welcome

Welcome to our production of "Die Fledermaus" which marks a departure from our recent run of Broadway/West End musicals and which has been a challenging, but fascinating and rewarding, experience.

We are delighted to welcome Alan Bowman as Director. This is the first time Alan has directed for CMP and he has brought a wealth of valuable experience. Our 'in-house' team of Nick Austin, Musical Director, and Debbie Mann, Choreographer, have also responded magnificently to the challenges of this show and our thanks go to them, and all the other people onstage and off, including the many new members who have joined us this year, who have made this production possible. I hope that you will enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed preparing and presenting it for you.

Tragically, there is one name missing from the cast list. Angela Cheadle, who was to have taken part in the show, passed away on Good Friday. She is sadly missed and fondly remembered by us all.

John Caley

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Synopsis

Evening in the Eisenstein's apartment. Amidst the hustle and bustle, Alfred, an Italian tenor, attempts to serenade Rosalinda Eisenstein from the street. Adele, Rosalinda's maid, is surprised by the arrival of her sister, Ida, who brings her an invitation to Prince Orlofsky's Ball which is to be held that night. In order to get the evening off, she concocts a story that her aunt is seriously ill. Rosalinda arrives and dismisses both the plea and the maid as Alfred climbs into the room to woo her, only to quickly flee as her husband, Gabriel Eisenstein arrives home with his bumbling lawyer, Blint. Gabriel has been to court to appeal against a 5-day prison sentence for assaulting a police officer, but has succeeded only in having the sentence increased to 8 days, starting that night. As he dismisses Blint, his friend, Doctor Falke, arrives. They reminisce about a previous fancy-dress party when Gabriel, dressed as a butterfly, pushed Falke, dressed as a bat, into a fountain, since when he has been nicknamed 'Die Fledermaus'. Falke persuades Gabriel to postpone his trip to jail until the following morning so that he may attend Prince Orlofsky's Ball in the guise of a French count, the Marquis de Renard. He needs little persuading and after a mock-sad farewell, departs in full evening dress. Adele is also going to the ball, since Rosalinda has now allowed her to visit her 'sick aunt' so that she may enjoy an intimate supper with Alfred. This cosy scene is interrupted when Frank, the Prison Governor, (also on his way to the Ball) arrives with his men to arrest Gabriel Eisenstein. Rosalinda persuades Alfred to save her reputation by going to jail in Gabriel's place.

Prince Orlofsky's ball is in full swing and the young, bored Prince explains that he likes his guests to behave exactly as they please (Chacun a son gout). Adele arrives, posing as an actress named Olga, as does Gabriel/Marquis de Renard who immediately recognises Adele. Frank then arrives, pretending to be another French nobleman, the Chevalier de Chagrin. Finally, Falke explains to the Prince that as part of his cunning plot, he has also invited Rosalinda, who will pretend to be a masked Hungarian countess. Gabriel attempts to seduce the mysterious countess by using his intricate pocket watch as bait, but she steals it. The champagne flows and the guests dance all night. As the clock strikes 6 a.m., Eisenstein realises he must leave to keep his appointment in jail.

At the jail, Alfred and the warders - led by the drunken Sergeant Frosch - are having their own all-night party, until Frank arrives back in a rather dishevelled state. He is joined by Ida and Adele/Olga, who confesses her deception and asks Frank to sponsor her through drama school. Gabriel arrives to serve his sentence, much to Frank's confusion who believes he has already locked up Eisenstein. Blint, the lawyer has also been summoned, but Gabriel assumes his identity in order to find out the truth from Alfred and Rosalinda. As the trio discover each others' various identities, Orlofsky and his guests arrive to reveal that the whole night's entertainment was the result of Falke's devious scheme. The 'Bat's Revenge' is complete, all are reconciled and celebrate with a final toast to 'His Majesty, King Champagne!'

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About this production of Die Fledermaus ...

Known as the 'Queen of Operettas', composed by the 'Waltz King' and centred around a Prince's Ball, what more appropriate show for this month of Royal celebration than one of the most successful musical comedies ever written!

Based on a French play of 1872, Le Reveillon, the story so inspired Johann Strauss that he locked himself away, hardly eating or drinking, and composed the entire score in just 42 days

And yet, after the first performance in Vienna on 5th April 1874, conducted by the composer himself and immediately recognised as a masterpiece, the show closed after only sixteen performances. The reason? A disastrous economic slump in Austria which left the audience, devoted as they were to their hero Strauss, in no mood to enjoy a story based on decadence, worshipping King Champagne and portraying intoxication more realistically than it had ever been seen on stage before.

This was a temporary setback. The show was rapturously received in Berlin and this success was echoed worldwide, with the first London performance in 1876 and New York in 1879. In its original German form, the show has become a guaranteed crowd-puller in the repertoire of all the leading opera companies in the world and even the overture has become one of the most popular pieces of classical music in its own right.

For amateur companies, however, this original version presents certain difficulties. Strauss wrote his work as a showcase for the virtuoso opera stars of his day. Not only are the vocal parts technically complex and at the top end of a professional's range, but there is little scope for the chorus work and ensemble singing which is so rewarding and enjoyable for amateur societies and their audiences.

In 1959 Phil Park and Ronald Hanmer, who were responsible for innumerable amateur shows and adaptations ranging from The Merry Widow to Calamity Jane and Viva Mexico!, produced a version of the show with a modern English translation and a musical arrangement which retains the wonderful, original Strauss melodies, but adapted for 'normal' voices, and adds extra opportunities for chorus involvement. Whilst this did require some very minor changes to the plot, the original crazy and exuberant storyline is not affected.

This show which you are seeing and hearing tonight is basically the Park and Hanmer version, with a couple of exceptions. The overture, as performed by our orchestra, is an arrangement of Strauss's original version, in the original keys. And whereas Park and Hanmer rewrote the part of Prince Orlofsky so that it could be played as a millionaire by a man, we have favoured the treatment of the original version where he is portrayed as a bored, youthful prince and upheld the longstanding Strauss tradition of the part being played by a woman.

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Credits

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The Cast

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Scenes & Musical Numbers

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Production Team

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Orchestra

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NODA Review

Society: Crowthorne Musical Productions
Production: DIE FLEDERMAUS
Date: 22nd June, 2002
Venue: The Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park, Bracknell
Reported By: Frank Terry, M.A. (Cantab), L.R.A.M., Acting NODA Representative, Area 14.

May I begin by stating my credentials:-I have appeared three times in 'Die Fledermaus', singing the roles successively of Alfred, Eisenstein and Falke; I have also been Chorus Master for two of those productions; I have a great affection for this show, which I regard, along with ''The Merry Widow'' as the best of all operettas. I was the NODA Representative for East Berks for several years in the 1970s and '80s, and it was therefore very pleasing for me to be asked by Barrie Theobald to come out of mothballs and deputise for him on this occasion.

Let me say at once that I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and that I extend my congratulations to all who participated. The difficulty with presenting 'Fledermaus' today is that its humorous themes - marital infidelity, drunkenness and social snobbery - are now rather shop soiled and are not so easily laughed at as they were in 1874. Some (indeed, many) producers respond to this sort of situation by changing the period or the location of the story; one finds oneself in Medieval Thailand or downtown New Orleans in the 1930, with usually utterly ridiculous results.

Alan Bowman, to his credit, stuck to the original Vienna of 1874 and realised that the secret of success with this operetta was to make the people on stage act as though they thought these things very funny, carrying the mood of the audience with them. There is no great wit in the libretto but there are some good jokes that were deftly exploited - e.g. the confrontation between the two bogus Frenchmen, slightly and justifiably embellished, the foolery was nicely judged and never overdone. It all came across most amusingly.

It has to be said that the opening scene was not too good. This was largely because Park and Hanmer have given Adele and Ida the impossible task of getting their dialogue through the sound of the orchestra. The position of the window upstage R didn't help, and as a result some of the lines vital to the plot were lost. Otherwise the clarity of the diction, with few exceptions, in both speech and singing, was highly commendable.

Mr. Bowman's disposition of his actors was almost always sensible and effective. There were just one or two things I wasn't entirely happy with. I thought that the glorious seduction duet in Act 1 would have been more effective if it had had more movement in it. Alfred and Rosalinda sat at the table throughout. Some suggestion of pursuit would have sharpened the action and a bit more enthusiasm from Alfred at 'Let a lover's soft caress' etc. was surely called for.

Next, a good deal of Act 11 seemed to be played too far upstage: the chorus hugged the scenery at the back, whilst an inviting area at centre front was little used. In particular it ought, in my opinion, to have been occupied by Falke for 'Brother Mine'. Peter del Nevo did extraordinarily well to come through as well as he did from his upstage position, but this is essentially Falke's big number and I though he should have led from the front.

Lastly, I didn't care for the excessively dim lighting in Act 111. It was a good idea to mark the contrast between the bright lights of Orlofsky's villa and the more squalid conditions of the gaol, but 'Fledermaus' doesn't need gloom and I would have brought the lighting up to normal as the day wore on, especially for Adele's big number.

I'm glad that your Musical Director Nick Austin was able to realise his ambition of conducting that superb overture. His orchestra didn't exactly sound like the Vienna Philharmonic, but they did pretty well, setting the right mood for what was to follow, and they maintained their standard throughout a long, demanding evening. Just occasionally the brass were too strong for the singers, but I know how difficult it is to avoid that. The music, like the action, had clearly been well rehearsed and there was no suggestion of mistakes or uncertainty in the presentation. There's a whole lot of music in 'Fledermaus' and it had all been thoroughly learnt. The chorus singing was confident and agreeable in quality. Like many other societies, Crowthorne could clearly use a few more men, but your small band of stalwarts performed very creditably and managed to preserve an acceptable balance between the parts. The performance of 'Brother Mine' was the highlight for me - the tempi just right, the distinctions between staccato and legato clearly maintained. Altogether a beautiful and moving piece of choral singing, preceded by a nicely sung solo from Falke.

To come to the principals, Sandra Lewis gave a vocal and dramatic performance as Rosalinda fully in accord with her distinguished reputation, but her Gabriel (Gary Maslen) was by no means outshone. With a good voice and a lively personality, he seems a great acquisition for the society. From the programme notes he appears to be something of a roamer; let's hope that he will stay long enough in these parts to give more attractive performances like this one.

The part of Adele is a demanding one, both dramatically and vocally and Liz Sharp had a good shot at it without quite mastering all the difficulties. There is no substitute for experience and she will have learnt a great deal from taking this role and confronting its problems. She is certainly a promising performer. By contrast Peter del Nevo drew easily on his long experience to make a thoroughly convincing Falke - urbane and crafty - as he pursued his Bat's Revenge, and with some fine singing along the way.

It was a good idea for Robin Anderson to turn Alfred into an Italian (should have been renamed Alfredo, surely!). He did the accent well and played his scenes very effectively, but the vocal demands of the part were a bit much for him - was he suffering from Saturday night fatigue? In either case, he covered up well and his vocal shortcomings didn't detract too seriously from the pleasure he gave us in this part. John Caley had no such problems with the role of Frank. His strong stage presence and firm baritone voice equipped him very suitably for the part of the prison governor; his drunk scene in Act 11 and especially the comic business with the overcoat in Act 111 provided some of the most amusing moments of the show. Barrie Theobald also gave us a comical little cameo in the role of Blint, the incompetent lawyer.

Personally I prefer Orlofsky to be played by a man. 'Trouser' parts from Cherubino onwards are never very convincing, but if you are going to have a female Prince then you should look no further than Michelle Worthington, who was quite delightful, both in her acting and her singing. It was, though, somewhat improbable that such a charming person could ever be as bored and disillusioned as Orlofsky is supposed to be! Her radiant personality kept peeping through. Another with natural charm and stage presence was Danusia Maleczek, who stood out in the minor role of Ida. (Was it she who was providing the top C's at the end of the big choruses?). Shirley Twist did well as Mitzi and John Taylor was a suitably inebriated Frosch. (Had he been practising beforehand?!!)

Finally Debbie Mann and her dancers performed nimbly and neatly. The choreography was agreeable and it was a nice idea to bring Orlofsky in for one of the dances (even without the usual fishnets and tap shoes!).

I was charmingly received and provided with refreshments by your Front-of-House Manager and altogether I spent a delightful and highly enjoyable evening with you. My sincere thanks and very best wishes for the future of the Crowthorne Musical Players.

Frank Terry
Acting NODA Representative, Area 14.

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