January 28, 1984: Die Lustige Witwe in Drammen

1984-01-28 Die Lustige Witwe (Lehar), Drammens Teater

Baron Mirko Zeta = Bjørn Lie-Hansen
Valencienne = Torhild Staahlen
Count Danilo Danilowitsch = Tor Fagerland
Hanna Glawari = Kjersti Ekeberg
Njegus = Ronald Rørvik
Camille de Rosillion = Caj Ehstedt
Vicomte Cascada = Frode Birkeland
Raol de St. Brioche = Kjell Kipperberg

Terje Boye Hansen, conductor




I was in Drammen's old Theatre before it burnt down and before it was reconstructed. And it was Die Lustige Witwe by Franz Lehar. I really loved it. My mother was worried about our car during the whole performance.

OD Travel

July 22, 1987: Der Graf von Luxemburg, Bad Ischl

1987-07-22 Der Graf von Luxemburg (Lehar), Kurhaus Bad Ischl

Rene, Graf von Luxemburg = Karl Lobensommer
Fürst Basil Basilowitsch = Peter Branoff
Gräfin Stasa Kokozow = Getraud Eckert
Armand Brissard = Joey Pflüger
Juliette Vermont = Gaby Bischof
Angele Didier = Kristina Mickel

Eduard Macku, conductor



I seem to remember that we went to two different operettas in Bad Ischl during the operetta festival weeks. Any way it was very spesial to be in Bad Ischl and I enjoyed this operetta very much.

OD Travel

June 21, 2000: Die Lustige Witwe in Vienna

2000-06-21 Die Lustige Witwe (F. Lehár), Wiener Staatsoper

Baron Mirko Zeta = Alfred Sramek
Valencienne = Birgid Steinberger
Hanna Glawari = Angela Denoke
Graf Danilo Danilowitsch = Bo Skovhus
Camille de Rosillon = Mathias Zachariassen
Vicomte Cascada = Hans Peter Kammerer
Raoul de St. Brioche = Peter Jelosits
Bogdanowitsch = Johannes Gisser
Sylviane = Maria Bierbaumer
Kromow = David Cale Johnson
Giga = Daniela Wagner
Pritschitsch = Johann Reinprecht
Praskowia = Gretchen Eder
Njegus = Fritz Muliar
Cancan-Solist = Christian Musil

Dietfried Bernet, conductor

Wiener Staatsoper
mittwoch. 21. juni 2000
24. Aufführung in dieser Inszenierung

Die lustige Witwe
Operette in drei Akten von Victor Léon und Leo Stein
Musik von Franz Lehár

Musikalische Leitung / Dietfried Bernet
Inszenierung / Andrei Serban
Bühnenbild / Wilhelm Holzbaner
Kostüme / Wilhelm Holzbaner
Claudia Lukas
Dialogfassung
und Dialogregie / Fritz Muliar
Choreinstudierung / Ernst Dunshirn
Choreographie / Laurence Fanon
.., ..

Hanna Glawari / Angela Denoke*

* Rollendebüt an der Wiener Staatsoper

Wiener-operette in Staatsoper, sounded like fun, was boring. The Vilja-song was the bottom for me, the other part of the audience loved it.

OD Travel

April 18, 2007: Die Lustige Witwe in Oslo

2007-04-18 Die Lustige Witwe (F. Lehàr), Den Norske Opera
Hanna Glawari = Solveig Kringlebotn
Grev Danilo Danilovitsch = Kjell Magnus Sandve
Valencienne = Ina Kringlebotn
Camille de Rosillon = Marius Roth Christensen
Baron Zeta = Thor Inge Falch
Njegus = Torill Eriksen

Alfred Eschwé, conductor



DIE LUSTIGE WITWE
Operetta in 3 acts by Franz Lehár
Libretto by Victor & Leon Stein


Premiere: 18/4
Days of performance: 19/4, 21/4, 22/4, 23/4, 24/4, 25/4, 26/4, 30/4, 2/5, 3/5, 5/5
Duration: app. 2 h 45 min
Sung in Norwegian

Conductor: Alfred Eschwé
Directors: Ronald Rørvik/Stuart Hopps/ Toralv Maurstad
Choreography : Stuart Hopps
Set design/ Costumes: John-Kristian Alsaker
Lightning design: Hans-Åke Sjöquist
Choir: Steffen Kammler

Dancers
The Norwegian National Opera's Choir and Orchestra





Sung in Norwegian, OK, I am Norwegian, so it's OK. Dialogue in Norwegian, that's OK too, of course. And subtitles, great. But no subtitles when the dialogue is on. WHY ? And when the director decide that opera singers are going to speak naturally, not with opera voices and great diction, that's idiocy. Could not hear the dialogue well at all, and with no subtitles that mean a lot of information is lost. And Operetta usually have a lot more dialogue than your average opera. Stupid decision, annoying...

If the singing and the rest had been great then I would have forgiven it. Aunt and niece Kringlebotn in an operetta. I expected Aunt Solveig to be better than niece Ina. But Valencienne was better than Hanna Glawari. Kjell Magnus Sandve used to have a beautiful tenor voice but in the operetta his voice was not really there... Best acting and singing was Torill Eriksen as Njegus. The veteran mezzo as Hanna would have been wonderful. I think that maybe Hanna Glawari should be sung by a mezzo soprano...

The singers took a long time to warm up. Especially Solveig Kringlebotn and Kjell Magnus Sandve.

It is difficult to make an operetta work, especially in our modern time.

Weak.. Sad, really.

OD Travel

Original blog post: April 2007: Die Lustige Witwe in Oslo (2007-04-18)