Strong Voices, Comedy Drive "Die Fledermaus"

No artist is as tyrannical as a composer. The composer revels in toying with the soul and uses the beauty of the music to dictate precisely what nuanced emotion should be felt. The mark of a composer’s job well done is the utter helplessness felt by all who behold the work. Operas are a special case: they attack you not only with the orchestra and the vocalists but also with the drama on stage.

“Die Fledermaus,” Johann Strauss’s classic operetta, seems like a slightly unlikely target for this accusation. After all, it is primarily a comedy of errors and a send up of fin-de-siécle Viennese society. But Strauss also set his silly tale of aristocratic decadence to some of the most gorgeous music composed during the romantic period. It is a credit to the production by the Dunster House Opera Society, directed by Matt A. Aucoin ’12 and Matthew C. Stone ’11, that this juxtaposition came across so convincingly. They combined a knockout orchestra with a cast that blended slapstick comedy and beautiful singing almost flawlessly. Despite a few minor hiccups, this production of “Die Fledermaus” is a captivating synthesis of all the necessary aspects of a great opera.

The story is about as silly as it gets. Gabriel von Eisenstein (Ben J. Nelson ’11) is one of Vienna’s young men and has been sentenced to 5 days in prison for dueling. Instead of reporting for his sentence, he is convinced by his friend Dr. Falke (Stewart N. Kramer ’12) to go to a party at the house of a comically nihilistic Russian prince, Orlofsky (Sofia M. Selowsky ’12). However, Falke has also invited Eisenstein’s wife, Rosalinde (Bridget P. Haile ’11) to the party in an attempt to humiliate Eisenstein and get his revenge for a previous prank. What follows is a hilarious comedy of mistaken identities and failed infidelities.

While the performances are stellar all around, some singers stand out. Nelson plays the role of the ridiculous fop brilliantly, holding his body painfully upright and wearing a ridiculous smirk on his face for almost his entire performance. His singing voice is both strong and nuanced, and Nelson manages to combine physical humor with musical virtuosity into a show stealing combination. Thomas C. Wilhoit ’13 also gives a memorable performance as Frank, the burly prison warden. He is Nelson’s comic complement: while Eisenstein is stiff and upright, Frank is loose and fluid. Wilhoit’s rendition of a drunken fool for the first five minutes of the last act is by far the funniest scene in the opera. Adding to his convincing performance is his booming bass voice, one of the strongest in the show. Haile’s Rosalind too balances comic acting with musicality, and her “czardas”—a traditional Hungarian song-and-dance number—is one of the night’s most impressive musical performances. Kramer’s Dr. Falke is magnetic and Liv A. Redpath ’14, who plays the Eisensteins’ chambermaid Adele, sings her arias with fluidity and grace.

Despite the strong singing and acting, the show is not flawless. The lighting starts out spotty, though it gets progressively better as the show goes on. The orchestra, which for the most part provides expert accompaniment, sometimes overpowers the singers. The dynamic balance within the orchestra is also occasionally off. For example—while it’s true that brass sections often take charge of polka numbers—the orchestra takes it too far in the scene, drowning out the strings. These are slight problems that interrupt a very solid performance as opposed to characterizing it. Even the lighting shows flashes of inspiration—the effect of the rising sun at the end of the ball scene is especially well executed.

In many ways operettas are more challenging to put on than standard ‘heroic operas.’ The productions have to find a balance between light entertainment and performing ‘serious’ and challenging music. It is the handling of this artistic problem that makes Dunster House Opera’s “Die Fledermaus” such a success. The acting is hilarious, but the music is approached with a sense of professionalism. In an art form that tends to value singing ability over acting ability, it is rare to find a production that accords both the same degree of importance. The singers, along with an equally impressive orchestra, rise to the challenge and put on a stellar show.

—Staff writer Noah S. Guiney can be reached at nguiney@college.harvard.edu.