Lehar
Opera della Luna on tour 2000-2001, and 2012
Original cast:
Hanna Glawari CATHERINE GRACE
Danilo LYNDEN EDWARDS
Valencienne REBECCA KNIGHT
Camille CARL SANDERSON
Baron Zeta GRAHAM HOADLY
Njegus JOHN BARR
Cascada KIERAN BUCKERIDGE
St Brioche JOHN DE VILLE
Hanna Glawari CHLOE WRIGHT
Danilo PAUL DARNELL
Valencienne KATRIONA MURPHY
Camille GLEN LORIMER, IAN PRIESTLEY
Baron Zeta GRAHAM HOADLY
Njegus GRAEME HENDERSON
Cascada CARL DONAHUE
St Brioche JOHN DE VILLE
2012 cast
Hanna Glawari RHONA McKAIL
Danilo TREVOR JARY, JOHN LOFTHOUSE
Valencienne ANGELA SIMKIN, ABIGAIL IVESON
Camille GARETH DAFYDD MORRISS
Baron Zeta GRAHAM HOADLY
Njegus ADAM PRICE
Cascada DICKON GOUGH
St Brioche IAN BELSEY
Opera della Luna on tour 2000-2001, and 2012
Original cast:
Hanna Glawari CATHERINE GRACE
Danilo LYNDEN EDWARDS
Valencienne REBECCA KNIGHT
Camille CARL SANDERSON
Baron Zeta GRAHAM HOADLY
Njegus JOHN BARR
Cascada KIERAN BUCKERIDGE
St Brioche JOHN DE VILLE
Designer GABRIELLA CSANYI-WILLS
Later castsHanna Glawari CHLOE WRIGHT
Danilo PAUL DARNELL
Valencienne KATRIONA MURPHY
Camille GLEN LORIMER, IAN PRIESTLEY
Baron Zeta GRAHAM HOADLY
Njegus GRAEME HENDERSON
Cascada CARL DONAHUE
St Brioche JOHN DE VILLE
2012 cast
Hanna Glawari RHONA McKAIL
Danilo TREVOR JARY, JOHN LOFTHOUSE
Valencienne ANGELA SIMKIN, ABIGAIL IVESON
Camille GARETH DAFYDD MORRISS
Baron Zeta GRAHAM HOADLY
Njegus ADAM PRICE
Cascada DICKON GOUGH
St Brioche IAN BELSEY
“Of the dozen performances I have seen of my favourite operetta this production by Opera della Luna was the most stylish, and I include one at the Vienna State Opera.”
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The Merry Widow (tour – Dunstable, Grove Theatre)
12 February 2012
Forget about lavish hats, an array of settings – or indeed a full chorus and orchestra. This is [Lehár]’s The Merry Widow in Opera della Luna mode, which means that director Jeff Clarke has opted for a seven-piece on-stage band (himself included) and a total of eight singers – two women, four men. This reduction of the score keeps the languor of the succession of waltz-time numbers in good contrast to its more comical elements. The translation used is the snappy one byJeremy Sams.
Not that the stage is left bare. It’s not. Designer Gabriella Csanyi-Wills and choreographer Jenny Arnold give us a chandelier straight out of The Phantom of the Opera, gilt urns which wouldn’t disgrace Versailles, very attractive mid-20th century dresses for Abigail Iveson as Valencienne and Rhona McKail in the title role, a clever use of rather unusual puppets (especially for the cabaret at Maxim’s) and a whole range of dances sometimes just barely – but most effectively – sketched-in.
McKail’s Hanna Glawari is an engaging creature, determined not to play down her less than glittering origins while well aware of her current added-value assets. She sings very well, though I would have liked more of the words of her second-act ballad to have been clearer. Iveson also has a good singing voice, but in dialogue Valencienne’s Parisian accent left my straining to hear her. Ian Belsey’s St Brioche and Dickon Gough’s Cascada – the tall and the short sides of fortune-hunting – provide an object lesson in this respect.
It’s a production in which the men may not have all the best tunes, but do have the better acting roles. Graham Hoadley’s Baron Zeta is every inch the pompous jobsworth of an ambassador and I couldn’t help feeling that there were elements of a certain Downing Street spin-doctor in Adam Price’s Njegus. Trevor Jary looks right as Danilo, the most laid-back of playboys but seemed unable to make up his mind between singing full out and a species of parlando; the latter mode has, of course, a very good UK pedigree.
Anne Morley-Priestman
Merry production from great team Wednesday
February 08, 2012
If you're venturing out on a cold winter's evening, there has to be a juicy carrot and Opera Della Luna provided the delectation.
Eagerly anticipating a slick performance, waggish script and mellifluous singing I was again impressed by the cast of eight working as a team to produce this full scale operetta by Franz Lehar.
An insouciant and profligate Count Danilo (Trevor Jary) stubbornly refuses to marry the common wealthy widow Hanna ( Rhona McKail) who does not "do posh".
The counter-plot with flirtatious Valencienne (Angela Simkin) and lovelorn Camille (Gareth Dafydd Morris) becomes enmeshed with the main characters and the whole is fortuitously masterminded by the Baron (Graham Hoadly) and Njegus (Adam Price).
As a team they were brilliant. The first act lacked fizz and pace but was redeemed with harmonic barbershop singing and the full-size puppet-doll partners in the waltz scene.
Acts two and three delivered the paciness and sparkle for which this group are renowned.
The whole show was almost upstaged in the Entr'acte between acts two and three as Njegus and two companions erected a curtain for a false staging in silent film mode with only gestures and facial expressions.
Returning to sanity with a touchingly gentle duet between Hanna and Danilo, the jigsaw pieces of the plot were manipulated to a suitable conclusion.
What glorious fun, ingenious staging, accomplished singing and acting from the whole team. Not just a carrot but a huge dose of Vitamin C.
Jill Bacon
The Merry Widow opera, at Crewe Lyceum
February 14, 2012
Theatre-goers were given a real treat when they watched the ”The Merry Widow” at Crewe’s Lyceum.
I love the magic and illusion that a trip to the theatre brings, and I’ll be honest, opera wouldn’t normally be the first thing I would decide to go and see at the Lyceum. So it was with some trepidation I went along to see the Opera Della Luna production of ‘The Merry Widow’ on Sunday night. And I was not expecting how much I would actually enjoy this particular operatta. The standard of performance from both the actors and musicians was just brilliant, and for my first opera outing I couldn’t have chosen any better.
‘The Merry Widow’ tells the story of Hanna, a farm girl whose elderly and extremely wealthy husband dies shortly after their wedding leaving her millions. What follows is a comic tale of love and romance, with men trying to understand women, and women trying to understand men.
The leads, Trevor Jary and Rhona McKail who played Danilo and Hanna, both had amazing voices and portrayed their characters with energy and flare. Credit has to be given to the cast members who were involved in the funniest scene of the entire production, when a Parisian nightclub was re-enacted at Hanna’s mansion. The entire audience was crying with laughter. The music, choreography, song and direction all came together to make this a special performance. So, the next time you see an opera advertised at your local theatre please do think about going. I didn’t know what I’d been missing.
Claire Faulkner
12 February 2012
Forget about lavish hats, an array of settings – or indeed a full chorus and orchestra. This is [Lehár]’s The Merry Widow in Opera della Luna mode, which means that director Jeff Clarke has opted for a seven-piece on-stage band (himself included) and a total of eight singers – two women, four men. This reduction of the score keeps the languor of the succession of waltz-time numbers in good contrast to its more comical elements. The translation used is the snappy one byJeremy Sams.
Not that the stage is left bare. It’s not. Designer Gabriella Csanyi-Wills and choreographer Jenny Arnold give us a chandelier straight out of The Phantom of the Opera, gilt urns which wouldn’t disgrace Versailles, very attractive mid-20th century dresses for Abigail Iveson as Valencienne and Rhona McKail in the title role, a clever use of rather unusual puppets (especially for the cabaret at Maxim’s) and a whole range of dances sometimes just barely – but most effectively – sketched-in.
McKail’s Hanna Glawari is an engaging creature, determined not to play down her less than glittering origins while well aware of her current added-value assets. She sings very well, though I would have liked more of the words of her second-act ballad to have been clearer. Iveson also has a good singing voice, but in dialogue Valencienne’s Parisian accent left my straining to hear her. Ian Belsey’s St Brioche and Dickon Gough’s Cascada – the tall and the short sides of fortune-hunting – provide an object lesson in this respect.
It’s a production in which the men may not have all the best tunes, but do have the better acting roles. Graham Hoadley’s Baron Zeta is every inch the pompous jobsworth of an ambassador and I couldn’t help feeling that there were elements of a certain Downing Street spin-doctor in Adam Price’s Njegus. Trevor Jary looks right as Danilo, the most laid-back of playboys but seemed unable to make up his mind between singing full out and a species of parlando; the latter mode has, of course, a very good UK pedigree.
Anne Morley-Priestman
Merry production from great team Wednesday
February 08, 2012
If you're venturing out on a cold winter's evening, there has to be a juicy carrot and Opera Della Luna provided the delectation.
Eagerly anticipating a slick performance, waggish script and mellifluous singing I was again impressed by the cast of eight working as a team to produce this full scale operetta by Franz Lehar.
An insouciant and profligate Count Danilo (Trevor Jary) stubbornly refuses to marry the common wealthy widow Hanna ( Rhona McKail) who does not "do posh".
The counter-plot with flirtatious Valencienne (Angela Simkin) and lovelorn Camille (Gareth Dafydd Morris) becomes enmeshed with the main characters and the whole is fortuitously masterminded by the Baron (Graham Hoadly) and Njegus (Adam Price).
As a team they were brilliant. The first act lacked fizz and pace but was redeemed with harmonic barbershop singing and the full-size puppet-doll partners in the waltz scene.
Acts two and three delivered the paciness and sparkle for which this group are renowned.
The whole show was almost upstaged in the Entr'acte between acts two and three as Njegus and two companions erected a curtain for a false staging in silent film mode with only gestures and facial expressions.
Returning to sanity with a touchingly gentle duet between Hanna and Danilo, the jigsaw pieces of the plot were manipulated to a suitable conclusion.
What glorious fun, ingenious staging, accomplished singing and acting from the whole team. Not just a carrot but a huge dose of Vitamin C.
Jill Bacon
The Merry Widow opera, at Crewe Lyceum
February 14, 2012
Theatre-goers were given a real treat when they watched the ”The Merry Widow” at Crewe’s Lyceum.
I love the magic and illusion that a trip to the theatre brings, and I’ll be honest, opera wouldn’t normally be the first thing I would decide to go and see at the Lyceum. So it was with some trepidation I went along to see the Opera Della Luna production of ‘The Merry Widow’ on Sunday night. And I was not expecting how much I would actually enjoy this particular operatta. The standard of performance from both the actors and musicians was just brilliant, and for my first opera outing I couldn’t have chosen any better.
‘The Merry Widow’ tells the story of Hanna, a farm girl whose elderly and extremely wealthy husband dies shortly after their wedding leaving her millions. What follows is a comic tale of love and romance, with men trying to understand women, and women trying to understand men.
The leads, Trevor Jary and Rhona McKail who played Danilo and Hanna, both had amazing voices and portrayed their characters with energy and flare. Credit has to be given to the cast members who were involved in the funniest scene of the entire production, when a Parisian nightclub was re-enacted at Hanna’s mansion. The entire audience was crying with laughter. The music, choreography, song and direction all came together to make this a special performance. So, the next time you see an opera advertised at your local theatre please do think about going. I didn’t know what I’d been missing.
Claire Faulkner