The Merry Widow @ The Coliseum — thoughts and reviews and stuff

Mar 15

Mar 15 The Merry Widow @ The Coliseum

Ten Second Review: A fun production that will surely entertain it’s audiences, even if the libretto isn’t perfect.

I’d never seen or heard The Merry Widow but as the tickets were so cheap I thought it would be fun to go and see something at little different this week.

The story is fairly simple, especially as far as some opera’s are concerned. The country of Ponte Vedro, famous for its beavers, is on the brink of bankruptcy and the economy is being kept a float by a few of its extremely wealthy citizens. The death of a baron leaves his young wife (Sarah Tynan) to become one of these extremely wealthy individuals but her tastes lie in a more metropolitan lifestyle. To ensure that her money stays in the country, Baron Zeta (Andrew Shore) wants her to marry a man who lives there but this means carefully finding someone she would be willing to wed. Unfortunately the man he selects, Count Danilo (Nathan Gunn), already has a history with the widow and as such an uphill battle ensues between the reluctant pair and the fate of the country’s finances.

To be honest, from that brief description, you might not know that the operetta in question is a light hearted comedy. The amusing back and forths between characters coupled with the delightful music really sets up for an enjoyable night out. It makes for a perfect entry into opera if you haven’t been before or if you are looking to take a friend whose response to opera is a glum look suggesting that you’ve just asked to stand on their toes for a few hours.

While I would say that the orchestration and the music itself is delightful, I would also say that it did at times over power the singing. It was only occasional but occasionally enough that you did notice it. I would also say that while the libretto was a nice piece of writing to suit the time we live in, it did miss the mark at points. Certain lines felt a little forced in to the music where a word reshuffle might have helped solve the issue. The updates to the story and the music were a welcome breath of fresh air into what could have been a rather stuffy affair.

The production really hits its stride in the second act which sees Sarah Tynan take on the Vilja aria and the men of the production put on a great show with a song about gender equality sung from behind urinals. If you were hoping that a scene like that might end in literal pissing contest, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. This staging ends up being rather indicative of the fun and amusing approach that the production takes with the staging throughout.

All in all, I would highly recommend seeing the latest production of The Merry Widow, now on stage at the Coliseum in London. It’s a fun evening out and a really good introduction to the world of opera if you were looking to try something new.