Die Fledermaus

Die Fledermaus, sometimes known as the revenge of the Bat. Music by Johann Strauss II, adapted by Phil Park and Ronald Hanmer. The operetta premiered in Vienna in 1874 and was originally a German farce.

The first act takes place in the apartment of the Eisensteins with blue walls and paint to look like wood at the bottom half. A staircase comes into the apartment Stage Left with red carpet. Large window to the Right with red velvet curtains. Large wooden framed pictures are on the walls. The Upstage wall has a table with decanter and glasses. Stage Right is a table with various chairs. A large vase with flowers is positioned near the window. Act II takes us to the summer house of Prince Orlofsky. Centre Stage are stairs carpeted in red with balustrade each side.  A large red velvet curtain is draped Upstage Centre on the wall framing the set. Two large vases at the bottom of the stairs with flowers in. Act III is set in the prison offices of Prison Governor Frank with dark oppressive walls and a table with two chairs Stage Left. Set Construction by David Kay, Rob McGee, John Matthias, Paul Dainton, Harry Ainsworth and Eddie Kearsley. Stage Crew Ben Hassouna-Smith, Eddie Kearsley, David Hall and James Ellams. Stage Manager Pauline Nevell.

Lighting and Sound all added to the piece. Lighting by Matt Johnson and Sound by Lea Royse and Elodie Perrier. Costumes all were in keeping and the maids all looked good - the green and black gowns with feathers to match in their hair at the ball looked really striking. Costumes and Wardrobe by Charades of St Helens, Ann Batchelor and Elsa McGhee.

The 19-piece orchestra was under the impressive guidance of Phil Boardman with some complicated arrangements - there was a good range of dynamics and the sound was really effective in the hall. David Kay and Johanna Hassouna-Smith. With a cast of over 30 some great tableaux were created and good use of the stage was made.

The Staff of the Household/ Guests at the Ball/Prison Warders sounded lovely and were strong support to the cast. Steve Brennan was Ivan, Jennie Heywood played Mitzi, Julia Sutton played Ida and Beth Garrett, Prince Orlofsky.

Richard Aspinall was Frosch the police sergeant who was very drunk most of the time and looked to be having the time of his life on stage. Tony Meehan played Doctor Blint a lawyer and was very short-sighted with very thick glasses on. I’ve no idea how he could see. David Griffiths took on the role of Alfred the opera singer, who tries to woo Rosalinda - his entrances were mostly through the window. He wouldn’t take no for an answer and that lands him in prison doing time for something he didn’t do.

David Kay who is also one of the directors takes on the role of Doctor Falke (The ‘bat’ of the story). He concocts the whole evening by getting people to be in disguise so he can exact revenge on Gabriel. The previous year when he was dressed as a bat Gabriel pushed him into a fountain and he was left to be ridiculed. He goes to a lot of trouble to. A little shaky on lines at the start David soon got into the swing of it. He played the part as the naughty friend well.

Victoria Goulden played Adele Rosalinda’s maid inadvertently helping the deception by trying to get out of working that night, saying her aunt is ill and wearing one of her mistress’ dresses without asking. Victoria pretends to be Olga a Russian actress at the ball and easily switched between accents. With songs like How Sad We Are, The Laughing Song and Champagne we are treated to Victoria’s talented vocal dexterity.

Ken Reece takes on the role of Frank, Prison Governor alias Chevalier de la Grande with the most hilarious cod French accent. He pretends to be a theatrical agent and woos Adele, I mean Olga. When he is talking to Gabriel Eisenstein played by John Matthias also alias Marquee Renard, it was hilarious when they both did the cod French - who knew mushy peas were French?! John Matthais gives an accomplished performance as the flirty over-the-top bored rich man. Working well with Pamela Heywood-Connor as Rosalinda Eisenstein also alias an Hungarian countess. ( I hope you are keeping up) Whatever Gabriel was plotting she could do it better. They were a match. John and Pamela’s voices blended together – I especially enjoyed Pamela’s Homeland song. John and Pamela also brought the comedy out in the roles and looked to thoroughly enjoy it.

Thank you for the invite and hospitality from my guest Craig and I. A fitting celebration of 200 years of Johann Strauss II this year.

Liz Hume-Dawson, D5 Rep.

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