{"id":4957,"date":"2019-02-16T09:37:20","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T09:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=4957"},"modified":"2019-02-16T09:37:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T09:37:20","slug":"eno-the-merry-widow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=4957","title":{"rendered":"ENO: The Merry Widow"},"content":{"rendered":"

English National Opera presents a sparkling new production of the 20th<\/sup> century\u2019s most popular operetta<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most successful musical comedies in history returns to the London Coliseum stage in March, in a brand new version fizzing with wit and invention. Old Vic Associate Director Max Webster makes his ENO debut with the company\u2019s first new staging in more than a decade of the beloved 1905 Viennese operetta. The original libretto that has delighted audiences across the world for more than century is given a new English translation by dramatist April de Angelis and lyricist Richard Thomas.<\/p>\n

This operetta enjoyed unprecedented popularity and was performed an estimated half a million times across the world in its first 60 years. It acted as the bridge that would lead from opera to the rise of 20th<\/sup> century musical theatre. The story of the wealthy widow Hanna Glawari and her pursuit by men trying to keep her wealth in their bankrupt Balkan nation forms a classic romantic comedy, containing some of the most beloved music in opera including the Merry Widow Waltz and the \u2018Vilja Song\u2019.<\/p>\n

Max Webster is Associate Director at the Old Vic, where his 2015 production of The Lorax<\/em> garnered universal acclaim (\u2018the best family show since Matilda\u2019<\/em> \u2013 5*, The Guardian)<\/em>. His theatrical style with its \u2018singular sense of the carnivalesque\u2019 (WhatsonStage<\/em>) is now brought to bear on the ENO comic opera tradition that brought Cal McCrystal\u2019s standing-room-only Iolanthe<\/em> to the Coliseum in 2018.<\/p>\n

Hanna is sung by Sarah Tynan, one of the sopranos most associated with ENO, in her second lead role of the season after 2018\u2019s rapturously received Lucia in Lucia di Lammemoor<\/em> (\u2018exquisite\u2019 \u2013 The Daily Telegraph<\/em>).<\/em> In 2017 her Rosina in The Barber of Seville<\/em> (\u2018impeccable\u2019\u2013 The Independent)<\/em> and the title role of Partenope (\u2018<\/em>dazzling\u2019 \u2013 WhatsOnStage)<\/em> showed her comic abilities to great effect. An alumna of the ENO Harewood Artist programme, she is fast becoming acknowledged as one of the UK\u2019s leading sopranos.<\/p>\n

Nathan Gunn makes his ENO debut as Hanna\u2019s former lover Danilo. One of America\u2019s most in-demand baritones, he has \u2018everything that today\u2019s opera fans look for in a singer: a beautiful voice, first-class acting and a great sense of humour\u2019 (Bachtrack<\/em>). He previously sang the role with the Metropolitan Opera, New York in 2014, opposite Ren\u00e9e Fleming.<\/p>\n

ENO house favourite Andrew Shore sings the scheming diplomat Baron Zeta, adding another great buffo role to his ENO roster that has included hilarious turns as The Lord Chancellor in 2018\u2019s Iolanthe<\/em> (\u2018patter-perfect\u2019 \u2013 WhatsonStage<\/em>), Major-General Stanley in 2015\u2019s The Pirates of Penzance<\/em>, many Bartolos in The Barber of Seville<\/em>, and more than thirty other productions.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Lester returns to the ENO stage following a successful run as Marcello in La boh\u00e8me<\/em> (\u2018oozes vocal charm\u2019 – The Guardian) to sing the Vicomte Cascada, while Jamie MacDougall sings Raoul.<\/p>\n

Estonian conductor Kristiina Poska makes her ENO debut with this production, as well as her debut with a UK opera company. She is known on the continent for her distinguished career at the Komische Oper Berlin where she was First Kapellmeister from 2011 to 2016, winning the Deutscher Dirigentenpreis in 2013. From the 2019\/20 season she will be the Music Director at Theater Basel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Set design is by Ben Stones, who previously designed Max Webster\u2019s Twelfth Night at the Regent\u2019s Park Open Air Theatre in 2014. This marks his operatic debut after designs for productions at the National, Young Vic, Almeida and Bush theatres as well as Burberry fashion shows.<\/p>\n

Costume design is by Esther Bialas, whose designs were last seen at ENO for La traviata<\/em> in 2018. She is known on the continent for her extensive work at Komische Oper Berlin with Barrie Kosky. Lighting design is by Bruno Poet, whose ENO work includes Akhnaten, Satyagraha <\/em>and Aida.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

English National Opera presents a sparkling new production of the 20th century\u2019s most popular operetta One of the most successful musical comedies in history returns to the London Coliseum stage in March, in a brand new version fizzing with wit … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4958,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions\/4958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}