Thursday, November 29, 2012

Die Fledermaus, Opera San Jose, Nov. 25 2012

What a difference a change in cast can make! Or maybe it was simply that this was the last performance of the run. Or the fourth performance, which I have been told is often the best. It wasn’t that anyone sang particularly better than his/her counterpart in the other cast; rather, things just seemed to be more lively and sparkling than before. Maybe they’d had a bit of the champagne before going on.

Our cast:
Gabriel von Eisenstein: Alexander Boyer
Rosalinde, his wife:  Cecilia Violetta Lopez
Adele, their chambermaid: Elisabeth Russ
Ida, Adele’s sister: Catherine Brady
Alfred, an Italian tenor, Rosalinde’s former flame: Michael Dailey
Dr. Falke, “the bat”: Jo Vincent Parks
Dr. Blind, Eisenstein’s lawyer: Michael Mendelsohn
Frank, the prison warden: Isaiah Musik-Ayala
Prince Orlofsky, a wealthy Russian: Rebecca Krouner
Frosch, the jailer: Kelly Houston
Conductor: David Rohrbaugh
Stage Director: Marc Jacobs

 I’ll give pride of place to Elisabeth Russ’s Adele this time—her third act aria, “Spiel’ ich die Unschuld,” was what has kept running through my head for days. An excellent time was had by our entire party. A strong beta.

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