Fathom Events provided a merry evening indeed in theatres on Wednesday with its sparkling encore presentation of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of the beloved Franz Lehár operetta The Merry Widow, originally broadcast to cinemas as part of its hugely successful Live in HD series on January 17th.
The program ran almost three hours. Packed into its audience-appropriate pre-show and intermission (the screen during intermission, as mercifully happens in this Met HD series, conveniently delivered a countdown of when the program would return) were interviews, a little fundraising, some promos for upcoming opera events, and plugs for backers like the Neubauer Foundation and Bloomberg. All ancillary to the “merry” main event but highly watchable.
The Merry Widow performance was nothing short of spectacular. Legendary turn-of-the-century Austro-Hungarian composer Lehár ((1870-1948) wrote the operetta in 1905. Much of the feel-good, very merry plot (unfolding as a mix of dialogue and song in English and accompanied by English subtitles!) explodes with romantic intrigue, romantic game-playing and the irresistible allure of storied Paris club Chez Maxim and its flirtatious, almost scandalous chorus girls, in 1905. It’s sort of a turn-of-the-century look at a slightly retro Euro-trash bunch back in their homeland.
The delightful if schmaltzy story largely revolves around a diplomatic plot, hatched by Pontevedria’s Ambassador to France Baron Zeta (Sir Thomas Allen) to marry off that small Balkan country’s wealthy widow (the great soprano Renée Fleming as Hanna) to Count Danilo Danilovitsch (Nathan Gunn), a Pontevedrian First Secretary to the embassy in Paris. Most importantly, he’s a Pontevedrian citizen; the country, you see, is about to go bankrupt and Zeta needs Danilo because the country needs her dough.
Creating only some of the obstacles are the facts that Hanna and Danilo were once lovers and he’s a party animal with an addiction to Maxim’s and its storied dancers. Furthermore, Zeta’s younger wife is the somewhat louche and loose Valencienne (Kelli O’Hara) who has adulterous designs on Count Camille de Rosillon (Alek Shrader), French attaché to the Pontevedian embassy.
So much pomp and romantic entanglements unravel in three grand Paris locations: a diplomatic party at the Pontevendira Embassy in Paris, Hanna’s elegant Paris house which hosts a celebration of Pontevedrian dance and folk costumes, and Maxim’s itself where the grissettes (the sexy club dancers) hold nothing back, especially in the way of costumes.
The Merry Widow's elaborate sets and rich Lehár score (the Met’s orchestra was conducted by the famed Andrew Davis) delight. And the Metropolitan Opera, one of the world’s most glorious opera venues, and the Met audience are also given their dazzling close-ups. High bling throughout.
HD cameras flow gracefully around the stage during the performance, sneak up on the audience and even stagehands, and also capture backstage interviews with the stars. Truly helpful in immersing audiences in the operetta itself — a mix of dialogue and the arias — were the many close-ups of the star performers. Also bringing the program alive were the English subtitles, even though the operetta was entirely performed in English.
But like some of the operetta characters (especially the seemingly incurable bon vivant Danilo), the presentation itself leaves room for a little tweaking. One true fan of the series in the audience (she catches the Fathom HD opera series at both New York and Long Island theatres) expressed disappointment that the Regal provided no program whatsoever. Hey, even a one-sheet printed on two sides (cheap, cheap to produce) could have given cinema-goers much helpful information about the major players involved (stars, Lehár, the story, songs, etc.) and some background on Merry Widow director Susan Stroman, a seasoned Tony Award-winning Broadway director making her Metropolitan debut here. And how about a few words about the wonderfully witty English translation from the German and the spectacular sets and those gorgeous costumes worn by so vast a cast?
The all-around lavish look of what was onscreen suggested another tweak that will inevitably come by way of the next great wave of projection illumination that will pop all that color and beauty to the max. Such a screen bursting with talent and bling will deliver the Fathom Event shows that art and fun-loving audiences and all those on the creative and technical side deserve.
Fathom Events brought The Merry Widow as “Live” and “Encore” to more than 650 U.S. theatres. Prices vary within the 20s (seniors and others are discounted), but the clearly very “merry” sell-out crowd that exited The Merry Widow at Regal’s Encore show suggested a huge level of satisfaction. This “encore” was a pre-recorded taping of the live broadcast that Fathom delivered to cinema audiences via satellite on their digital broadcast network. The Merry Widow is further proof that big events have an even bigger future on the big screen. And Fathom owners Regal, AMC and Cinemark know that. So — let’s get illuminated!
(Photo by Brigitte Lacombe)
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