Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (alongside Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and Verdi’s La Traviata) is one of the first operas I ever saw, so it occupies a very dear and nostalgic place in my musical memories. Up until recently, I was sure I knew the work by heart and that I’d seen all there was to see — that is until I saw this production by the Bayerisches Staatsoper. Stage director Barrie Kosky brings us a hilarious, witty, colorful version, complete with the operatic excellence of Diana Damrau (Rosalinde), Katharina Konradi (Adele), and Georg Nigl (Eisenstein). Kosky’s staging also highlights the social irony of the operetta, where revelry and celebration mask the contradictions of a Viennese society teetering on the brink.
View author's page
Reading time estimated : 2 min
From the very beginning, we’re immersed in a bourgeois fantasy land. As the overture plays, the curtains lift to reveal typical Viennese facades, in front of which dancing bats encircle a completely disoriented Eisenstein in his bed. The Fledermaus overture is often played on its own without stage action so I was particularly taken by this version which takes us straight into the world of the opera and uses dance and decor to set the festive, comical tone of the evening.
In the iconic “Mein Herr Marquis,” Katharina Kordi embodies all of the burlesque humor, irony, and vocal virtuosity of operatic Viennese farce, surrounded on stage by the other guests at Orlofsky’s soirée, dressed to the nines in their glitter and feather boas. The champagne flows almost constantly, as Adele repeatedly fills Eisenstein’s glass, hinting at the out of control party spirit that transforms the ball into a whirlwind of joyful chaos!
