Bats, batty, boasty, bratty!

Seeing Johann Strauss, Jr.'s Die Fledermaus, as given by the OH!, was an evening spent enjoyably.
The OH! orchestra under the baton of visiting guest conductor Brazilian Linus Lerner did truly well.
He pointed his baton and sounds exploded from orchestra and singers alike.
T'was a bit of magic. methinks.

Lambert Hall was filled with the sound of music!  Not THAT sound of music.

Bubbly Straussian songs belted out by a cast of happy singers...
one 'danced' and tapped, hummed right along!

Just like here when Edita Gruberova takes on Adele's Laughing Song

They all had such fun on stage and so did the audience...or so it seemed to me! 
A pretty full house says:
Light Operetta fare is always appreciated.
Especially nowadays. When World's news is depressing enough.

So let us party with Prince Orlovsky and others masqueraders,
raise our glasses with sparkling wine and 'karaoke' right along in this paean to champagne!
And if you don't know the words, no problem-you will do well enough tra la la-ing along:
Elizabeth Andrews Roberts as Rosalinda was a beauty in red with a voice to match....fiery and soaring.

Alyssa Bowlby sang and acted charmingly - a complete comedienne with a big voice!

Anna Yelizarova, who made a  boyish Orlofsky-a crisp mezzo, sang adorably and looked so fetching as the moustachioed Prince, whose "Chacun a son Gout" motto is so repesentative of my Vienna's Live and Let Live attitude, in Strauss' times and still-all those songs, waltzes and Polkas made me so homesick for it! Tapping, humming and swerving to the music...I'd say 2/3 or more of the audience did it,
I was NOT alone :-)!

Jonathan Hodel as Gabriel von Eisenstein, sang with a warm expressive tenor and utter conviction-
he WAS the bumbling, straying, love loving, but impressionable roue Eisenstein.

The audience went literally gaga over Tenor Marc Schreiner, whose 'Italian' accent and breath control was awesome. He spun out his aria excerpts whilst lingering in gaol so stunningly.....
here is a little sample of what he can do with his voice-

 a'course it could've been the plaid underpants and striped socks he stripped down to in act one...;-)!
Anyway, he garnered the most applause at the end.

Ben Spierman, billed as Director, nobly took on the role of Falke, when Leonard Rowe (originally cast as Falke) had to withdraw due to a major medical emergency.
He surprised everyone with his histrionic talents

AND his respectable singing as the vengeful Dr. Falke (The Bat).

Kudos to Mr. Spierman in his dual role!

Smith/Frank and Ida/Ross

Party

Smith/Frank and Big Skinny Brown/Frosch

Rachel Ross sang a pretty Ida.
In the speaking role of Frosch, veteran actor"Big Skinny Brown" coped rather well as the bumbling,
drunk jailer. Alas, the ususal political jokes Frosch makes, were a bit watered down, but still there were plenty allusions to local famed spots, etc.
Tenor George Williams, as Dr. Blind sang and acted well.
Baritone David Smith made a fleet and, perhaps a bit too youthful, Frank/Chevalier du Chagrin.
The chorus women and men did admirably as usual.


Spierman/Falke and Hodel/Eisenstein/deRenard


  all photos courtesy Gwen JuarezTurner

Andrews/Rosalinda/Hungarian Countess and Schreiner/Alfred

Yelizarova/Orlofsky and Bowlby/Adele/Olga

Fledermaus has more performances-mostly sold out, but we have been told, stand by tickets will be issued as there are always a few seats not taken by subscribers for whatever reason! Tonight and Saturday Night!
Tomorrow is 'Cruzar la Cara de la Luna'at HGO-sold out, we hear!
And Aeros play Peoria back to back in Peoria.

And now we wait...

now that  the NHL and AHL schedules are out, the Aeros team is in place plus or minus a few last minute free agent signings, if any, the team's system established, we, the fans, can just sit back, choose our games, if we do not buy the whole season ticket package and wait for day one!

Or we can start planning our trips to

a) coincide with OUR team's away schedule, or

b) compare the hockey and the opera schedules and arrange trips around both.

Which is what I'd rather do, so San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Estero, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, Sarasota and more, are definitely on our agenda. 

Plus some scheduled surgery for Better Half which will restrict his movements for about 2-3 weeks, but after THAT we are free to go again.

It would be a neat and different thing to see OUR team in Minnesota, plus the Motherteam's face off with our OLD team, the St. Louis Blues... alas, there is NO opera playing at that exact time we'd like to see (the week before, some time after that February 12th)  but nothing the night before or a night after, BIG SIGH.

And as much as I like Hockey, an expensive trip without an opera or two is not quite the thing when we can have that and more in Florida...Tampa (Tampa Bay Lightening), Estero (Everblades), Ft.Lauderdale (Panthers), Sarasota (2 Operas - The Crucible AND I Lombardi!) etc. plus lolling in Bonita Springs ;-0! 

Meanwhile, Opera in the Heights artists are arriving for a Zarzuela Evening, and start rehearsals for The Tales of Hoffmann, while at HGO, Madame Butterfly and Peter Grimes are the first operas in  its repertory plus a much touted Mariachi Opera with favorites, like Octavio Moreno (Baritone) David Guzman (Tenor) and Mariachi Vargas, one of the best known and much traveled group, sample clip  below.