J. Strauss - Die Fledermaus
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Movie Reviews of J. Strauss - Die Fledermaus
Movie Review: Exuberant Fledermaus
Summary: 5 Stars
The previous reviewer had it right--this is a "traditional" Fledermaus for lovers of Strauss and Vienna. The production brims over with comic high spirits, while Carlos Kleiber's sensuous, echt-Viennese musical idiom makes you forget that the theater and orchestra are not Austrian but German. The mostly Austrian male and mostly British, and very attractive, female principals are outstanding singers and comic actors. Tenor Eberhard Wachter, late in his career, creates a vain, blustering, but always lovable Herr von Eisenstein, the wayward husband of classic comedy. The hilarious jailhouse third act with its tipsy guard and warden likewise feeds on central European ways of making jokes. The sound is full-bodied and detailed, but the video has a slight yellowish hue, much less pronounced than in the old laserdisc version. Fledermice can't go far wrong with this DVD.
The competing Glyndebourne production on Opus Arte DVD is a different creature, a sumptuously trendy, sarcastic (and later, with sharper digital video) production. It has a dark, post-modern ideological agenda, familiar and superfluous. The libretto has been rewritten--in English, then translated back into German and re-translated into English sub-/supertitles!) to highlight social hypocrisy and women's oppression by--but you know the rest. Strauss and his librettists knew and described all of this perfectly well too but they managed OK without the pretentiousness and penis jokes. Glyndebourne's Fledermaus is impressive musically and technically, but its spiritual sourness may leave devoted operetta fans feeling a bit used.
Movie Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
This version of Die Fledermaus, is an all-round excellent performance. I have a personal interest in the operetta: it was composed in the house in Vienna where my father grew up in, and which is now owned by my cousin. The conductor, Carlos Kleiber, who passed away in July 2004, was little known, but he showed he could lead in an interpretation of the operetta in the spirit that it was written in. The persons on the stage had the fortunate combination to be both excellent singers and excellent actors. The production, by Otto Schenk, is the same that has been used at the Wiener Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera. There is one small drawback: the beginning of Act III has a few spoken lines by the jailer, Frosch, which are comments on what was happening at the location and time this DVD was recorded: live on 31 December 1986 in the Munich Nationaltheater. Aside from this minor point, I highly recommend this DVD especially if one has not seen Die Fledermaus before; if another version has been seen then this is an excellent version to compare it to.Movie Review: A performance well worth having
Summary: 5 Stars
Great sound, sterling performances all around, done in echt-sounding Viennese accents and dialect (e.g. "Sofe" for "Dienstmaedchen"). Though there are no cuts, there is no extended gala performance in Act II as is semi-traditional, but that just leaves the length, 137 minutes, more manageable for an evening at the operetta. One standout is Windgassen, a big burly Heldentenor who would look at home in a wresting arena, cast contrary to type as the world-weary, effete Prince Orlofsky, a role usually played by a woman. The Vienna Philharmonic's performance under Karl Boehm is spirited and lively without overwhelming the performers, and director Otto Schenk does double duty in the non-singing role of the seriously drunken jailer Frosch. I paid $90 for a DVD of this operetta pressed in Japan, at that time the only version available, and consider it money well spent. Don't let it slip away now that it's so much more affordable!Movie Review: I Would Expect Better
Summary: 4 Stars
I would expect better than I have received. Having just purchased another Unitel product, I fault NOT the production, the music, the performers, or any of the artists involved in bringing this joyous bon-bon into my home theater. I DO take exception with the packeging by Unitel, the company who markets these products, who can give me 5.1 surround sound, but then reduce the picture to last millenium's antiquated aspect ratio standard of 4:3.
I would think that the Germans (Unitel/Munich), who wish to be acknowledged as cutting-edge in technology, would get their act together and deliver a superior product.
Movie Review: MEMORIES
Summary: 4 Stars
BEING 89 YEARS OLD AND HANDICAPPED AND HAVING SEEN THE FLEDERMAUS PERFORMED IN THE VIENNA STAATSOPER IN PERSON IT BROUGHT BACK SPLENDID MEMORIES.IT ALSO BROUGHT BACK WALTER CRONCKITES YEARLY NEW YEARS DAY REPORT FROM VIENNA.
ALL IN ALL LOVELY!