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1994 The Merry Widow

Show Synopsis

'The Merry Widow' was first performed in Vienna in 1905 and came to London in 1907. This romantic operetta is recognised as Franz Lehár's greatest work: it initiated the silver Viennese operetta.
The curtain opens on the Pontevedrian Embassy in Paris, where there is a party to celebrate the Duke's 93rd birthday. The Ambassador, Zeta, reminds Valencienne, his wife, to be on hand to greet Madame Glavari, the Banker's Widow. There is great interest among the men for Anna, the widow, is young, unusually pretty and with twenty million, very rich. The money is in a Pontevedrian Bank and would be lost to the country if Anna marries a foreigner. Zeta and his factotum, Njegus, try to think of the most eligible Pontevedrian bachelor, someone young, good-looking, experienced and attractive to women: who else, of course, they agree, but Count Danilovitch. When Danilo is told it is his duty to the Fatherland to marry Anna, he declares his principle is to fall in love frequently but to marry, never. Instead he offers to keep at bay any suitor who is not a Pontevedrian. Unknown to Zeta, Anna and Danilo were once engaged before her marriage to the Banker, but as Anna was only a poor peasant girl then, Danilo's uncle had forbidden the marriage. Consequently they spar when they first meet: there is a "Declaration of War". Despite misunderstandings, references to skirmish and attack, Danilo manages to coax Anna to dance with him, and in the romance of the waltz their love is ecstatically revealed.
As in all the best operettas, there is a sub plot. Valencienne and Camille, an ardent French Count, are having a flirtation. Although Valencienne assures Camille that she is a 'highly respectable wife', and urges him to forget her by marrying the widow, every time he obeys her and approaches Anna, Valencienne cannot bear to lose him and insists he comes away at once. Camille writes "I love you", on Valencienne's fan. The fan is lost creating high comedy as Danilo searches for the owner.
This love story is balanced by humour in the dialogue, comic characters such as Cascada and St. Brioche, and the fun of the Can-Can. But always Lehár's music is magical, from the haunting "Vilia" to the romantic Waltz.