Photo by Kathy Wittman
The frothy appeal of Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus served as a delightful bonbon with which to close the Florentine Opera’s 2015-2016 season. Basically an amusing comedy peppered with some of the most beguiling music of 19th-century Vienna, Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”) is an audience pleaser as demonstrated by the enthusiastic Friday night audience. The story concerns the hapless Eisenstein, persuaded by Dr. Falke to attend Count Orlofsky’s costume ball rather than show up for a short prison sentence. Eisenstein was well sung and engagingly portrayed by baritone Corey McKern. Equally effective was Jonathan Beyer as the conniving, ribald Dr. Falke.
At the ball, Eisenstein flirts not only with his maid, Adele, but also with his own masked wife, Rosalinde, whose lover, Alfred, also appears. He was wildly sung by stentorian tenor John Pickle, who almost upstaged his scenes with some hilarious adlibs from grand operas. The entire cast was spirited and enthusiastically energized throughout, but the female vocalists did not always match fine characterization with equally adept vocalization.
Inna Dukach (Rosalinde) looked lovely and gave an appealing performance, but her attractive soprano lacked some of the heft required, especially doing the famous second act czardas. No less appealing was Jamie-Rose Guarrineas (Adele), but her high soprano, while hitting all the notes, seemed reedy when pushed, especially during the laughing aria. Amanda Crider as Prince Orlofsky seemed ill-at-ease and was often inaudible.
