Die lustige Witwe

To refill the empty coffers of the operetta state of Pontevedro, which is in a precarious financial situation, the Pontevedro ambassador Baron Zeta organises a dazzling party in Paris, with the ulterior motive of saving the last financial resources for the fatherland. It seems that the threat of state bankruptcy can only be averted by the marriage of Hanna Glawari, a widow from Pontevedro who is worth millions, to a fellow countryman. The fun-loving count Danilo Danilowitsch is chosen as a suitable candidate for the marriage, but he is preceded by a slightly dubious reputation, and so initially there are no sparks between him and the very willing widow, an old flame of Danilo's. Only after countless confusions and wild misunderstandings do the couple finally get together.

The first performance of Franz Lehár's »Die lustige Witwe« [The Merry Widow] on 30 December 1905 marked the glittering climax of the age of the »silver operetta« and left the genre with an incomparable jewel as a consequence. The opera is still one of the most frequently performed operettas ever, even today, and countless musical numbers, such as Hanna's Vilja song or Danilo's and Hanna's final admission of love, »Lippen schweigen«, are still amongst the immortal evergreens of musical entertainment theatre. With his inexhaustible melodic inventiveness and enchanting orchestral colours, ranging from the elegant Parisian soundscape of the 1st Act through the folklore melodies of the 2nd to the frivolous, erotically charged atmosphere of the Parisian night clubs in the 3rd Act, Lehár had his finger unerringly on the pulse of his time. In his new staging for the Gärtnerplatztheater, artistic director Josef E. Köpplinger explores the sensitive psychological depths of this timeless classic.

Programme extract