Music
Serata all’Operetta
Manoel Theatre
This was yet another very well-attended evening of operetta presented by Fiesole Productions.
The genre remains very popular and in an attempt to vary the presentation, director Tonio Portughese and pianist Debora Mori devised a journey through Europe by means of this musical form. The journey tapped very well-known operettas from Austria, Hungary, France and Italy together with the first-time inclusion of Gilbert and Sullivan, Sidney Jones and Spanish zarzuela.
The evening was presented by Patricia Salomone, and artistes included familiar singers like tenor Andrea Bragiotto, soprano Tiziana Scaciga della Silva and leading comedian Walter Rubboli. A first-time appearance was that of soprano /soubrette Barbara Fasol. Perhaps the real star of the evening was the charming Ms Mori who was on stage throughout, accompanying the singers in various solos, duets and ensembles, to musical arrangements of her own.
Her only solo was in the second half with a medley Omaggio all’ Europa, in which she skilfully wove together a number of themes from various popular operettas.
Mr Rubboli was his usual self, gadding about cracking jokes and singing a few solos, including a pretty good rendering of I’ve Got a Little List from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. He also enlivened some duets as well as the ensembles. The programme was a long one and moved slickly from country to country.
Some of the highlights were Ms Scaciga Della Silva’s “inebriated” Ah! Quel diner, from Offenbach’s La Perichole and Vilja from Léhar’s La vedova allegra. Ms Fasol’s Mein Herr Marquis from Johan Strauss’ Die Fledermaus was a bit of a cautious delivery but her voice warmed up nicely as the evening progressed. The warmth and expression increased, reaching a culminating point in one of the few excerpts which were far from casual or trivial: L’aria della bambola from Lombardo’s Cin Ci Là.
Another rare moment of sobriety was when Mr Bragiotto sang No puede ser from Pablo Sorozabal’s zarzuela La tabernera del Puerto, which was rendered with great expression and passion. One duet he shared with his real-life wife Ms Fasol was particularly tender and expressive: Tace il labbro from Léhar’s La vedova allegra.
The latter operetta was one of the few non-Italian ones in which the singers did not sing in the original language. Otherwise, as in Ms Scaciga Della Silva’s very good Mein Lippen, sie küssen so heiß from Léhar’s Giuditta (actually the evening’s only foray in opera), the original languages were heard.
The evening, which also included two numbers from Jones’ The Geisha, could certainly not omit excerpts from Kalman’s La principessa della czarda, some music by Suppé and that rare joint effort, Léhar and Lombardo’s joint La danza delle libellule.