TheLittleSongbird
Zigeunerliebe is a little-known operetta and frankly while it is not among Lehar's best works it is also one that deserves to be better known. This is a very nice production, and definitely a worthy one of the operetta. I do have to agree though that it is badly let down by the complete lack of clarity in the words, for anybody like me who is relatively new to Zigeunerliebe and its story this was a big issue. Visually though the production is very pleasing and well photographed, the costumes and sets are traditional and elegant without being too fussy, ideal for operetta. The stage direction is lively, intelligent and witty, nothing here that feels stagebound. Musically, it is even better, the orchestral playing perfectly match the beautifully and faithfully orchestrated scoring and the conducting never rushing or dragging. The lead performances are right on the money, Janet Perry and Jon Buzea(the latter in a role that is reportedly very difficult to cast) sing with radiant and virile tones in particular, while lots of effort is made in the acting by all to bring the story to life through charm, poignancy and humour. So overall, I was impressed but some good advice is to have some knowledge beforehand before watching or listening to an opera/operetta new to you. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Wolfi-10
This is a lavish staging of one of Franz Lehar's operettas and, like all of his creations, chock full of beguiling music and enchanting songs. A young girl of a better Hungarian homestead meets, on the morning of her planned engagement to a caring and well-to-do boy of the neighborhood, a gypsy man, and gets second thoughts about settling down so young to a life of bourgeois tranquillity. Sure, she loves the boy, but the "free and easy" life at the side of the dazzling gypsy looks mighty alluring. She does not go through with the engagement, but has in the following night a revealing dream about the reality of gypsy life. Of course, the operetta was written long before the age of "political correctness", when gypsies were thought of - probably befittingly - as wandering folk with loose morals who lived by begging, fortune telling, stealing and occasionally playing music. Hence, the following morning she is thoroughly cured of her gypsy temptation, and all is good for herself and her boy. Her widowed dad is less lucky ensnaring the sexy young widow of the neighboring castle.That's a good operetta story, and it is presented here at a lively pace with lots of people moving in captivating scenery, rousing music impeccably recorded, and beautiful voices. Beautiful, but, alas, unintelligible. No, not a language barrier for this reviewer, rather the style of "operatic" singing where all consonants are dropped in favor of loudness to fill a 500-seat opera house. A singsong by vowels only may be suitable for Hawaiian, but renders a presentation in German impossible to understand. Why, oh why, didn't the director tell his singers: pipe down, pronounce the words properly - because much of the story is told by the lyrics, and nobody enjoys to just sit there and watch singing heads. It would have been a great movie.
