You’ve probably seen at least one New Year’s Day concert from Vienna, where a famous conductor du jour leads the Vienna Philharmonic merrily (one hopes) through a familiar selection of waltzes, polkas, and marches by members of the Strauss family, with a few other bonbons and the occasional surprise thrown in. Everybody who’s anybody in Vienna shows up. But what does the crème de la crème of Vienna do on New Year’s Eve? It’s ensconced at the Vienna State Opera, where the Philharmonic is busy with more Strauss fare: Johann Jr.’s comic operetta Die Fledermaus ( " The Bat " ).
With its irresistible melodies and imaginative orchestration, Fledermaus is one of the few operettas that has transcended the genre and earned itself a place in the core operatic repertoire. Little wonder that it’s been taken up by great conductors from Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss to Bruno Walter and Herbert von Karajan. Although it isn’t televised to millions of viewers every year, Fledermaus is as much a part of the Viennese New Year’s tradition as the Blue Danube waltz and the Radetzky March that are played every January 1. Boston Lyric Opera is hoping that that the crème de la crème of Beantown will show up beginning this Wednesday when it stages a spring production complete with complimentary masks for the audience.
The plot is a little complicated. Baron von Eisenstein is slated to serve eight days in jail for striking a government official, but it’s the biggest ball of the season at Prince Orlofsky’s, and Eisenstein’s friend Falke persuades him to go disguised as a French marquis and put off going to jail till the next morning. At home, meanwhile, his wife, Rosalinde, is entertaining a would-be lover named Alfred, and when the prison governor comes to take Eisenstein away, she persuades Alfred to pose as the baron so she won’t be compromised, assuring him he’ll have to spend just one night in jail. Rosalinde then costumes herself as a mysterious Hungarian countess and heads to Orlofsky’s.
At the ball, Eisenstein tries to seduce the countess (not knowing it’s his wife), and he drinks a toast to " King Champagne " with the prison governor, who has also come to the ball disguised as a Frenchman. Then he explains the practical joke he played on Falke the time they went to a masked ball and Falke was dressed up as a bat (hence the title). The next morning, Eisenstein goes to the prison and discovers, to his bewilderment, that he’s already there. Everyone else shows up, the misunderstandings mount, and eventually the masked countess reveals herself as Rosalinde and Falke confesses that the whole evening was " the Bat’s revenge. " Eisenstein and Rosalinde are reconciled (but was Alfred really just part of the joke, as she claims?), and the evening’s misadventures are laid at the feet of his majesty Champagne.
There’s a Bavarian State Opera production on DVD that’s well worth seeking out — it’s conducted with amazing grace and subtlety by Carlos Kleiber. But you really need to see the work live to grasp its artful fusion of absurdity and cleverness. For this new production from BLO artistic director Leon Major, Beatrice Jona Affron will conduct, and Gary Lehman and Barbara Shirvis will take on the roles of Eisenstein and Rosalinde. Evening performances at the Shubert Theatre are at 7:30 p.m. on April 30 and May 2, 6, 9, and 13; Sunday matinees are at 3 p.m. on May 4 and 11. Tickets are $32 to $152; call (800) 447-7400.
GETTING A HANDEL ON IT. Two vocal works by the 18th century’s finest are on display next weekend. The NEC Light Opera Club presents Xerxes, with an all-undergraduate cast, at the Community Church of Boston, 526 Boylston Street. Performances are at 2 p.m. on May 2 and 3 and they’re free; call (617) 585-1100. And Boston Baroque offers the wonderful Theodora, which Handel wrote late in life and considered his finest oratorio. Sharon Baker sings the title role; Martin Pearlman is on the podium. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on May 2 and 3, and tickets are $20 to $62; call (617) 484-9200.
