[Met Tour] CID:156670



Die Fledermaus
Boston Opera House, Boston, Massachusetts, Thu, April 12, 1951


In English



Die Fledermaus (32)
Johann Strauss II | Karl Haffner/Richard Gen?e
Rosalinde
Marguerite Piazza

Eisenstein
Charles Kullman

Adele
Patrice Munsel

Alfred
Brian Sullivan

Prince Orlofsky
Jarmila Novotna

Dr. Falke
John Brownlee

Dr. Blind
Paul Franke

Frank
Hugh Thompson

Ida
Suzanne Ames

Frosch
Jack Gilford


Conductor
Tibor Kozma







Review 1:

Review of Rudolph Elie in the Boston Herald
?Die Fledermaus?

A brilliant occasion this, certainly the most extraordinary and gala evening of the musical theater in Boston in recent years, and all the more so for the fact that for once a show with a prodigious reputation lived up to that reputation in every particular. Indeed, it exceeded it.

It is hard to know where to begin to give a coherent report. The music of Johann Strauss, with its irresistible Viennese melody breaking constantly into unendurably lilting rhythms? The text and lyrics, superbly fashioned into singable (and wonderfully entertaining) English by Garson Kanin and Howard Dietz? The stunning d?cor and costumes of Rolf Gerard? The choreography and execution of that lovely Imperial waltz? The orchestra, the conductor, the staging, the acting, the singing, or what?

Perhaps the acting and the singing deserve the first attention at this moment, for the execution and driving projection of these elements across the footlights in so impactful a fashion was truly the most extraordinary aspect of the entire evening. We have all known and admired, largely as vocalists, such Metropolitan stars as Patrice Munsel, Charles Kullman, Marguerite Piazza, Brian Sullivan, Hugh Thompson and Jarmila Novotna, but they have been able to act like this all along? Heavens, I can hardly believe it.

Miss Munsel in particular was no less than a revelation. After a couple of offish seasons she has made fantastic strides vocally; her coloratura was marked by extreme exactitude, flexibility of articulation and ravishing sound even at the very top of her tessitura. But she was a superb comedienne, too, whether tossing a naughty bustle, brushing away an arch team or dissolving onto the floor in a seductive collapse (too receive a snifter of brandy from the prompter?s box in a monstrously funny incongruity), she was sheer sensation...and how she did look!


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