 The operetta Die Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss,
conjures up so many impressions of my childhood in Germany.
It was first performed in 1874 at Theater-an-der-Wien, Vienna.
By 1880 Strauss’ magnificent music had been produced in more
than 170 German-language theatres. In December 1994 the Toronto
Operetta Theatre (TOT) premiered it at the Jane Mallet Theatre.
It’s one of the two sparkling pieces often performed the world
over on New Year’s eve, the other being The Merry Widow, by
Franz Lehár.
Based on a French farce, Le réveillon, it’s a coupling of
Viennese musical charm and Parisian parody. Die Fledermaus, (The
Revenge of the Bat), “is the undoubted masterpiece of Operetta’s
Golden Age in Vienna,” says TOT’s General Director Guillermo
Silva-Marin who plays the happy jailer, Frosch (In this
production Frosch is not drunk). In addition to being the stage
director, Lighting Design and Set Décor director and
choreographer, Silva-Marin contributed additional dialogue and
lyrics.
As for my childhood acquaintance with Die Fledermaus, my
mother’s friend was the rehearsal music director and it was his
turn to baby-sit me that day. So he took me along to rehearsal.
I still remember leaning against the podium, watching him
conduct the orchestra by waving his stick around and, having
most urgently to pee, not daring to pull on his leg and risk
stopping the music.
I also had a friend tell me that as a young lady in England she
heard what she called Adele’s ‘laughing song’ on the radio and
decided then and there that she wanted to be an opera star.
Adele, the saucy maid, changed her life, she said.
When I grew up in New York City my family subscribed to five
seats at the Metropolitan Opera in the first row of the Family
Circle, a most desirous spot, and of course we got to see Die
Fledermaus many times. As also happened with my family someone
or other could not make a performance that time so the task fell
to me to canvass a bunch of people to ask if they wanted a
ticket. It usually took me a week until everyone told me why
they couldn’t make it and I still had the ticket(s). So I
 finally decided to go down to the Met on Columbus Circle and
wave my ticket(s) in the air along with the scalpers. Since mine were always at cost, without tax, I usually sold them in two
minutes, thus earning a nice bit of pocket money to the enormous
satisfaction of my mother.
Whenever we did not have the opportunity to experience “The
Fledermaus” live we could always hear this wonderful European
tradition on the radio or see it on television on New Year’s
Eve.
Lucille de Saint-Andre reports about film
festivals, art, entertainment, museum, exhibitions & travel. She writes
her own reviews. She is a successful writer with published books.
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