Die Fledermaus

  • 2011/2012 Season
  • Johann Strauss II : Die Fledermaus
    Opera in 3 Acts
    Sung in German with Japanese Supertitles
  • OPERA HOUSE

Since first taking up the position of artistic director, Otaka Tadaaki has wanted to incorporate quality operettas into the NNTT Opera season. The aim is to appeal to a wide audience by presenting works of depth and substance, to expand the scope of the theatre's offerings. With a long list of great works to choose from, Otaka selected Die Fledermaus, the finest operetta by Johann Strauss II, the composer known the world over as the "King of Waltz".

The performance of Die Fledermaus has taken root as a New Year's Eve tradition in Vienna, where the music is performed as part of the world renowned Vienna New Year's Eve Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic. The NNTT production, which premiered in 2006, marked the directorial debut of Heinz Zednik, who is a singer with the Vienna State Opera. Zednik is a man intimately familiar with Die Fledermaus, and his repertoire includes four of the operetta's roles. His production was stylish, elegant, and quintessentially Viennese. Die Fledermaus is a work with a high entertainment factor, but one that demands not only strong voices but also skilled acting and expressiveness. We have assembled an outstanding cast and production team, with Dan Ettinger wielding the conductor's baton. The singers include the Vienna-born Adiran Erod. Don't miss this production of the comic opera Die Fledermaus, coming to the Opera Palace stage in December 2011.
(The National Ballet of Japan is scheduled to perform La Chauve-souris, in February 2012.)

SYNOPSIS

Afternoon of the last day of the year. Gabriel von Eisenstein, staying with his wife Rosalinde at their villa outside Vienna, is angry: a mistake by his attorney is about to land him in jail. But at the urging of his friend Dr. Falke, he is secretly headed that evening for a ball at Prince Orlofsky's mansion, giving his wife the pretext that he is turning himself in at the jail. At the elegant ball, following Falke's instructions, Einstein has disguised himself as someone else; he flirts with a beautiful masked woman, not realizing it is his wife. Reporting to jail the next morning, Einstein accuses Rosalinde, who has also come running to the jail, of adultery. But she pulls out the watch he had given the masked woman the night before, and he is caught red-handed. Falke, the mastermind of this farce, now appears, and there is a grand finale-blaming it all on champagne.


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