From TOLEDO OPERA
Toledo Opera will present Franz Lehár’s “The Merry Widow” on Friday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m. at the Valentine Theatre, 400 North Superior, Toledo, Ohio.
Performed by Toledo Opera for the first time since 1990, this production boasts a star-studded cast and a world-class creative team. Toledo Opera will also host a free Pre-Opera Talk one hour before each show in the Grand Lobby of the Valentine Theatre. Local scholars provide historical context and insight and are available to take questions after the talk.
First performed in 1905 at the Theater an der Wien located in Vienna, Austria “The Merry Widow” is a comedic operetta which takes place in Paris, France in the early 20th-Century. Widely regarded as Lehár’s masterpiece, the original production ran for 483 performances. The action centers on Hanna Glawari, a vastly wealthy young widow from the small and poverty-stricken Balkan province of Pontevedro. Ambassador Baron Zeta is anxious that when Hanna re-marries, it is to a Pontevedrian and not a Frenchman, to keep her money in the country and save them all from ruin. However, the wily widow has her eye on an old flame – Count Danilo Danilovitsch – who has no intention of giving up bachelorhood.
“The Merry Widow” stars internationally renowned Metropolitan Opera soprano and Toledo Opera audience favorite, Alyson Cambridge as Hanna Glawari and Metropolitan Opera baritone and Bowling Green State University voice professor Keith Phares as Count Danilo.
J. Ernest Green conducts this bubbly delight while Jamie Offenbach and James M. Norman bring the light-hearted comedy to life.
“The Merry Widow” will be sung in English with English supertitles.
Alyson Cambridge, who sang the title role in Carmen to two sold out houses in Toledo Opera’s 2018 production, is one of the most diverse and compelling vocal artists on the scene today. She is praised for her “powerful, clear voice” by The New York Times, hailed by critics for her “radiant and vocally assured, dramatically subtle and artistically imaginative” performances (Washington Post), and celebrated for her “sultry and seductive readings” (Opera News). Combined with a striking stage presence and affecting musical and dramatic interpretation, she has nearly two decades of success on the world’s leading opera and concert stages.
Cambridge’s fellow leads – baritone Keith Phares as Count Danilo, soprano Caroline Miller as Valencienne, tenor Drake Dantzler as Camille de Rosillon – bring international musical prowess of their own, with past performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Seattle Opera, the New York City Opera, Central City Opera, Sarasota Opera, Ohio Light Opera, São Paolo Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
Also joining the cast are baritone Jason Budd (Baron Zeta), baritone Justin Bays (Njegus), tenor and Toledo Opera Resident Artist Brendan Boyle (Raoul de St. Brioche), baritone and Toledo Opera Resident Artist Matthew Payne (Vicomte Cascada), tenor Seth Johnson (Pritschitsch), tenor Nick Kottman (Kromov), tenor Ian Pathak (Bogdonavitch), mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Rothrock (Praskovia Pritschitsch), soprano and Toledo Opera Resident Artist Sara Mortensen (Sylvianne Bogdonavitch), and mezzo-soprano and Toledo Opera Resident Artist Imara Miles (Olga Kromov).
For Toledo Opera’s Executive Director Suzanne Rorick, it is the juxtaposition of the novel and familiar that makes this production momentous. “The Merry Widow is a milestone for Toledo Opera because it is the first comedy to be produced by us since before the COVID-19 pandemic. We can’t wait to bring this effervescent, and funny story to the Toledo community. In addition to this, The Merry Widow is an operetta, something so rarely performed at Toledo Opera. But this piece also brings with it a team of artists whose talent we’ve utilized time and time again. Everyone involved in this production has authentic ties to the Toledo community. Alyson Cambridge, who is an international superstar, has already been with us twice before. Keith Phares, a fixture at Bowling Green State University, will be making his Toledo Opera debut! We’re thrilled to bring back the talents of Caroline Miller, Drake Dantzler, and Jason Budd – all of whom have found a home away from home at Toledo Opera.”
Toledo Opera will perform The Merry Widow at the Valentine Theatre on Friday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 12 at 2 p.m. To learn more about The Merry Widow cast and production team and to buy tickets, visit: toledoopera.org. The Merry Widow is made possible by the Elizabeth T. Wolfe Family Charitable Foundation and the Key Bank Trustee Walter E. Terhune Memorial Fund.
