Review Roundup: Susan Stroman's THE MERRY WIDOW Opens at the Met

Beginning New Year's Eve, Renée Fleming has returned to the stage in her first-ever performances of 'Hanna Glawari', the title role in Lehár's THE MERRY WIDOW, at the Met.

Five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of this new production of the comic operetta, which also reunites Nathan Gunn (Danilo) and five-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara (Valencienne).

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, THE MERRY WIDOW features the familiar "Vilja Song" for the title character as well as a climactic song-and-dance set piece featuring a chorus line of grisettes at the legendary Parisian restaurant Maxim's.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times: Enlivened by sprightly dancing, this colorful production is mostly faithful to the style of the piece. And from the glowing, subtle performance that the conductor Andrew Davis coaxed from the Met orchestra, it's clear that he loves the 1905 score. Over all, however, the production came across as tentative, as if Ms. Stroman were struggling to find a balance between respecting the idiom of the work and charging it with fresh theatricality. And for all the good work of an impressive cast, the performances felt constrained and vocally underpowered...Ms. O'Hara's ardent fans (put me in the front ranks of that group) will be delighted with the chance to hear her sing without the amplification requisite on Broadway. She is a vocalist with operatic training. And her tender voice carries nicely in the house...Still, in trying to project her singing a little more than usual, Ms. O'Hara compromises her enormous skill at making words come through with naturalness...Hanna is a good role for Ms. Fleming at a time when she is beginning to phase out her work in opera. She wants to leave the opera stage at the top; she looked and sounded lovely...Mr. Gunn brings his suave presence and solid voice to Danilo...But Mr. Gunn also struggles to find the right balance...All in all, though, the Met may just not be a place for operetta.

Heidi Waleson, Wall Street Journal: The principal weak link was soprano Renée Fleming, showcased as Hanna Glawari, the widow of the title...The role sits low for Ms. Fleming, so her voice had little presence or richness for much of the evening...As Valencienne, the straying wife of the Pontevedrian ambassador, Baron Zeta, the vivacious Broadway actress Kelli O'Hara was perfectly at home in the dialogue and the dancing. Her pure soprano sounded thin and tremulous at first, but gathered strength through the evening, and she projected personality throughout. Baritone Nathan Gunn, a game Danilo, was trying so hard to be funny that he missed the character's suave sex appeal...The show certainly looked great, evoking turn-of-the-century Paris by way of Broadway...Ms. Stroman's choreography had plenty of sizzle-from the ballroom dances at the embassy to the folk numbers in Act II and the can-can of Act III...However, Ms. Stroman had mixed success infusing that verve into the dialogue scenes, and the English libretto and lyrics by Jeremy Sams, though cleaner than his texts for "Enchanted Island" and "Fledermaus," had their share of self-conscious bits ("some penniless Parisian will get his paws on it") and thumping rhymes ("such passion within you / this cannot continue"; "chantoozies / floozies"). And Andrew Davis's conducting was often square and uneffervescent, so no matter how hard the show tried to take flight on stage, the orchestra kept it tethered to earth.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News: Despite a title promising high-spirited antics, "The Merry Widow" uncorked on New Year's Eve at the Metropolitan Opera is oddly muted in the glee department. Yes, Franz Lehar's score in this 1905 operetta is lively and lovely -- and wonderfully showcased under the baton of Andrew Davis. Yes, the cast -- a mix of Met and Broadway MVP's -- led by the renowned Renée Fleming in the title role delivers. And, yes, there's plenty of eye candy to go around between the sets and costumes summoning 1900 Paris. Too bad the production is so very talky and lumbering...Besides the leaden pacing, a major issue is that jokes in this take (in English) by Jeremy Sams don't land. Instead, they float in mid-air and are swallowed up on the massive stage...In spite of issues, performances are very fine. Fleming brings warmth and sweetness to her vocals as the rich Hanna Glawari, who holds the key to keeping her near-bankrupt nation afloat...Five-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara, in her first at-bat at the Met, bats her eyes playfully and sends her bright and silvery soprano to the rafters as Valencienne, a naughty wife with a roving eye.

Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times: The Merry Widow returned to the Met on New Year's Eve, trying desperately to look and sound festive...Frantically yet fleetly staged and choreographed by none less than Susan Stroman, it tried to transform a staid opera house into a snazzy showbizzy showplace. Most of the gala first-nighters seemed to approve. Unfortunately, at least one stubborn sceptic -- this one -- harboured reservations...Fleming, the eternal protagonist, mugs so adorably, oozes charm so relentlessly and sings so sweetly that one almost forgives high notes attacked from below. She is ably complemented by Kelli O'Hara's elegantly sexy seconda donna, Nathan Gunn's bright and burly lover, Alek Shrader's taut tenorish suitor and Thomas Allen's deft elder-comic reliever...Still, when all is mimed and pranced, declaimed and bellowed, bumbled and waltzed, this Merry Widow remains an ode to cutesiness in excelsis. It is overproduced, overdecorated, overchoreographed and overpopulated. Kitsch never had it so big.

Wilborn Hampton, The Huffington Post: It is hard to imagine a merrier widow than Renee Fleming, and she swirls through the Metropolitan Opera's sumptuous new production of Franz Lehar's popular operetta The Merry Widow with the ease of a woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it...O'Hara is a small revelation in her first operatic outing, making the transition from the Broadway stage to the Met opera house seem as easy as a subway ride uptown. Her lovely soprano carries to the family circle and her acting talent brings credibility to the complicated role of the flirtatious Valencienne...While the new Merry Widow is breathtaking to look at and a pleasure to hear, the staging is not without problems. The energy level flags at times, especially in the opening act when the exposition of the plot is unfolding, and there are too many pauses in the action. Operetta, a forerunner of the modern-day musical comedy, needs to move at the pace of a Broadway show, and any lag between the music and dialogue only serves to lessen the audience's involvement or concentration...Stroman's strongest suit is her choreography and from the opening waltzes and polkas to acrobatic folk dances to the shouting, skirt-flinging high steps of the grisettes at Maxim's, including a can-can during the set change, the dancing is one of the show's biggest attractions. And O'Hara is a marvel in the scene where she joins the grisette chorus line.

Examiner.com: A real eye-pleaser with a solid cast of singers and actors that made suspending belief a most willing surrender. Soprano superstar Renée Fleming interpreted the title role, Hanna Glawari, for the first time anywhere. In her mid-fifties and already transitioning into artistic life after her singing career, the role fits her tailor made...she was a pleasant surprise in romantic comedy, at once agile and elegant and not a bad dancer. The creamy voice is still lithe, in full bloom, with a striking trill perfectly intact...baritone Nathan Gunn cut a dashing figure and sang with easy richness of timbre, almost a tenor in the upper range. He moved well, whether dancing or cavorting...In her Met debut, oft-Tony-nominated Kelli O'Hara made a splash...With acting chops, a full operatic voice and the clearest diction, her lovely sounds easily reached the loftiest heights, both in tessitura and in aiming for the rafters. She...is sufficiently accomplished as a dancer to dance clumsily with the grisettes and make it look genuine...Susan Stroman achieved graceful movement from all cast members, whether dancers or "civilians."...From their part alone, it is easy to see why Susan Stroman has won five Tony awards. The Met's new "Merry Widow" is the cure to all that ails you. It will lift your spirits, calm your anxiety and never fail to entertain.

Eric C. Simpson, The Classical Review: The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow...felt flat from the start. The new staging by Tony winner Susan Stroman is commendable mostly for its choreography...Elsewhere, Stroman struggled to enliven the scenario...This new production was intended as another star vehicle for Renée Fleming, but she was only intermittently up to the task of the titular widow...Kelli O'Hara was a wonderful surprise...Though comically tipsy, her footwork was just about indistinguishable from that of the can-can dancers in Act 3, and her singing, possibly her first on a professional stage without amplification, was excellent. Her sweetly warbling soprano was at moments hard-edged and at other times quiet, but on the whole she gave as fine and as full a performance as you could ask of any Met newcomer...Sir Andrew Davis's conducting was indulgent, tending to drag when crispness would have made the music feel more fresh, but the orchestra played sumptuously, even when forced into tip-toeing on eggshells so as not to cover the singers...Stroman's pacing lurched along, the words' witty edges dulled, and every opportunity for comic timing was missed...The Merry Widow is the sort of comedy that can be kept alive only by rapid banter, and the Met's performance on Wednesday was pregnant with pauses. Without that champagne pop, Lehár's inexplicable chestnut becomes an awkwardly planned romantic comedy with a collection of hummable but largely insubstantial tunes.

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