<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>325345</docID> <postdate>2024-08-14 04:15:50</postdate> <headline>Operetta showcases a widow with a lot of ‘gumption’</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-325352" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/L-R-Sitiveni-Talei-Sarah-Darnley-Stuart-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Sitiveni Talei as Danilo and Sarah Darnley-Stewart as Hanna Glavari in The Merry Widow. Photo: Thomas Lucraft</caption> <p><b>The Merry Widow, one of the most successful musical theatre pieces ever, has been selling out all around the world since its 1905 premiere in Vienna.</b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sarah Darnley-Stuart plays the lead role of Hanna Glavari in the coming production at The Q of the famous work with music by Franz Lehár and book and lyrics by Victor Léon and Leo Stein. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Darnley-Stuart is something of a veteran in Canberra, and has been singing demanding roles in L’Elisir D'Amore, Suor Angelica, National Opera Mother's Day's concert and as a soloist in Missa Solemnis.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But operetta, just as much as opera, demands high technical skills – both are challenging.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"The difference is mainly in the type of story that's told in operetta, which is a bit lighter and a bit more comic, think Gilbert & Sullivan. It does have deeper subject matter, but portrayed in a light way,†she says. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Merry Widow is about as accessible as any operetta could be for a newcomer, she says, with beautiful arias and magnificent orchestration. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">National Opera has engaged well-known musical theatre director Ylaria Rogers, partnering with High Kix Cabaret, as well as the National Opera Chorus and Chamber Orchestra. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to Darnley-Stuart, Rogers "is open to learning about operetta, even though it's not her background... she brings knowledge and kindness to the way she approaches her directing.â€</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In operetta, she says, there is much more spoken dialogue than in opera and that adds a comic edge to The Merry Widow.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But it also poses a problem, for musical-theatre performers are used to being mic'd up but opera singers, with their powerful voices, not so, especially in a small auditorium such as The Q.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Conductor Louis Sharpe says: “Because the work is an operetta with spoken dialogue, we have chosen to give the artists some amplification but it’s only for the spoken sections. With regard to the sung lines, they’re all sung naturally.â€Â </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This, he assures me, is in line with what most companies would do in a similar space and work. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now to the story.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rich widow Hanna is being inveigled by Baron Zeta, the Pontivedrian ambassador in Paris, to save their native country from bankruptcy by marrying a fellow Pontivedrian. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">His choice is Count Danilo, who turns out to be Hanna’s first love. But now Danilo swears he will never marry her now because of her fortune. The plot, along with a silly subplot, thickens. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Will Hanna and Danilo get back together? The famous Merry Widow Waltz gives us a clue to the answer.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Darnley-Stuart, by day a speech pathologist within the ACT Education Directorate, says she’s hard put to identify her favourite parts in the show. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s hard to go past the Vilja song, such a beautiful piece with the orchestra underscoring it and a really beautiful vocal line.â€Â </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another favourite is when lovers Camille and Valencienne sing, With Love in my Heart, “quite beautiful.â€</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Then there’s the chorus, Women! Women! Women! where the men are explaining their conundrum with women – it's entertaining and a bit ridiculous.â€</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Darnley-Stewart would characterise herself as a lyric soprano and her opposite number, the Canberra trained former Opera Australia singer Sitiveni Talei as Danilo, has what she calls “a high baritone but with the ability to extend into the upper registers while keeping a rich quality".</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It's wonderful to be working with someone of his calibre,†she says, but equally, Joe Dinn as Baron Zeta, is a very seasoned professional performer, both help her in the role of the widow. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The script makes it quite clear that Hanna was forced into a loveless marriage, but of course it's operetta, not a tragedy and Darnley-Stewart says: “What I like about Hanna is that she's independent and she's got quite a lot of gumption.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"The Merry Widow was written in a time when women were the property of fathers and husbands but the only exception was if you were a rich widow.â€</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Merry Widow, at The Q, Queanbeyan, August 23-25. </span></i></p> </body>