The Merry Widow
- TV Movie
- 2005
- 2h 30m
YOUR RATING
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- ConnectionsVersion of A Viúva Alegre (1909)
Featured review
Visually stunning but disappointing
The Merry Widow is one of the greatest operettas ever in my opinion, perhaps only second to Die Fledermaus. But seeing it for the first time around Christmas 2005 and again just last night, I found this Merry Widow to be a wholly uneven affair. The music is just wonderful, with the orchestral playing full of vitality and free spirit. The chorus do sing very well, but apart from the men don't really have much energy in their performance. The costumes and sets are truly stunning as well, though in the bigger numbers of the operetta the stage looks rather cramped. The cast are uneven, with Ailish Tynan's commanding Valencienne and Geoffrey Dolton's witty Njegus coming off best. Lesley Garett as Hanna is good, she never does shake off her broad accent in the dialogue but her singing especially in Vilja is outstanding and her acting charming. Tracey Wellborn is also not bad but unexceptional at the same time, lovely day but the dialogue delivery is rather mumbled. Apart from a cracking first appearance, the Damilo of Jeffrey Black also came across as rather flat. The staging is nothing infuriating or anything, but it is lacking in pathos and drama that the singing did in a way did do reasonably well but the dialogue didn't at all. The dialogue I found to be the weak link of this Merry Widow, instead of witty it is overlong and tedious complete with some variable delivery. In a nutshell, disappointing sadly, had the potential to be so much more and should've been. 6/10 Bethany Cox
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Jun 5, 2012
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