Die Fledermaus at the English National Opera

Strauss's Die Fledermaus conjures up images of opulence, glitz, and champagne! Oh no, Christopher Alden's production of Die Fledermaus at the English National Opera only delivered one of these. The "idea" was to explore the contradiction, decadence and Freudian background of the work. The brain had to work very hard to try to understand what's going on stage - was there something to be "understood"?

So opulence was replaced by austere wall papers and a dull stair case, glitz turned into omni-sexual high camp. There was champagne all right. The singing was fine. Tom Randle's von Eisenstein was credible. Julia Sporsén's Roaslinde had enough drama. Even Edgaras Montvidas had enough high camp in his tenorial rings to add a bit of humour. Andrew Shore's Frank was tolerably funny. Jan Pohl (as Frosch) was trying to be funny with his native German accent.

I think this was a case of "trying too hard".

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