Title: Whate a waste of scenery and costumes!
Product review: I thought it would be impossible to ruin Lehar's The Merry Widow, but this production convinced me otherwise. The 2001 San Francisco Opera presentation excels in beautiful art deco stage sets; costumes are elegant to sarcastically lavish. It is a setting for a grand opera. Only The Merry Widow is NOT a grand opera: it is an operetta, a comedy, it is supposed to be light, funny, even frivolous. Unfortunately, this presentation is beset by show-off singing and exaggerated acting. Also, translation of Victor Léon and Leo Stein's libretto is wasted: it is very difficult to understand opera singers even under best circumstances, so the sensible way to present such work is in original language with translated text (on the programme for real-life opera, as subscript for video). For those who would enjoy the Viennese operetta, Placido Domingo's direction of Die Fledermaus will provide for a much more pleasurable experience.
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