Limelight — May 2017

http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au

WORKTwoWeddings,OneBrideCOMPOSERRobert Andrew Greene, Strauss,

Offenbach, Lehár etc SCORED FOR Voices and Piano PRESENTED BY Opera Australia

PREMIERE Sydney Opera House, April 29 PERFORMERS Opera Australia

WORLD PREMIERE

O

peretta! The very word brings

back memories of Great Aunty

Marj making her regular

pilgrimage down to Her Majesty’s to

catch a Saturday matinee, during which

she would inflict serious damage on the

contents of a box of chocolates.

Nowadays, the plight of operetta is more

troublesome. The era when they could be

relied upon to revive the flagging fortunes

of an opera house seems to be over, and

to possess the performing rights to one

(to use an old-fashioned expression) is no

longer seen as ‘a licence to print money’.

On the Continent, operettas are still very

much in evidence – even well attended –

yet it cannot be denied that they now face

fierce opposition thanks to the invasion of

countless American and British musicals.

The problem, it must be confessed,

lies with the pieces themselves. Not

so much the scores, which abound in

superb melodies and were frequently

finely orchestrated by their composers

(something unheard of in the modern

musical, where sometimes a whole team

of writers cobble together the finished

score), but sadly the scripts are mostly

unpalatable for a 21st-century audience.

Often, operetta librettists in the German

speaking countries (less so in France and

England) were content to serve up any

kind of nonsense to audiences, as long as it

provided a vehicle for a memorable score.

So what can be done to offer this

great musical theatre form a fresh lease

of life? My solution has been to create a

new dramatic vehicle to house some of

the treasure trove of wonderful melodies

to be found within the repertoire. This is

not an especially original idea in itself.

Highly successful pastiche operettas

include Wiener Blut (based on the works

of Johann Strauss II) and Opera Rara’s

witty Christopher Columbus (which uses

some of the less familiar numbers from

the work of Jacques Offenbach).

Two Weddings, One Bride is based on

Giroflé-Girofla, an operetta written by

one of Offenbach’s rivals, Charles Lecocq.

In the realm of operetta it is a rare

example where the libretto is better than

the score. It was by no means a flop at the

time of its premiere (quite the reverse),

but a deliciously ridiculous scenario based

around the wedding day of two identical

brides was set to a merely pleasant, even

somewhat unmemorable score.

Using much (but not all) of the original

storyline, I have written new dialogue

and lyrics, moving the action from the

Crusades to a more modern setting,

and while some of the Lecocq’s original

music may make a brief appearance,

some of the greatest numbers from the

European operetta repertoire are given

a new dramatic home where they can

be enjoyed once more after too long an

absence from our stages. Unashamedly,

the result is pure operetta jukebox!

So, as you watch the machinations of

the unfortunate brides’ parents trying to

save the far from successful wedding day

of their identical twin daughters, see how

many melodies you recognise. I won’t tell

you what they are, but if you find that the

person sitting next to you is singing along

with the cast, you might ask them!

MAKING OPERETTA GREAT AGAIN

Eager to resuscitate an art form, Robert Andrew Greene is

cramming hits into a Lecocq plot in a case of pure jukebox!

Robert Andrew Greene

Australian

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28/07 — 05/08/2017

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