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Tuesday, November 25, 1997

Countess Bore-Itza

OPERA: L.A. Opera's 'Countess Maritza' may seem like a disappointment at first, but it ultimately entertains

By John Mangum

Daily Bruin Contributor

If you're in the market for something musically fascinating and spiritually uplifting, you wouldn't have found it Saturday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

But if you prefer an evening of easy-going entertainment, then L.A. Opera's "Countess Maritza" is exactly what you're looking for. The operetta, by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalman, strings together several slightly doleful tunes and features some big production numbers, but it never reaches the level of, say, Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" or Franz Lehar's "Merry Widow." Many consider these works to be supreme examples of operetta, 19th century Vienna's version of the Broadway musical.

Actually, Kalman composed "Countess Maritza" during the 1920s, after the sun had set on the heyday of Vienna's middle class. The work's over-ripe nostalgia probably appealed to this audience, as it recalled their glory days, but it doesn't resonate as easily in a different social context.

The contrived plot revolves around Countess Maritza, no surprise given the work's title. Two men hope to win her heart, the pig-farming Baron Zsupan and Prince Popolescu, but she eventually falls in love with a third man, her estate manager, Mr. Toerek, and he returns her affections.

But Mr. Toerek is actually an impoverished nobleman, Count Tassilo, whose sister Lisa recently befriended the countess. His identity is eventually revealed, and the Countess believes that he only wants her money. The two have a big fight in front of several of the Countess' friends, but a waltz and a love song later, all is well and everyone is happy.

"Countess Maritza" has its fair share of attractive, if not ultimately memorable, songs, lively waltzes and local flavor (in this case, several appearances of the csardas, a Hungarian dance). It also has, in Nigel Douglas' English translation, hefty doses of corny, boring dialogue, especially in Act 1.

This first act, in fact, is the slowest of the three, musically and dramatically, but things really pick up after intermission. Act 2 opens with a lively tennis number for Tassilo and the Countess' female guests. It also features a splashy cabaret number for which Prince Popolescu transforms the courtyard of the Countess' estate into a glittering nightclub.

The arrival of Tassilo's aunt, Princess Bozena, and her servant, Penizek, in Act 3 marks the operetta's high point. On this occasion, Grant Neale's Penizek overflowed with hilarious physical comedy, funny enough to shift attention from Ashley Putnam's Maritza and Kevin Anderson's Tassilo during the final big ensemble number.

Putnam provided some glamour and an attractive light soprano as the Countess Anderson matched her with a light, perhaps too light, tenor and some entertaining dance moves. An erratic approach to amplification underlined the small size of his voice.

Everyone was amplified during the dialogue scenes. During several of the solos, the amplification faded out during the first few bars, but it seemed that Anderson received discreet assistance from the sound system throughout the evening. No matter, though. His singing was appealing and always tasteful, even though he ultimately lacked the ringing vocal heft of a Nicolai Gedda.

In addition to the main story between the Countess and Tassilo, two subsidiary plots involving Zsupan and Popolescu fill out the evening's entertainment.

As Zsupan, Royal Danish Opera's Gert Henning-Jensen provided some relief from the flat dialogue during Act 1 with his lyrical singing, comic delivery and confident dancing. Constance Haumann, who recently appeared at the Ahmanson in Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" and triumphed last year as Alban Berg's "Lulu" in Copenhagen, brought a glittering voice and a vivacious personality to the role of Zsupan's love interest, Lisa.

Robert Orth made an authoritative Prince Popolescu, and his scene with Judith Christin's Princess Bozena was truly one of the evening's high points. The two fall in love at first sight, and then sing a song, "Voulez vous?" full of double entendres and amusingly bad French.

John Crosby, the general director of the Santa Fe Opera, did a fine job leading the orchestra through the score, and the L.A. Opera Chorus did some excellent work in the larger ensemble scenes.

Director Linda Brovsky and choreographer Daniel Pelzig kept things lively on stage, but Maxine Willi Klein's set looked more like the inside of an El Torito than a Hungarian country estate.

Ultimately, "Countess Maritza" proved an entertaining, if forgettable, evening.

OPERA: L.A. Opera's "Countess Maritza" will be at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through Dec. 5. Tickets are $24-$135, and $20 student rush tickets are available one hour before curtain. For more information, call (213) 972-8001.

Photos courtesy of L.A. Opera

The Countess Maritza (Ashley Putnam) worries that the men in her life only love her for her wealth in the operetta "Countess Maritza."

Countess Maritza (Ashley Putnam) and Count Tassilo (Kevin Anderson) star in the Viennese operetta "Countess Maritza."