Word: operetta
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...Gilbert and Sullivan Players' one-act operetta is a pre-season treat for G&S fans and a delightful introduction for neophytes. Think of it as a Gilbert and Sullivan sound-bite: 45 minutes of what has brought audiences back for well over a century. Bellow "God Save the Queen," thrill to the pun-ny patter, roll your eyes at the ending and still make it home in time for the post-trial wrap-up shows...
...Candide," this season's final Boston Lyric offering, hovers between Old World operetta traditions and light-hearted American musical theater...
...weight of the past anchors both operas. Born as an operetta and filled with nostalgia for the glorious frivolity of second Empire Paris, La Rondine at seems like a frothy escapist fantasy composed in the shadow of World War I. The opera's interest stems from the emotional counterpoint between the longing for an unattainable past and a deep melancholy about the possibility of translating this past into the future. A similarly valedictory sense marks the humor of Gianni Schicchi, which responds to the tradition of opera buffa and becomes, in a sense, the terminus of this tradition...
...human spirit is nowhere more apparent than in Sarajevo. In nearly three years under siege, Sarajevans have refused to allow the Bosnian capital's artistic soul to perish. An emotional highlight at the 11th annual Sarajevo Winter Festival last week was a one-time-only performance of an operetta by Britain's Nigel Osborne and Bosnian poet Goran Simic. With President Alija Izetbegovic in the audience, the production (also seen on national television) was complete with soloists, the city's symphony orchestra and 150 members of its children's chorus...
Unfortunately, such glimpses of sharp humor tease but do not deliver. Gilbert's libretto satirizes Victorian England, and his allusions were blunt and meaningful to contemporary audiences. A modern staging also needs some deeper dimension to do justice to the operetta. this Iolanthe shows possibilities but does not explore them; the campiness factor, the battle between sexes, or its interpretation as the first Jungle Fever could all be developed further. As it stands, Fairyland has as much bite as a flat scene on the back of a Crayola box, and the Lords react to its inhabitants the same why they...