Of Mushrooms and Lilac Blossom

Das Dreimäderlhaus at the Ohio Light Opera, Wooster, Ohio, 25th June 2002

Those that have read this extended article, or that attended one of my talks on the subject at a SIUK day will have realised that I have a fascination with Das Dreimäderlhaus and its various manifestations in other languages that borders on the unhealthy. Performances of any of the versions are not all that common these days, and you probably wouldn’t expect to find one in a small college town in the middle of Amish country in Ohio! Nevertheless, when I discovered that a series of performances were planned at the Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, Ohio, I couldn’t miss the opportunity. Wooster College is a residential college of the liberal arts and sciences, and The Ohio Light Opera is their resident professional company. They are dedicated to performing, promoting and preserving the operetta repertoire. This is not a local ‘operatic’ society churning out an annual production of Gilbert and Sullivan (though G&S was where they started, and still forms the core of their 80+ works repertoire, together with many works by Victor Herbert, Kálmán, Lehár, Offenbach, Lerner & Loewe, Johann Strauss and others) but a serious attempt to preserve an authentic operetta tradition. Their seasons now last for nearly two months, with this one having eight different productions and nearly 70 performances. This was the opening performance of Das Dreimäderlhaus and its final performance is not until August 10th. As I indicate elsewhere, my personal opinion is that the original Das Dreimäderlhaus by Heinrich Berté is a much finer piece of work that most of its later derivatives, especially Blossom Time the American version by Sigmund Romberg. Those derivatives typically changed several of Berté’s carefully selected, but often rather obscure, Schubert sources with some of his ‘greatest hits’, and in my opinion these changes invariably resulted in a less effective number. I know that many scholars still refuse to accept the legitimacy of such arrangements, but I think that Das Dreimäderlhaus ‘works’ and there is no doubt that it is an effective piece. So I was particularly pleased to see that they chose to put on Das Dreimäderlhaus rather than Blossom Time, especially since they have other Romberg works (including The Desert Song and The Student Prince) in their repertoire, and so could easily have done so. Of course, despite my criticism of it, I would still go and watch a performance of Blossom Time should I find one! Naturally, an American operetta audience doesn’t want an unknown work presented in German, so this production used a new English translation and performing version by Richard Traubner. This worked very well in my view – it used modern language (including, if my ears did not deceive me, one fairly mild expletive), which made sense, and it started really well with the strolling players telling the audience not to take the plot too seriously, and to switch off their cellphones! Of course the ‘plot’ is not one that can be taken at all seriously, and Traubner included some deliberately light-hearted moments. In particular, Nowotny the detective was presented as a pompous and incompetent twerp, with every utterance being full of malapropisms. Those of you that used to watch ‘allo, ‘allo, the BBC comedy series about the French Resistance, would recognise the character as a sort of combination of the Gestapo officer Herr Flick, and the spy whose English is not too good, and who starts every conversation with ‘good moaning’. The performance took place in the Freedlander Theater, a 1970s building on the main campus that seats around 300 people, and was sold out. The audience, many of whom were of an age that would have allowed them to see Blossom Time in its prime, was rather passive throughout. As is often the case with more modern theatres, the stage is not especially large, and is certainly much smaller than the original stages used when the work was first presented back in 1916. Because of this I did not find the 1st act setting at all convincing as the typical Viennese courtyard depicted in the familiar Otto Nowak drawing (used in the OLO literature). The setting for the second act (Tschöll’s drawing room) and the third act (a Heuriger in Grinzing – see the gripes, below) were perfectly effective.
I thought that the performance started rather hesitantly, especially the choreography, with the parasol twirling three little maids quite out of synchronisation and with Schubert’s friends singing ‘Hark, hark, the lark’ being unconvincing, but it soon warmed up, and maintained a high standard for the rest of the performance. There was much dancing-whilst-singing throughout – most fitting since many of the Schubert settings used by Berté are dances. Schubert’s (John Pickle) dancing was fairly clumsy throughout, though I suspect this was accidental, rather than deliberate playing in character (Schubert, of course, didn’t dance). The second act was particularly good. It started (as it should) with Vogl finishing Erlkönig at the wedding party, with the guests arranged around the piano somewhat like Schwind’s picture of a Schubertiade. The new translation made it very easy to keep up with the complicated comings and goings of the plot. There was excellent singing throughout, especially from Hannerl (Julie Wright) and Schober (Brian Woods), and the scene with the Tschöll’s (Ben Smith and Yvonne Douthat) one big number "That’s how it goes" (i.e. "Geh, Alte, schau") worked especially well. Lucia Grisi (Robin Bricker), a part that is a caricature (the Italian ‘prima donna’), was exactly as she should have been. This act has a big finale, with Schubert, who has just lost Hannerl to Schober, breaking down whilst singing Ungeduld, which was magnificent, leaving a buzz in the audience. After the excitement of the second act, the third is a bit of a let-down, but that is the fault of Willner and Reichert (who wrote the original libretto), rather than of this production. The production could not really be faulted, but the end is all really rather muted.	'Geh Alte Schau', a postcard (No. 75) from the extensive contemporary Das Dreimäderlhaus series drawn by A. Broch, and issued by Bunte Reihe. In this card the Tschöll’s are seen consoling each other, whilst their daughters and new husbands can be seen departing in a coach.
Of course, I do have a series of gripes, though most of these would only annoy a purist (if being a purist about such a derivative work is not a contradiction in terms) and perfectionist like myself. There were several annoyances with the characters: Hannerl is called Hanni throughout, for example, and her sisters, whilst ostensibly called Haiderl and Hederl are usually referred to as Haidi and Heidi. Kupelwieser is said to be an engineer (and is dressed as one, rather than the artist that he was) and Vogl’s name is wrong (he is called Johann Nepomuk[1] instead of Johann Michael). No attempt is made to show that Vogl was much older than his friends. The third act is set in Grinzing, rather than the Prater, for no obvious reason, though this doesn’t detract from the ‘story’. There was also an unnecessary interpolation of one of Schubert’s greatest hits, as Schubert is urged to sing Heidenröslein at the start of Act 2. I could see no point in this: the accompaniment and presentation was rudimentary, with no attempt to bring out the sexual innuendo in the words. Overall, this was an very enjoyable performance, and well worth the hassle of a long journey to attend. Other than the gripes, above, it was a very sensible, straight and sincere production of the work as Berté intended it, but with a modern libretto. There are still performances left this season, and OLO do tend to tailor the contents of their seasons based on the reactions of the audience, so there must be a fair chance that it will appear at the OLO in the future. © Richard Morris June 2002

Notes