The Stage

The Merry Widow

Published Wednesday 30 April 2008 at 11:25 by George Hall

ENO’s new production of Lehar’s sparkling operetta marks an important return to the Coliseum for director John Copley, who gave the company many of its biggest hits of the seventies. His skilful traditional production is certainly preferable to some daft, conceptual rethink and picks up pace as it goes - though not every element is quite in place as yet.

Deirdre Clancy’s elegant Belle Epoque costumes certainly fit the bill. Tim Reed’s sets, though, look skimpy, at least until the final act, with the recreation of Chez Maxim at the Pontevedrin Embassy. The choreography, by Anthony van Laast and Nicola Treherne, is pleasing and decently performed, though without the requisite verve until Act III, when things finally take flight.

But Amanda Roocroft, both vocally and dramatically, has a clear idea of Hanna Glawari from the word go, bringing warmth and charm to everything she does. John Graham-Hall’s Danilo can’t match her in that respect - he lacks the charisma and sexiness the male lead demands.

Those factors are certainly present in Alfie Boe’s Camille, vocally resplendent and winningly performed, and he’s ably partnered by Fiona Murphy’s Valencienne.

Richard Suart buzzes around busily as Baron Zeta and Roy Hudd is a fund of likeable invention as Njegus - his third-act song, culled from the first London production of 1907, is a highlight.

Yet somehow the show feels slow on its feet and Oliver von Dohnanyi’s conducting doesn’t exactly kick it into life.