Opera Scotland

The Merry Widow in Scotland

Posted 4 Mar 2025

The Merry Widow received its first Scottish performance in Glasgow, at the King's Theatre on 23 December 1907.  The touring company, up from London, where it had opened at Daly's Theatre off Leicester Square, was under the management of George Edwardes, one of the leading Edwardian impresarios. The translators were Adrian Ross and Basil Hood, two of the leading writers of musical comedies at the time.  For some reason they changed some of the names of characters - for instance Hanna became Sonia, Mirko Zeta became Baron Popoff. We have ignored these changes, which remained the standard form in Britain for decades. The operetta remained hugely popular all over the country for several years, touring to the four Scottish cities. but the outbreak of war in 1914 inevitably meant that such central European pieces declined in popularity.

The twenties saw a great revival in enthusiasm for frivolity of all kinds, and George Edwardes continued to provide such entertainment. One of the leading performers of musical theatre was a Dane called Carl Brisson.  He continued to tour as Danilo throughout the inter-war years.  In 1923, his Hanna was a young star called Evelyn Laye, who also remained popular for several decades. By 1932 he had taken over as producer, and sang opposite Helen Gilliland.  The Baron in both casts was George Graves.

By 1945 the producer was Jack Hylton, a name that remained familiar for several decades.  The choreographer was the great Australian dancer Robert Helpmann.  The leading couple were Frank Fox and Elizabeth French.  In 1949 this lavish staging was still on the go, now with Frank Leighton and Olga Gwynne in the leads.

In 1954, Peter Daubeny, who for many years ran seasons bringing foreign theatre companies to London, brought an ensemble from Vienna, with productions of The Merry Widow as well as Wiener Blut (J Strauss) and The  Gypsy Princess (Kálmán).  The Scottish dates included Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.  This is, thus far, the only instance when these works have been heard in Scotland with the original German text.  The two leads were played by Christine von Widmann and Otto Falvay.  Camille was taken by the Viennese tenor Karl Terkal, a name that appears in many recordings.  Late in his career (in the 1970s) he can be heard in character parts in Der Rosenkavalier recordings conducted by Solti, Karajan and Bernstein.

1958 saw the arrival of a hugely successful new staging by Sadler's Wells Opera, directed by Charles Hickman.  Mercifully a new and authentic translation was at last introduced. The company's newly-appointed musical director was a young Scot, Alexander Gibson, and the four week Scottish tour took in Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Glasgow..  Sir Alex always had a soft spot for this work thereafter, as he met his wife Veronica, universally known as 'V', during the run. She was one of the dancers.  The cast was led by Australian soprano June Bronhill as Hanna, with Thomas Round (Danilo), Scottish tenor William McAlpine (Camille) and Howell Glynne (Baron). The production was brought back the following year as well.

Scottish Opera's first staging by Anthony Besch was constantly in the repertoire from 1973 to 1977. The designs by John Stoddart were superb and Virginia Mason's choreography stood out.  The initial cast, conducted by Gibson, included Catherine Wilson (Hanna), Pat Hay (Valencienne), Bill McCue (Baron), Dutch baritone Marco Bakker (Danilo) and David Hillman (Camille).  Other roles were taken by Gordon Sandison, John Robertson, Malcolm Donnelly and Nan Christie, among others. Later cast members included Elizabeth Robson (Hanna), Swedish tenor Jonny Blanc (Danilo) and Richard Greager (Camille).

The company's second production in 1989 had a much shorter run, directed by Di Trevis.  However it remains memorable for the excellent Danilo of a new company member, Simon Keenlyside, and a rare Scottish appearance by Suzanne Murphy (Hanna).  The most recent production by the company was a small-scale nationwide tour with piano accompaniment. Stephanie Corley and Alexander Grove made effective appearances in a staging by Clare Whistler.

In 2005, Welsh National Opera brought a staging to Edinburgh directed by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser.  Lesley Garrett came north to sing Hanna with Jeffrey Black as Danilo, Tracey Welborn (Camille) and Ailish Tynan (Valencienne).  Two Scottish stalwarts also appeared as guests - Donald Maxwell (Baron) and Linda Ormiston (Praskowia).

In 2004 a production appeared under the Carl Rosa label.  This new company generally did Gilbert and Sullivan, including a successful reconstruction of the original Victorian staging of The Mikado, which used sets and costumes made for Mike Leigh's film Topsy-Turvy. They now made a stylish attempt at the Viennese classic, conducted by regular broadcaster Martin Handley and directed by Michael McCaffery in elegant designs by Hugh Durrant.  The cast included Jan Hartley (Hanna), Earl Carpenter (Danilo) and veteran actor Victor Spinetti (Baron).  Canadian tenor David Curry was Camille.  When the production returned the following year he was justifiably promoted to Danilo, while Margaret Preece joined the team as Hanna.