Opera Scotland

Fledermaus 2026Opera Bohemia

Read more about the opera Fledermaus

An old friend of mine, writes Garry Fraser, once told me of the greatest mis-placing of a comma he’d ever seen.

It was in a review of Strauss’ magnificent operetta, and it read “Die, Fledermaus”. Such punctuation indicates some malevolence, but there is no darkness in Opera Bohemia’s current production of Die Fledermaus. On the contrary, there is much fun, humour and frivolity, light-heartedness personified,mixed with marvellous music and inventive staging. Sometimes the transportation of the scenario of this operetta from Vienna to another venue (plus up-dating) doesn’t work, but OB’s decision to set it in modern-day Glasgow worked a treat.

The plot follows a well-trodden operatic path through jocular mistaken identity and infidelity, and the nine-strong cast breezed through it with a significant amount of class and musical nous. Their comedic timing was razor-sharp, aided and abetted by Douglas Nairne’s witty dialogue, and director John Wilkie’s cunning use of the cast in the ensemble numbers was the icing on the cake. This was particularly evident in the Adele/Rosalinde/Eisenstein “Oh Dear, oh dear” and the famous Laughing Song. Equally potent was the full ensemble finale of Act 2, “I Am Yours”. No movement here, and rightly so. This wonderful number lets the music do the talking.

Each principal adopted the characterisation of his or her part to perfection, some a tad more than others, Simon Mascarenhas Carter’s Alfred and his uncanny ability to burst into song (any song!) was a particular hit as was Audrey Tsang’s coquettish Adele.

Catriona Clark (Rosalinde)never gives anything less than a 5-star performance and her Czardas number was one of many pleasires this production produced.Connor Smith’s Eisenstein was another who relished this unlikely but highly entertaining dose of innocent duplicity and two-timing, and if there was a comedy award, Ross Cumming would win it,not just for his quasi-French vocabulary but for the opening drunken scene of Act 3.

Sometimes I miss the absence of the jailor Frosch (this version of the operetta discards him), but Ross’s comedy talent more than compensated. Whitaker Mills as the Bat himself (no Batmobile though!) was the perfect prankster, nicely getting his own back on Eisenstein’s previous trickery. There were also nice cameos from Matthew Kimble (Blint), Laura Margaret Smith (Orlovsky) and Stephanie Stanway (Ida).

Providing the music in Perth for the ensemble’s vocal talents was Alistair Digges and his small but perfectly-balanced orchestra, throughout supportive to those on stage and always with Strauss’ wonderful music in mind. One of the operetta’s famous songs is “Champagne”, and I would readily raise a toast to another Opera Bohemia hit.

I’ve seen this company many, many times over the years and they never fail to come up with a winner. It might be the darkness of Tosca or the tragedy of La Boheme, but this time it was the farce-like fizz and frivolity of Fledermaus. Well worth a visit.