The Merry Widow meets the Godfather: Scottish Opera brings John Savournin's new production of Lehár's operetta to Opera Holland Park

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Alex Otterburn, Henry Waddington - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Lehár: The Merry Widow; Paula Sides, Alex Otterburn, Rhian Lois, William Morgan, Henry Waddington, director: John Savournin, Scottish Opera, conductor: Stuart Stratford; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed 19 June 2025

Scottish Opera brings its New York Mafia Merry Widow to Opera Holland Park in a production where the two principals shine despite distractions and overdone comedy

Viennese operetta was written as escapism, usually based on boulevard comedies with plenty of mistaken identity and pretence, settings were largely exotic. in 1905, librettists Viktor Léon and Leo Stein turned to Henri Meilhac's 1861 comic play L'attaché d'ambassade, to create Die lustige Witwe. They transferred the action to Paris, moving the protagonists' native land to the exotic Montenegro, introducing extra plot involving the baron's wife and transferring the last act to the chic Parisian restaurant of Maxim's. The result seemed to have all the ingredients required for an operetta.

Hungarian composer Franz Lehár wrote music that was inflected by these Parisian and Balkan settings, yet his treatment of the opera's two couples, Hanna and Danilo, Valencienne and Camille, gives them sentimentally touching music that makes their emotional journey's believable. Die lustige Witwe isn't just about comic situations, it is about people, yet these four are surrounded by a welter of determinedly comic, stock characters, and that is the challenge when it comes to bringing the operetta alive on today's stage.

It is tempting to wonder what the original production was like (the original Hanna, Mitzi Günther did in fact record parts of the opera and you can hear her Viljalied on YouTube). Now, I expect that we would find the original tedious and hardly escapism, after all neither Paris nor Montenegro has the same exoticism. ENO has had two goes at getting the piece right in recent decades, neither the John Copley production in 2008 [see my review], nor the Max Webster one in 2019 [see my review] seem to have stuck, though both got some things right. Graham Vick directed it at the Shaftesbury Theatre for the Royal Opera in 1997, an experiment that seems never to have been repeated. At Glyndebourne last year (I only saw the production on video), Cal McCrystal brought his familiar style to the work, keeping the original setting yet overegging the drama.

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Paula Sides - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Scottish Opera, Opera Holland Park and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company have collaborated on a new production of Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow in what was presumably hoped were the safe hands of director John Savournin. Savournin with David Eaton founded Charles Court Opera and have long experience in this game, whilst Savournin and his company have collaborated with Opera Holland Park on a series of Gilbert & Sullivan stagings. For this production Savournin and Eaton produced a new English version.

Having toured the production for Scottish Opera earlier this year [see the review in The Stage]. The cast, the Scottish Opera Orchestra and Chorus, and conductor Stuart Stratford came to Opera Holland Park. We caught the first performance at Opera Holland Park on 19 June 2025. The cast was led by Paula Sides as Hanna and Alex Otterburn as Danilo, with Rhian Lois as Valencienne, William Morgan as Camille, and Henry Waddington as Zeta. Designs were by takis, with lighting by Ben Pickersgill and choreography by Kally Lloyd-Jones.

Savournin (book) and Eaton (lyrics) had the idea to transpose their new English version to Italian-American Mafiosi in New York, with Hanna's fortune coming from Sicily,  so that the second act moved to Sicily, whilst Maxim's was relocated to New York. In an article in the programme book, John Savournin argued cohesively for the new setting, which does make sense intellectually. Unfortunately, the relocation creates dramaturgical and emotional problems.

Lehár: The Merry Widow - William Morgan, Rhian Lois - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

The new plot required rather too much dialogue explanation in the first act, and left us open to a plethora of smaller Mafia characters who were intended to be funny. What we had though, were rather too many bad Italian-American accents and far too much acting that was self-consciously funny (a fault in the recent Glyndebourne production of the operetta). Matthew Kellett, Christopher Nairne and Connor James Smith worked hard as Nicky Negus, Carmelo Cascada and Sam Briochi, aided and abetted by Francis Church as Pritischitsch and Matthew Siveter as Kromow, but a little goes a long way and we soon tired of them. Henry Waddington as Don Zeta was a masterclass in how to be funny yet not go too far. Perhaps the venue was at fault and that the production might have worked with the lighter touch needed in a smaller, easier space.

Given that the operetta includes one of the most famous operetta waltzes, it seemed perverse to choose a setting where the need to waltz was removed. Also, takis' highly imaginative set left little space for the chorus to actually waltz. There was dancing and the chorenes worked very hard, but the party in Act One was notable for a real lack of dancing except for group shimmying. Frankly, it was a relief when at the end of Act One and the end of Act Three, Paula Sides and Alex Otterburn did actually waltz together.

I have to confess that I found the Mafia element in David Eaton's lyrics rather jarring but then I have always been rather fond of Christopher Hassall's lyrics and whatever the soprano sings, in my head I always hear 'Vilja, oh Vilja, oh nymph of delight'. 

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Paula Sides in 'Vilja' - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

After the rather hectic, and somewhat overlong first act set in Don Zeta's New York apartment, the remaining two acts, set on Hanna's Sicilian estate and in Maxim's, seemed to flow rather better. Perhaps this was because there was less dialogue and the comic business took second place to the plot. Throughout the evening, the staging of the music numbers was masterly. I was particularly taken with the very effective male soloists' number about women, which was musical theatre at its best. 

Throughout the mayhem, Paula Sides and Alex Otterburn, as Hanna and Danilo, seemed to create their own special space on the stage. And this was another reason why the second half worked better than the first, the focus was more on the leading couple. As Hanna in this version, Sides had the distinct advantage in the accent stakes as she was born in Tennessee. She made a warmly attractive Hanna, effortlessly holding the stage in Vilja and bringing out the Beatrice and Benedict aspect of her dialogue with Otterburn. The staging did not quite solve the problem of Hanna's first entry, and I suspect the venue did not help so that Sides' soprano did not soar over the male chorus in the way that it should. But then the production did require her to emerge from a lift rather than descend a glamorous staircase.

Alex Otterburn made an attractive, engaging Danilo and you could see why he had a reputation with the women. Otterburn was, perhaps, a little too pleasant at first, you did not quite believe him as the ladykiller that the plot requires. But Otterburn sparred with Sides in deft fashion and brought a real sense of emotion to the character's arc, culminating in his fine solo at the end of Act Two where he finally let his emotional guards down. As a pairing Otterburn and Sides not only were believable but held our attention, so that the journey of these two characters meant something. Yes, the music is sentimental, but at the very end where the operetta ended with Otterburn and Sides dancing together alone on the forestage, the two created a bit of real magic.

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Rhian Lois - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Rhian Lois was a serious, rather gutsy Valentina (the name Valencienne acquired in this production), though thankfully Lois was not too weighed down by the need to be a 'New York broad' and whilst she was strong-minded, her Valentina was entirely serious in her love affair and her want to be a 'respectable wife'. In Act Three, Lois showed an entirely different side when she joined the cabaret number at the opening, dancing with a will with the other showgirls. As her love interest, William Morgan was rather hampered by his cod-French accent and the rather over-cooked sense of Camille's character. This was a case where less would have been more, yet Morgan and Lois did find some real connection and you wished the relationship had been presented more naturally.

Henry Waddington was an engaging Zeta, effortlessly in charge, funny yet not over done. Around him zipped various characters re-thought as his Mafia cohorts, Matthew Kellet as Nicky Negus, Christopher Nairne as Carmelo Cascada, Connor James Smith as Sam Briochi, plus Francis Church as Pritischitsch and Matthew Siveter. Whatever I thought of the resulting characters, no matter how annoying their stage presence, I must credit the performers for the way they entered into things with a will.

The advantage of the setting was that their women-folk were a great deal more feisty than usual and it was clearly that Ellie Neate and Rosie Lavery as Sylvia and Paulina were having great fun, whilst Amy J Payne created the wondrous character of Olga out of virtually nothing.

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

The all-singing, all-dancing chorus were terrific, entering into the whole staging with a will and combining musicality with real dancing, and the women playing the showgirls in Act Three definitely deserved a mention in the programme. The programme credited Derek Clark with the orchestral reduction but we had a sizeable orchestra all the same with double woodwind and brass. Their contribution, under Stuart Stratford's deft direction was definitely a highlight, and the orchestral moments in the score brought real character to the auditorium.

There was so much that was right about this staging, that it was a shame that decisions about the setting and the dramaturgy rather mitigated against making this evening complete enjoyment. Such sympathy and hard work had gone into creating the staging that it was a shame that unnecessary dramaturgy and silly accents mitigated against it.

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