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| Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus - Alison Langer, Harry Wilson - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Craig Fuller) |
Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus; Thomas Atkins, Alison Langer, Rebecca Bottone, Clare Presland, Julien Van Mellaerts, Xavier Hetherington, director: Liam Steel, City of London Sinfonia, conductor George Jackson; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed 29 July 2026
London 1929 is the setting for Liam Steel's engaging production full of Bright Young Things, helped by strong musical values under George Jackson though perhaps dialogue does not fizz quite enough
Johann Strauss's operettas were highly popular in his lifetime, particularly in Vienna, but apart from Die Fledermaus they have struggled to find a place in the repertoire - when did you last come across a performance of Eine Nacht in Venedig or Der Zigeunerbaron? The fault laid against them is often that the librettos were poor, partly this is because many were based on boulevard comedies. Mistaken identities, disguise and farcical situations are often key and a lesser known work like Blindekuh (Blind man's buff, see my review of the 2002 recording) seems to have too much plot for its own good.
Cannily, Die Fledermaus solves this problem partly by having a key element of the plot happen well before the opera starts, a trick with which Verdi (Il trovatore) and Wagner (Parsifal) were both familiar. The other canny element is the Act Two party, where stray bits of plot can happen in quick succession alongside a bubbly score. And that is the point, Strauss operettas work because of their scores, because of his infectious melodies.
Whilst Die Fledermaus is the best known of Strauss's operettas, it hardly gets over-performed in the UK. The Grange Festival performed it last year [see my review], and fringe opera company St Paul's Opera did it in 2024 [see our article]. But before then we came across Opera Integra in 2017 [see our review] and Opera Holland Park in 2016 [see my review], with ENO presenting a single run of Christopher Alden's production in 2013 [see our review], whilst the Royal Opera last performed it in 1990!
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| Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus - Julien Van Mellaerts, Clare Presland, Alison Langer, Thomas Atkins - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Craig Fuller) |
Ten years on from their last production, Opera Holland Park returned to Strauss's Die Fledermaus on 29 July 2026 in a new production directed by Liam Steel (who also provided the choreography) and conducted by George Jackson with City of London Sinfonia in the pit. Sets were by Neil Irish and costumes by Laura Jane Stanfield. Eisenstein was Thomas Atkins, Rosalinde was Alison Langer, Rebecca Bottone was Adele, Clare Presland was Orlofsky, and Julien Van Mellaerts was Falke.
The work was performed in an English version created in 2013 for the Metropolitan Opera with lyrics by Jeremy Sams and dialogue by the American playwright Douglas Carter Beane. I don't know what was presented at the Met, but what we heard was Die Fledermaus transposed to New Year's Eve in London in 1929. Sams's lyrics seemed to be determined to fit in as many local and literary references as possible and rather came over as a little too arch and to determined to be clever. Dialogue is a notorious problem in opera, and in operetta there is a need to keep it on a level with the music. Here under Jackson's admirable direction the music did froth, but the dialogue did not. It was all delivered with admirable clarity, yet never quite took flight. At its best, the world of Die Fledermaus can be as crazy as Gilbert's topsy-turvey-dom, but here Act One felt more prosaic, a little too close to a drawing room comedy. What we wanted was far more zip and craziness, to match the fact that in the trio in Act One, Rosalinde, Eisenstein and Adele can each hardly stop themselves from dancing.
Director (and choreographer) Liam Steel has form with operetta he directed Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers for English Touring Opera last year [see my review], having directed Patience for them in 2017 [see my review]. Here, Liam Steel the choreographer displayed admirable restraint. Yes, there was a lot of movement, but it was more physical theatre, he did not fall into the trap of choreographing every dance melody that Strauss used! Also, Steel had a separate dancer (Harry Wilson) who in Act One (and during the overture) was dressed as a bat and seemed to be an alter-ego for Falke (Julien Van Mellaerts), then was more eye-candy in Act Two.
Someone, either Steel, Sams or Carter Beane had ensured that the plot in this rather bewildering operetta was made clear. For the first time in a long time, this was a performance of Die Fledermaus where both the reasons for the elaborate ruse and the mechanics of the ruse itself were admirably clear. Too often, this work can seem like a simple progression of events without any logic.
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| Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus - Alison Langer, Xavier Hetherington, Thomas Atkins - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Craig Fuller) |
The interval was placed at the point when New Year strikes in Act Two, with Strauss waltzes (sorry, I can't identify them, I am not much of a Strauss aficionado) to end Part One and being Part Two, along with a further waltz for the scene change into Act Three. These hardly felt like padding as Jackson and the orchestra made them really vibrant. Jackson might be better known for other repertoire, but he certainly made Strauss go with an engaging swing and plenty of fizz.
Unlike Offenbach and Gilbert & Sullivan, Viennese operetta does not believe in satire, it's about fun, largely through mistaken identity and masks. In Die Fledermaus we have a group of people all behaving badly with none of them really anything admirable. Falke has been nursing a grudge against Eisenstein because of the 'bat' incident years ago, whilst Rosalinde, Alfred, Eisenstein, Adele, and Frank are all venial enough to fall for the idea that they get a mysterious invitation to Orlofsky's ball. Perhaps Orlofsky (Clare Presland) is the only semi-admirable person, or may Frosch (Robert Burt).
Alison Langer's Rosalinde was more admirable and far less air-headed than in some versions and Langer managed to simmer with discreet rage admirably throughout most of Act Two. Her Csardas was rightly a show-stopper, though making her do it on the main stage, behind the orchestra was unfair and balance was not ideal. But throughout she sang with style and was constantly engaging. By contrast, Rebecca Bottone was clearly out to have fun. Playing Adele as a Cockney maid to perfection, she also delighted in Adele's more coloratura moments. Clare Presland played Orlofsky (no Prince in this version) as gender-fluid, but lumbered with a terrible Russian accent (whoever thought that was a good idea). Still, Presland had great fun in Orlofsky's solo in Act Two, making the swoops a thing of great folk-inspired style, and she made Orlofsky a stronger musical presence through the work.
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| Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus - Rebecca Bottone, Matthew Siveter - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Craig Fuller) |
Thomas Atkins' Eisenstein was suave charm itself, allied to an elegant voice, all in all a character you would not trust as far as you could throw him. Atkins made the most of Eisenstein's dalliances with the would-be showgirls in Act Two as well as having great fun flirting with his disguised wife. Atkins managed to suggest the dimness that underlay the charm, but overlaid with a manner and musical style that was very much on point. Julien Van Mellaerts' Falke was wonderfully over dressed and dapper, not to say camp and Van Mellaerts created as lovely sense of character, someone who clearly took great satisfaction in maliciously manipulating others. In other words, an evil old queen. Yet, by the end we felt a bit sorry for him too when, towards the end of Act Three, he lamented that all his planning had been for naught, and we had a happy end after all.
Xavier Hetherington was in gloriously over-the-top divo tenor mode as Alfred. Something of a one note aria really, but great fun, and made more indulgent for us because of Hetherington's luxuriant tenor voice. Monwabisi Lindi was a delightfully befuddled Blind, with he and Atkins's Eisenstein having great fun with the Act Three costume swap as Blind tried to impress on Eisenstein the problem the difference in their skin colour would have, without actually saying so. Matthew Siveter made Frank into a bluff Yorkshire-man and clearly had fun with it whilst making Frank a stronger character over all. But I have to admit that Steel and his cast did not quite manage to get over the sheer annoyance of all those Act Two scenes where people were pretending to be a different nationality, all those silly accents and cod-French!
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| Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus - Matthew Siveter, Julien Van Mellaerts - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Craig Fuller) |
The smaller roles were well taken too. Olivia Carrell made a fun Ida with Robert Burt on form as Frosch and his solo moment at the opening of Act Three was blessedly short and to the point. Alistair Sutherland played Orlofsky's highly-coloured bodyguard, Ivan (I still have happy memories of Scottish Opera's 1979 production of Die Fledermaus where Cynthia Buchan's Orlofsky made his/her entrance sitting on one shoulder of a huge bodyguard!)
The chorus were in great form. This was definitely and all-singing, all-dancing show as there was no dedicated dance group, everyone danced. And for the ensemble numbers, Steel had his chorus doing all sorts. Costumes for the ball had the requisite amount of cross-dressing, and the chorus did manage to convey the idea that the characters were simply out for a good time.
The setting made admirable use of the fore-stage. This was the Eisenstein's living room in Act One (looking more like a 1930s hotel than a real home) with a London streetscape as the backdrop on the main stage. The problem with this was that the forestage's lack of backdrop led to a drop in the glamour quotient in Act One, but repaid in immediacy. For Act Two, most of the action (too much) happened on the main stage with Rosalinde and Eisenstein's encounter on the forestage. For Act Three, the prison office was on the forestage with the cells on the mainstage.
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Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus - Clare Presland, Julien Van Mellaerts - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Craig Fuller) |
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