Reviewed by James Karas
The Toronto Operetta Theatre brought a vibrant, well-sung and delightful production of Imre Kalman’s Countess Maritza to bid farewell to 2024 and ring in the New Year. I am not sure if the operetta has been produced in Toronto before (I have not heard of any recent productions) but it is the 100th anniversary of the work and the 40th year of TOT and both are good reasons to celebrate.
The operetta has a large cast and some wonderful melodies. The plot? Well, Countess Maritza (Holly Chaplin) is rich, beautiful, eligible, available (a widow) and the target of suitors galore. To avoid them and enjoy her huge estate, she announces and publishes that she is engaged to Baron Zsupan. It is a subterfuge to get rid of the suitors because there is no Baron Zsupan. Oops, there is a Baron Zsupan (Joshua Clemenger) who shows up to claim his betrothed.
In the meantime, a handsome but impoverished Baron Tassilo (Scott Rumble) works as manager on the Countess’s estate disguised as Bela Torek. He needs to raise some money for his sister Countess Lisa’s (Patricia Wrigglesworth) dowry. You see, he is no gold digger,
We have a fictitious fiancé who turns out to be real, a Count who pretends to be an estate manager, Maritza’s housekeeper Manja (Lori Mak) who is also a fortune teller and predicts happy events. She does a lovely job singing the opening aria “Luck is a golden dream” and joins the ensemble but does not get any other solos. The main characters have friends and companions and there is Prince Popolescu (Sebastien Belcourt) who is after Maritza and Princess Bozena (Meghan Simon), Tassilo’s aunt.
Kalman was a master of melodies and lively arias, duets and choruses. The protagonists are paired for their duets and foretell the outcome of the operetta which is never in doubt. Maritza’s estate is in Hungary and Tassilo sings “Vienna Mine” which is where the operetta had its debut. Lisa and Tassilo sing about their “Childhood memories,” Lisa and Zsupan sing “When I start dreaming” and Maritza and Tassilo really turn on the romantic heat in “Be mine, my love be mine.” It’s a minor point that can easily be avoided but do tell the dancers that they are waltzing and not stomping on grapes to produce wine. Smaller steps and pretend you are floating.
Clemenger plays Zsupan as a bit of a duffus but he can’t be an idiot because we need good husband material, He has to marry a poor woman or else he will lose his fortune. Good work by Clemenger.
Rumble and Chaplin give solid performances as their relationship goes from boss and servant to “Waltz our worries away” to “Be mine my love, be mine.”
Conductor Derek Bate did heroic work with his band of ten musicians lined up across the apron of the stage.
Three were a couple of minor issues like the inelegant waltzes and some of the minor characters who had a hard time pronouncing English.
The costumes by Thunder Thighs were plentiful and beautiful and some of the props came from the Stratford Festival were very good and helpful.
I end my review as always with comments about Guillermo Silva-Marin. He is the director and lighting designer of the production and the General Director of Toronto Operetta Theatre. To put it succinctly, no Silva-Marin, no operetta in Toronto. That is a compliment to him and a slap in the face of Toronto. He does everything on a shoestring budget in a small theatre, with a tiny “orchestra.” It is shameful that Toronto cannot fund the opposite of what he is getting and produce first-rate operettas in a better venue. The production got only three performances and that is surely a hindrance to just about every aspect of operetta in Toronto.
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Countess Maritza by Imre Kalman in a new English version by Nigel Douglas was performed on 29, December 2024 and on January 3 and 4, 2025 at the Jane Mallett, Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario. Tel: (416) 366-7723. www.torontooperetta.com
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