This was the American premiere of Arizona Lady, the last of nineteen operettas written by Emmerich Kálmán. It was composed originally in German and premiered in Munich on January of 1954, right about the time that the form of operetta was going out of style.. so, for the past 50 years, this particular show has remained pretty much unknown and unperformed. However, it was recently translated to English and Chicago Folks Operetta, which has a tradition of showing lesser known operettas, decided to try their hand at putting on this show.
One of our friends was in the chorus and she invited us to come see her sing and dance. I'm all about vocal performance; singing and dancing is totally my cup of tea. However, while my Hubby does enjoy classical music, he's not all that interested in opera (or operettas). Still, it is nice to support people... And how often do you get to see a Western set to music? So we went.
It was a really fun show! We got there early enough to score front row seats, so we had a good view of our friend throughout the whole show. The theater they performed in is a very intimate space; my Hubby had to keep his feet tucked in during entrances and exits so as not to trip up the actors as they came and went through a door just to his left.
The music was really interesting to listen to... it was composed by a Hungarian man, so amid the quintessential "Cowboy Western" music, there was a fair spattering of music with clear Hungarian influences. A few times, the transition between the two styles was really sudden; it was striking and beautiful. I loved that!
The singing was really great too. The lead tenor had a fabulous sound, a real pleasure to listen to. And the ensemble spent a lot of time on stage and were lots of fun to watch.
I'm so glad we went!
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