The Merry Widow

If even today The Merry Widow is still one of the most frequently performed shows in the world, if it still fills the theatres, if audiences still enjoy it and applaud warmly, there must be something special about it. Yes, The Merry Widow is a legend that despite its age shows no wrinkles. Built on a fertile musical inventiveness, with iconic pieces such as the march “Women, women eternal gods…”, it rests on the sympathy of a text steeped in themes that are still dear to audiences today: power, money, jealousies, love.
This modern edition makes the most of Corrado Abbati's innate theatrical sense and dynamic narrative, as well as of a colourful and contemporary staging that highlights the elegance of Lehár's music with its iridescent, romantic tones and unbridled rhythmic jubilation.
Starting from the term “lightness” given by Italo Calvino in the first chapter of his Lezioni Americane and namely “lightness as a reaction to the weight of living” and aware that in the collective imagination the term “operetta” is combined with the term “smile”, the director’s intention in this edition of The Merry Widow was not to deny what is the typical characteristic of operetta: the desire for reassuring emotions. Everyone knows right from the start that they will end up happily ever after! The work has therefore been to create a show capable of arousing joy, as was in fact the intention of the author, who has scattered The Merry Widow with many ideas on a diplomatic plot, where secret desires and erotic or political interests are not concealed, and which are resolved to the rhythm of a waltz but also of a can-can. A rhythmic scansion that the director has taken into account, recreating a sense of elegance and balance of the theatrical machine, capable of capturing the jubilant and irrational momentum of joyful escapism. Capable also of arousing enthusiasm and the desire to party together, breaking down the fourth wall to favour exchange and empathy between the hall and the stage, because if it has to be a party, a party it is!

Plot
At the Pontevedro embassy in Paris, there is great excitement. Madame Anna Glavari, the young widow of the wealthy court banker, is arriving. The ambassador, Baron Zeta, has been instructed to find a Pontevedrian husband for the widow, in order to keep the lady's millions in dowry at home. For if Mrs Glavari were to marry a Frenchman, her capital would leave the Pontevedrian National Bank, and for Pontevedro it would be economic ruin. Njegus, chancellor of the embassy, is a bit too bungling for such an undertaking, but there is Count Danilo, who could do very well. Njegus and Zeta try to convince him, but he won't hear of it. Between Danilo and Anna there had been a love affair that ended badly because of Danilo's family. For her part, the widow, although she loves Danilo, does not want to show it and does everything to make him jealous. Meanwhile, another love story unfolds, involving Valencienne, Zeta's young wife, and Camillo de Rossillon, a French diplomat who assiduously courts her. The two meet at a kiosk. Baron Zeta is about to surprise them when Njegus manages to get Valencienne out in time and replace her with Anna. The widow surprised with Camillo! Everyone is upset, Danilo furiously leaves the party. Everything now seems compromised, but Njegus, a true Deus ex-machina, manages to dissolve the misunderstandings and make Anna and Danilo confess their mutual love. The homeland is saved. From now on Mrs Glavari will no longer be the merry widow, but the happy spouse of Count Danilo Danilowitch.