Opera Holland Park's new production of Johann Strauss's operetta, 'Die Fledermaus', has opened with a setting of London on New Year's Eve 1929. Director and choreographer Liam Steel has chosen this period to evoke a Noël Coward-style farce, utilising the Metropolitan Opera's 2013 revamped English version.
The production features lyrics by Jeremy Sams and a new book by Douglas Carter Beane. The staging includes references to figures like the Sitwells and the Mitfords, and even a humorous nod to Winston Churchill.
Performances by Rebecca Bottone as Adele, Olivia Carrell as Ida, and Clare Presland as Orlofsky have been noted as strong. Other cast members include Xavier Heterington as Alfred, Julien Van Mellaerts as Dr Falke, Matthew Siveter as Inspector Frank, Thomas Atkins as Eisenstein, and Robert Burt as a moustachioed bobby. George Jackson conducts the City of London Sinfonia.