Select theaters around the nation will be participating in a live, high-definition broadcast of The Merry Widow starring opera singer Renée Fleming.
The Merry Widow is a Metropolitan Opera operetta by Franz Lehár featuring Fleming as the beguiling femme fatale Hanna, who captivates the Paris social scene.
Susan Stroman, known for her Broadway productions including the Tony Award-winning musicals Crazy for You, Contact and The Producers, directs and choreographs the show.
Other performers featured include baritone Nathan Gunn as Hanna’s lover Danilo, tenor Alek Shrader as the young nobleman Camille de Rosillon and baritone Sir Thomas Allen as the Baron Zeta. Broadway star Kelli O’Hara, best known for her acclaimed performances in South Pacific and The Light in the Piazza, makes her Met debut as the Baron’s coquettish wife Valencienne.
The Merry Widow is the most popular Lehár piece and has been performed many times since its 1905 premiere. This operetta will be performed in English in a new translation by Jeremy Sams.
The operetta is a stepping stone leading up to Fleming’s Broadway debut in Living on Love, where she plays opera singer Raquel De Angelis. The story surrounds an opera diva whose conductor-husband starts to fall for a woman hired to ghostwrite his long-delayed autobiography. She retaliates by hiring her own ghostwriter but also gets romantically attached. Living on Love is set to open at the Longacre Theater April 1.
The film premiere of The Merry Widow will be Jan. 17 and in select theaters around the nation. An encore of the presentation will be exhibited as well Jan. 21. The show will run about three hours. To see if a theater near you is showing The Merry Widow, click here.
