Die Fledermaus

Operetta in three acts | Text by Carl Haffner and Richard Genée | Westbad version

“Happy is he who can forget, (what can’t be changed),” the old saying goes, and everyone in Die Fledermaus takes it to heart, trying to forget their cares and give themselves over to uninhibited indulgence. While Eisenstein, a pensioner, tries to escape from both the doldrums of married life and a prison sentence, his wife Rosalinde bides her time waiting for the right moment to enjoy a rendezvous with Alfred, her singing teacher. Their chambermaid, Adele, puts on the airs of a much-admired artiste, and prison warden Frank finagles himself into the role of a chevalier. All of this comes together in an entanglement of pretense and lies at Prince Orlofsky’s ball.

Johann Strauß magically wraps the events in an enchanting veil of music, which manages to tell the truth without offending and flatter without lying. Every bar of this masterpiece bubbles with joie de vivre, yet the bright façade conceals profound depths. Everything spirals joyfully downward: From the bourgeois home of Eisenstein to the nocturnal ballroom, until finally we arrive at the prison.