THE MERRY WIDOW (1905)

Music by Franz Lehár
Libretto by Victor Léon and Leo Stein

Sung in English with English Supertitles

AUDIENCE ADVISORY: This production is suitable for all audiences and is ideal for families!

One of the most popular operettas across the globe, The Merry Widow, returns to Opera Saratoga for the first time in thirty years. Hanna Glawari, the Merry Widow, is beautiful and rich… and she’s captivated every man in the country. But Hanna is looking for true love. Will she be able to find a suitor that is not only after her wealth? Will the nation of Pontevedro slip into economic collapse if she marries a foreigner? Will all those dancing girls prove too distracting for the audience?! Franz Lehár's magical score features the famous "Vilja" song, the "Merry Widow Waltz," and many more beloved melodies. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

Franz Lehár (1870–1948) trained at the Prague Conservatory, where his mentors included Antonín Dvořák. He wrote some orchestral music but is remembered primarily for his operettas, especially The Merry Widow, his breakthrough success, and The Land of Smiles. The Merry Widow, which was composed in 1905, ushered in a new era of operettas in which the waltz was used for romantic plot purposes, and was danced as much as sung. Opera Saratoga’s new production continues the company’s Opera-in-Motion initiative, in which dance is prominently integrated into one production each summer. 

For tickets and information: http://www.operasaratoga.org/the-merry-widow