One of our Young Ambassadors, Sarah Lloyd, gives us her impressions of Welsh National Opera’s recent production of Die Fledermaus which returns in November.

I’ve seen a lot of theatre shows over the years but only one opera so I was intrigued by the description of Die Fledermaus, a comic operetta sung in English with bits of spoken dialogue. This was something that sounded much more like the musicals I’m familiar with!

Before the show, Welsh National Opera (WNO) put on a free talk giving an overview of the history of the show as well as the music and singers that we would be hearing that night and this really helped to set the scene.

The show itself was hilarious from start to end: it’s the classic comedic plot of mistaken identity populated with a cast of well-rounded and engaging characters. The show was very clearly structured and I never once found myself confused about what was going on or who was who.

I was most impressed I think by the singing. There are no microphones used and to be sat in the middle of the circle and to be able to hear every word sung by the cast over the live orchestra using just the power of their voices blew me away. There were English surtitles displayed for all the songs as well in case there were any lines we struggled to hear.

I would definitely recommend that anyone unsure about opera sees Die Fledermaus when it returns to the Hippodrome at the start of November (if nothing else, you get to spend three hours laughing almost nonstop!)

Personally, I intend to take my opera viewings up to three, watching one of the other operas WNO are performing that week, such as Khovanshchina or Eugene Onegin.