The Merry Widow
Watch on BBC Four and iPlayer on Christmas Day
This lavish new staging of Lehár’s sparkling romantic comedy has all the opulence of classic Hollywood. Glamorous, wealthy and recently widowed, can Hanna outwit the swarm of suitors in her search for true love? Danielle de Niese leads a stellar cast in this laugh-out-loud classic, which is sure to put a smile on your face as it spins around the glittering ballrooms of 1900s Paris.
Sung in English in a new version by Stephen Plaice and Marcia Bellamy with English supertitles.
Creative team
Conductor
John Wilson
Director
Cal McCrystal
Designer
Gary McCann
Choreographer
Carrie-Anne Ingrouille
Lighting Designer
Ben Cracknell
Assistant Conductor
Lee Reynolds
Associate Director
Tom Mallaburn
Assistant Director
Fiona Dunn
Associate Choreographer
Freya Sands
Senior Coach
Sergey Rybin
Repetiteurs
Kate Golla
Ashok Gupta
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The Glyndebourne Chorus
Chorus Director Aidan Oliver
Assistant Chorus Director
Avishka Edirisinghe
Cast includes
Hanna Glawari
Danielle de Niese
Count Danilo Danilovitsch
Germán Olvera
Baron Mirko Zeta
Thomas Allen
Valencienne
Soraya Mafi
Camille de Rosillon
Michael McDermott
Viscount Cascada
Alex Otterburn
Raoul de St Brioche
Innocent Masuku
Njegus
Tom Edden
Kronow
Michael Wallace*
Olga
Rachel Taylor*
Bogdanovitsch
Adam Marsden*
Sylviane
Emily Hodkinson*
Pritschitsch
John Mackenzie-Lavansch*
Praskowia
Melissa Gregory*
Dancers
Wednesday Houghton, Jaide Jeffrey, Phoebe Jones, Helen Rose, Katie Whitcombe
*Soloist from the Glyndebourne Chorus
The edition of The Merry Widow in these performances is edited by Lee Reynolds with John Wilson
In a new version by Stephen Plaice & Marcia Bellamy
Book & lyrics: Stephen Plaice
Lyrics and vocal setting: Marcia Bellamy
The Merry Widow from Glyndebourne is a Maestro Broadcasting production for BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. It was commissioned by BBC Arts. The Director is Rhodri Huw, the Executive Producer for Maestro Broadcasting is Gemma Dixon and the Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Stephen James-Yeoman.