Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Best Covert Garden Fledermaus Gala Videos Ever!
Review: Althrought the guest lineup (Charles Aznavour, Dr. Evadne Hinge & Dame Hilda Brackett, Merle Park and Wayne Eagling) is no match to the 1990 Gala (Which have Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne and Dame Joan Sutherland in her last performance ever), this video of the 1984 New Year's Eve Gala have a great cast (Headed by Dame Kiri), and a fun conductor (YES! THAT IS THE PLACIDO DOMINGO!), and great fun from start to finish (And, WHAT A FINISH THEY GOT!). Althrought I didn't like the look of Doris Soffel's Orlofsky, I do enjoy Josef Meinard's Frosch a lot (You ought to see the interplay between him & Domingo). Hermann Prey & Benjamin Luxon is pretty good, and Dame Kiri? She's Yummy throughout, with her best fun comes at the finale and curtain call! And, Domingo? Wonderful at the podium, as he does on stage!All in all, one of the best Fledermaus Gala videos ever!
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Best Covert Garden Fledermaus Gala Videos Ever!
Review: Althrought the guest lineup (Charles Aznavour, Dr. Evadne Hinge & Dame Hilda Brackett, Merle Park and Wayne Eagling) is no match to the 1990 Gala (Which have Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne and Dame Joan Sutherland in her last performance ever), this video of the 1984 New Year's Eve Gala have a great cast (Headed by Dame Kiri), and a fun conductor (YES! THAT IS THE PLACIDO DOMINGO!), and great fun from start to finish (And, WHAT A FINISH THEY GOT!). Althrought I didn't like the look of Doris Soffel's Orlofsky, I do enjoy Josef Meinard's Frosch a lot (You ought to see the interplay between him & Domingo). Hermann Prey & Benjamin Luxon is pretty good, and Dame Kiri? She's Yummy throughout, with her best fun comes at the finale and curtain call! And, Domingo? Wonderful at the podium, as he does on stage! All in all, one of the best Fledermaus Gala videos ever!
Rating:
Summary: Vivo Domingo! Bravo Jailer, et omnia!
Review: As with everything with Placido Domingo's touch, this performance is superlative. Far from being distracting the language French, German, Italian, and English, and opera humor is hilarious. Josef Meinrad, as jailer Frosch, is worth the purchase alone. Guest appearance by Dame Hilda Bracket with Dr. Evadne Hinge was charming, and ballet duo Merle Park and Wayne Eagling absolutely lovely. All of which embellish a consistently excellent cast. Especially enjoyable were Hildegard Heichele's Adele, and Dennis O'Neill the tenor who wouldn't stop singing. The only disappointment was lack of spunk in Rosalinde's Hungarian song, which should be the showpiece of the operetta. You'll like it, especially if you're multi-lingual.
Rating: 
Summary: Like being in a 19th century Viennese party
Review: Die Fledermaus is probably the greatest operetta ever written. Strauss's music is wonderful and the libretto is clever and funny. And is good performances like this a lot of additional jokes are added in it. This is an excellent and (most of all) very entertaning performance. After seeing Hermann Prey in it, I haven't really wanted to see the part of Eisenstein done by anybody else. He is an amazing singer and actor. He IS Eisenstein. Prey's death in 1998 came to me as a shock. Kiri Te Kanawa as Eisenstein's wife Rosalinde isn't bad though she isn't one of my favorite singers. I have heard much better versions of Rosalinde's Czardas (which is one of my favorite songs ever). Doris Soiffel is great as the extremely bored Prince Orlofsky and Hildegard Heichele is an absolutely charming Adele.
The guest appearances are great too. I've read other reviews of this video and know that opera purists prefer another video that includes guest appearances from such (overrated) singers as Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne. But I prefer the ones on this video: A ballet number performed by Merle Park and Wayne Eagling, two funny songs from Dr. Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket, and most of all Charles Aznavour doing a passionate rendition of his song "She".
What is sometimes slightly disturbing is that some of the dialogue is in German and some in English. I think it would have been better to sing in German and speak in English. But in spite of this, I love this video. Watching it makes you feel that you are a guest in a 19th century Viennese party.
Rating:
Summary: A joy all around! Fun to watch, great for listening
Review: Don't miss it. My family and I have viewed this production for 10 years, starting back when it was only available on LaserDisk. Now that it is available on DVD it continues as a New Year's Eve tradition with a great bottle of champaigne. You can tell that all involved with the production were having a great time too. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointing Fledermaus
Review: I have to compare this version to the Carlos Kleiber version and what is most striking is the musicality and ensemble playing plus pure energy visible on the stage of the Kleiber version. This version is a routine version adapted to an English audience and I find it prosaic at best with the added Act 2 guest appearances which I found annoying. While I agree with an earlier reviewer that Herman Prey's Eisenstein is well sung, the sheer energy and joy that the Eisenstein of Eberhard Waechter conveys makes Prey's Eisenstein seem pallid. Janet Perry and Pamela Coburn in the female leads bring both outstanding singing and energy to this production that is not present in this Convent Garden Version. I really recommend the Kleiber version, not because this version is so terrible, but because the Kleiber version is so integrated and musical that it brings the pure pleasure of Fledermaus to the viewer and listener.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointing Fledermaus
Review: I have to compare this version to the Carlos Kleiber version and what is most striking is the musicality and ensemble playing plus pure energy visible on the stage of the Kleiber version. This version is a routine version adapted to an English audience and I find it prosaic at best with the added Act 2 guest appearances which I found annoying. While I agree with an earlier reviewer that Herman Prey's Eisenstein is well sung, the sheer energy and joy that the Eisenstein of Eberhard Waechter conveys makes Prey's Eisenstein seem pallid. Janet Perry and Pamela Coburn in the female leads bring both outstanding singing and energy to this production that is not present in this Convent Garden Version. I really recommend the Kleiber version, not because this version is so terrible, but because the Kleiber version is so integrated and musical that it brings the pure pleasure of Fledermaus to the viewer and listener.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun on New Years Eve
Review: I hope this video is re-released soon as my family has made this video, (taped off the TV back in 1983 - with commercials), a part of our New Year's Eve party. Everyone gets into the swing of things listening to Kiri's beautiful voice and the wonderful repartee of the cast members.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent choice of talent, as yet never surpassed.
Review: It is seldom one enjoys the original music with a superb mise en scene, an interesting and appropriate choice of actors, great voices and a delightful conductor. Definitely should not be 'UNAVAILABLE'.
Rating:
Summary: I saw the 1983 broadcast, not the video, and it was superb.
Review: It's stayed with me for nearly 16 years. The book was in English, with lyrics in the original German. Voices, conducting, direction were all inspired. It was the first role I'd ever seen Kiri Te Kanawa in, and she was extraordinary. She set the tone for the rest of what was a brilliant performance. I've measured every Fledermaus against it since then. It is still in every respect the opera's finest reading. The only peculiarity is why it is now out of print, except as dubbed in Italian.
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