DIE FLEDERMAUS IN A POCKET / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

DIE FLEDERMAUS IN A POCKET

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (10 October 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 October 2025 with the title "SSO in the pocket with refreshing take on Die Fledermaus operetta".

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s occasional foray into the world of opera is an interesting move given that there has been no predominant opera company in the nation since the Singapore Lyric Opera’s halcyon years of the late 1990s. Government funding for opera is now shared by multiple opera companies, while other players like the Orchestra of the Music Makers have been taking on major opera productions such as Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

Thus, it was refreshing to encounter Johann Strauss the Younger’s best-loved operetta and perennial favourite Die Fledermaus (The Bat) produced by a local organisation which is neither Singapore Lyric Opera nor New Opera Singapore. This world premiere of an abridged 90-minute chamber version by Ronald Kornfeil, arranged by Thomas Barthel in a semi-staged production had much to recommend.

Firstly, a considerably pared-down SSO led by violinist Wang Xiaoming performed on stage behind the singers, lending a striking immediacy to the performance and the benefit of not playing in a pit. The famous Fledermaus Overture, performed in its entirety, was clear indication of the pleasure to come. For the vocal pieces, the musicians never drowned out the singers, who projected very well with unamplified voices.

The stand-out was soprano Flavia Stricker, helming the part of Rosalinde, the long-suffering wife of the charmingly smarmy Gabriel von Eisenstein, sung by tenor Maximilian Lawrie. Both are attending a Viennese high society and champagne-fuelled event without the knowledge of each other. So is their upwardly mobile maid-servant Adele, played by soprano Sun Ting, who has designs of her own.

The chemistry between the trio was light-hearted but secretly barbed, with their conversations providing exposition in English while arias and ensembles sung in German. Projected English surtitles were vital in establishing the narrative, which seamlessly shifted between both languages.

They were well supported by baritone Till von Orlowsky (as Falke, Eisenstein’s nemesis), soprano Teng Xiang Ting (Ida, Adele’s sister), tenor Jonathan Mark Macpherson (Alfred, Rosalinde’s love interest), mezzo-soprano Anna Koor (Prince Orlofsky, host of the ball) and bass Damian Whitely (prison governor Frank) in a speaking role.

The kooky story of revenge, stolen and mistaken identities, was pure farce delivered at a zippy pace. Within its 90-minute runtime, there was little to no capacity for boredom setting in. No synopsis was necessary, as every bit of action was leading to Eisenstein’s final comeuppance.

Most engaging and astonishing were how the memorable musical numbers seemed to roll off one another. The unbroken sequence between Orlofsky’s Chacun a son gout (To Each His Own), Adele’s Mein Herr Marquis, Rosalinde’s Klange Der Heimat (Sounds of My Homeland) or Csardas, leading to the Second Act’s duet Bruderlein und Schwesterlein (Little Brother and Little Sister) were the very reasons why this operetta remains so beloved.

Newcomers to opera can easily be won over by reduced productions such as this, and SSO should be empowered to continue exploring this aspect of audience building.

JOHANN STRAUSS JR'S DIE FLEDERMAUS / Singapore Lyric Opera / Review

JOHANN STRAUSS JR’S

DIE FLEDERMAUS

Singapore Lyric Opera

Esplanade Theatre

Saturday 17 December 2022

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 December 2022 with the title "Soprano Joyce Lee Tung steals show in Singapore Lyric Opera's Die Fledermaus". 

 

This is the season for uncorking champagne bottles and what could be more appropriate than another airing of Johann Strauss the Younger’s evergreen and bubbly-induced operetta Die Fledermaus? Singapore Lyric Opera’s most recent crack at this hoary old chestnut had much to recommend, reminding one and all why we love the festive season plus a few good jokes or two.

 

Directed by Tang Xinxin and accompanied by the SLO Orchestra conducted by Joshua Tan, an ebullient Overture presenting all the memorable melodies got the show off to a good start. The operetta’s comedic plot was one of mischievous vengeance and the usual farce of mistaken identity, culminating in a New Year’s Eve ball at Prince Orlofsky’s.

 

All three members of the Eisenstein’s dysfunctional household contrive to attend the high society event with assumed foreign identities, and the deceptions with predictable misunderstandings inevitably take place. Tenor Jonathan Charles Tay’s Eisenstein and soprano Shimona Rose’s Rosalinde were splendid antagonistic twin pillars of the action, their repartee effected under disguise being a very funny aspect of the story.

Eisenstein becomes Marquis de Renard while
Rosalinde becomes the Hungarian countess
at Orlofsky's ball.

 

They were, however, upstaged by soprano Joyce Lee Tung stealing the show as their housemaid Adele, who has aspirations as an actress. Adele’s Laughing Song (Mein Herr Marquis) in the second act acted like the pivot around which all action was built. She nailed the role with striking aplomb.  

Adele becomes transformed
into a budding actress at Orlofsky's ball.

 

The threesome was well supported by baritone Martin Ng (as Falke, who hatched the plot of revenge against Eisenstein), tenor Kee Loi Seng (Alfred, Rosalinde’s hopeful paramour), baritone William Lim (Frank, conniving prison governor) and tenor Leslie Tay (Blind, hapless attorney), the last who could not resist cross-dressing again, this time as a very unvoluptuous Wonder Woman. Ironically, the usual cross-dressing role of Prince Orlofsky, usually by a mezzo-soprano, was instead sung pretty convincingly by countertenor Chan Wei En.

 

While the First Act, set at the Eisenstein’s domicile, dragged somewhat, everything came to life in the glittering Second Act, with cast, SLO Chorus and dancers at full tilt. Here the operetta’s dizzy heart flowed unabated without contrived and time-consuming setpieces. The blazing Unter Donner und Blitzen (Under Thunder and Lightning) Polka was danced to animated choreography by Andy Benjamin Cai.

 

Leading into the Third Act saw the non-singing role of inebriated prison attendant Frosch portrayed by Alaric Tay (of The Noose fame). Ten minutes of stand-up comedy was just about right, with references to past inmates being incarcerated for refusing to wear face-masks, and the ongoing football World Cup, particularly the Messi state the gaol was in.

 

The deliberately uncredited set design was simple and effective, incorporating Wiener Werkstatte (Vienna Workshop) elements into light fixtures and furniture – a nice touch. Overall, this was both a stylish and enjoyable production which reflects the typically excellent yet underrated work undertaken by Singapore’s premier opera company, which labours under a chronic lack of capital. May the coming year ahead see a continuation of similar high standards. 

All photographs by courtesy of 

Singapore Lyric Opera.

DIE FLEDERMAUS / New Opera Singapore / Review

DIE FLEDERMAUS

New Opera Singapore

Victoria Theatre

Sunday (27 July 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 July 2014 with the title "Patricia Mok helps demystify opera".

Die Fledermaus is the title of Johann Strauss the Younger’s most popular operetta, one that has been translated to many languages and performed the world over. New Opera Singapore’s production was acted and sung completely in English, the practice of using the vernacular being widely accepted universally. Thus only a pedant would object to the non-use of the original German, or carp at the title not being the far less poetic The Bat.

Fledermaus in whatever language has to be a sparkling and good-humoured affair, and New Opera Singapore under its Korean-born founder Jeong Ae Ree delivered in heaps and some more. In its favoured tradition of updating the classics, the setting was modern-day yuppie Singapore, with Adele as a Pinoy domestic and numerous references to Korean and Japanese pop culture, all the rage here these days. The ice was immediately broken and the comedy flowed unabated.

The casting with New Opera regulars was excellent. Rosalinde was sung by two home-grown sopranos Teng Xiang Ting and Rebecca Li on separate evenings. Li was her usual feisty self but touched with a vulnerability that made her endearing. Opposite her, David Charles Tay as hubby Eisenstein (both above) gave a totally believable portrayal of smug duplicity, which made it all the more satisfying when hoisted on his own petard.

Young SOTA student Moira Loh’s Adele stole the show with her Leticia Bongnino accent and had two big arias to impress with, including the famous Laughing Song. Even tenor Shaun Lee’s hopelessly in love Alfred, spouting lines from various tenor arias, had much to recommend.

Three Korean singers were invited to helm main cast roles: booming bass-baritone Park Jun Hyeok as the aggrieved Falke, David Daehan Lee as prison governor Frank and alto Son Jung A in the trousers (cross-dressing) role as an implausibly Japanese Orlovsky. Their spoken and sung English was just more than adequate, and surtitles were a great help here.

The set design by Shin Ji-Won and Brian Leong was simple yet effective, but did the party at Club Fledermaus have to look like something out of Patpong rather than Gangnam or Mohamed Sultan? Kim Sook Young’s stage direction was breezily communicative, providing lots of laughs from the audience. The sequence of Eisenstein and Frank impersonating Japanese patrons by desperately reciting Japanese brand names and clichés was a scream.

The orchestra conducted by Chan Wei Shing supported the fast-moving action well, and the small chorus complete with a quartet of pole-dancers gave the Second Act an unusually sleazy feel. The practice of inserting arias and ballets during this segment was passed over for the non-credited appearance of Channel 8 television comedian Patricia Mok as a very sober Barbara, taking the place of non-singing and usually inebriated prison attendant Frosch.

Filling the gap between the Second and Third Acts, her soliloquy in a combination of Singlish and Mandarin was a tour de force of stand-up comedy, casting snooks on singers, actors, musicians and essentially the entire entertainment industry. Mok’s appearance summed up the production’s ethos, which is to demystify the air of elitism surrounding opera and making the genre approachable. New Opera Singapore has succeeded again, with good singing and acting, and not a dull minute in between.

All photos with the kind permission of New Opera Singapore.