I made the trek out to Sassafras to the beautiful surroundings of The Knowe, where the stage for Fledermaus had been set up in the garden and seating was placed in front of the stage.
In the role of Rosalinda, Christellise de Graaf sings with a beautiful soprano voice and over the top acting as she reluctantly falls for the seduction of Alfredo (in this performance played by Ryan Jacobs), Ryan Jacobs opens the show as seductive womaniser Alfredo. He displays a light open theatrical tone in his singing while emoting in a comedic way while performing the opening song “Rosalinda Here I Am”. I was impressed with the chemistry between de Graaf and Jacobs.
Probably my favourite of the cast was Bridgette Kelsey in the role of Adele, she displayed a whole level of skill with her operatic voice as she had in my opinion the hardest songs of all the leads, a highlight was “Mein Herr, Marquis” and her other big song came in the 3rd act with “Innocent Youth and Appealing”.
Michael Zuccala soared through his role of Dr Fritz Falke, I loved his tenor voice and comedic portrayal.
Another stand out for me was Orlovsky, played by Terence MacManus. He definitely gave the audience the biggest laughs and he created the most chaos in the big scenes which made for a very entertaining watch, his vocal performance was also impressive.
Franke was played by Ian Lowe, he brought a ‘beefy’ performance to the role, I enjoyed his humour and physical comedy.
In the leading role of Gabriel von Einstein, John Parncutt performed with great chemistry and connection to the other characters. He made the character believable and commanding.
Rounding out cast were the characters of Murray, Ida, Frosch, Ali-Rey and Hermione played by Brett O’Meara, Danielle Zuccala, James Douglas, Stephen Headley and Lydia Klimek. This talented group rounded out the production, there were some harmony issues with the full numbers but I did enjoy the sound they made when they came together, particularly in the finale.
Much credit should also to costume designer , Helen Ebsworthy. Her period costumes were stunning and created the atmosphere of time perfectly.
Directed Robert Ray has created a quality production of a rarely seen show and musical director Geoffrey Urquhart has assembled a beautiful sounding orchestra.
