The Victorian Lyric Opera Company (VLOC) in Rockville keeps alive the tradition of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas by its regular staging of such works as “The Pirates of Penzance” and “H.M.S. Pinafore.” The company also stages famous Viennese operettas such as Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus.” An interesting aspect of VLOC is that it produces lesser-known European operettas in “concert versions,” which are staged operettas in nearly every aspect except sets.
“Although Jacques Offenbach’s ‘The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein’ was an immense hit in Paris in 1867, during Offenbach’s prolific period of operetta production,” notes VLOC’s Artistic Director emeritus and conductor Joseph Sorge, this lesser-known work today “requires chorus participation for nearly 80 percent of the music and would require a long period of preparation if fully-staged.” By means of a concert presentation, however, the company needed only the month of August to rehearse a concert version of the show.
VLOC presented “The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein” this past weekend from August 30 through September 1, with audiences enjoying a highly entertaining comic plot, soaring operatic music with orchestra, and even some thoughtful ruminations on life, love, and war.
The plot revolves around the central character of Grand Duchess Christine of Gerolstein. Stage Director Brandon Shaw McKnight notes that the Grand Duchess was inspired by Catherine the Great of Russia, but here Christine is presented as a spoiled and immature sovereign of twenty-years old who loves war, or as her VLOC interpreter Elizabeth Barnes sang in her magnificent soprano voice: “Ah, How I Go for the Military!” She made a grand entrance in this production in a resplendent regal costume, even promenading through the audience and waving at audience members with grace, poise, and elegance.
Christine’s passion for war and her love for the undeserving Private Fritz, who has little in the way of military experience, puts the Grand Duchy in an awkward but comical situation: purely out of favoritism, Christine promotes Fritz unjustly to the post of military commander. Through a certain degree of luck and unexpected cunning, Fritz emerges victorious and, as a reward, asks for his love interest Wanda’s hand in marriage. The enraged Grand Duchess turns against him and seeks his destruction!
In addition to the problematic nature of unrestrained royal absolutism presented in the plot, the Offenbach operetta’s libretto has many thoughtful comments to impart: “This horrid cruel war should have been concluded long ago,” states a chorus of women; “The less sense people make, the more they get promoted,” opines Fritz; and “If you cannot manage to have the one you love, you must manage to love one you can have as well as you can,” Grand Duchess Christine enjoins in a wiser moment. VLOC also inserts engaging local references into its productions of classic operettas, in this case stating in mid-performance that, after the show, audience members might be going back to their homes in Northern Virginia!
Lance Fisher was an excellent Private Fritz, conveying the character’s charm and comical unmilitary bearing. His voice was a powerful component to the shows’s success, as in his performance with the chorus of “Return of the Soldiers and Rondo” as well as “Return and Complaint of Fritz.”
General Boum, though supposedly a by-the-book authoritarian military commander, proved very likable. In his memorable piece “Piff, Paff, Pouf,” Michael Beder as the general engaged in onomatopoeia galore, as “Piff, Paff, Pouf” and his very name of Boum, backed by orchestral drums, suggested the firing of cannons. Now marginalized by the ascension of Private Fritz to military commander, audiences were left to wonder if “General Boum would resume his plume.”
Sarah Robinson as Wanda, the love interest of Fritz, sang melodically and lyrically in pieces such as “Galop,” performed along with the Chorus and Mr. Fisher’s Fritz. The program notes on cast members informed audience members that offstage Dr. Robinson “holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and leads technical teams by day.” Onstage, her acting and gestures assisted greatly in giving the impression that this production of “The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein” was much more than a concert version of an operetta, but an operetta staging itself.
Finally, the orchestra was conducted splendidly by Joseph Sorge, and the production benefited greatly from the stage direction of Brandon Shaw McKnight.
In 2025, VLOC will be presenting the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera “The Mikado.” This new “semi-staged concert performance” will, according to promotional materials, be an “updated version [which] promises to honor the original spirit while bringing new insights and contemporary relevance” to the classic work. With this new “Mikado” and before that in February a full-staged version of Joseph Bologne’s “The Anonymous Lover,” VLOC will continue its tradition of performing fresh, vibrant performances of operetta for suburban Washington, D.C., audiences.
IMAGE caption
Elizabeth Barnes as Grand Duchess Christine (right) and Michael Beder as General Boum (left) in Victorian Lyric Opera Company’s “The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein.”
