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COUNTESS
MARITZA By Imre Kálman Operetta in Three Acts New English Version, Book and Lyrics by Nigel Douglas Original Book and Lyrics by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald First performance: 28 February 1924 SYNOPSIS Act I — Countess Maritza’s Country Estate,
circa 1890’s Count Tassilo Endrödy-Wittenburg has been forced to sell
his possessions to repay his father’s debts. He takes a job at one of
Countess Maritza’s estates under the assumed name Bela Torek, in order
to earn enough money to pay for his sister Lisa’s dowry. The Countess
soon arrives and prepares for a large party celebrating her engagement to
Baron Koloman Zsupăn. Except the fiance doesn’t exist. He has been
created to discourage Maritza’s many suitors including Prince
Popolescu, a long time admirer. Tassilo’s sister Lisa arrives as one of
Maritza’s guests and, upon seeing her brother, quickly agrees to keep
his identity secret. Strangely, Baron Zsupán also arrives to claim his bride.
The fictional character Maritza thought not to exist turns out to be a
“real-life” Baron. Daringly, the gypsy Mania offers to read
Maritza’s future and foretells that within four weeks she will fall in
love with a kind and noble man. Maritza is eager to prove the prophecy wrong,
postpones her engagement to Baron Zsupan for four weeks and decides to stay
at her country estate, away from the busy city life. Act II— Maritza’s Drawing Room Scene I — Maritza finds herself attracted to her
estate manager, while Lisa finds herself quite taken with the Baron. Four
weeks are now past and her guests return demanding information on the outcome
of Mania’s prediction. Claiming that a few hours are still left to her,
Maritza soon discovers that the presumed Mr. Törek is only posing as an estate
manager in order to secure a financially rewarding marriage and has been
dishonest with her. She mistakenly believes that he is toying with Countess
Lisa as well. In an act of revenge she publicly denounces him and offers him
money in exchange for a promise never to speak of love to her again. Maritza
realizes her mistake when she discovers that Tassilo is Lisa’s brother
and his work as a manager was only to earn a small dowry for his sister. Scene 2 — Tassilo’s wealthy aunt, Princess
Bozena Schwarzenstein, soon arrives to tell Tassilo that all of his
possessions have been bought back and she upbraids him for being so proud.
Lisa agrees to marry the Baron, yet Tassilo stubbornly refuses to
“speak” of his love for Maritza. His aunt and fate conspire to
bring the two lovers back together again as was foretold by the Gypsy Mania. Director’s
Note: “While one fleeting moon glides silently past In your stubborn heart love wakens at last. Fair of face the man and full of kindness, Bearer of a noble name” The above quote is Mania’s prediction to Maritza
and in a singular dramatic stroke, a story line that could have easily
followed an uncomplicated romantic path of similar operatic fare turns to
fortune telling, prophecy and fate to settle matters of the heart just as it
tries to level the playing field among social classes and inadvertently
presents us with a window through which we can glimpse the relationship
between the very rich and those less privileged by wealth. Don’t get me
wrong, Kalman’s operetta has no intention of showcasing a political or
social agenda aimed at bettering the human race even though operetta is
renowned for acerbic satirical and critical views that have both charmingly
entertained and boldly challenged its public. For centuries we have dealt
with the Issues of fate and predestination in ways that have been satisfying
for some and troubling for others. As long ago as the mythic realm of
“sleeping beauty”, humanity has been enthralled by Aurora’s
plight and the prince’s kiss. we continue to be tempted by the Tarot
cards and the wheel of fortune, the lottery and the crystal ball. Whether we
believe or not, yesterday, today or tomorrow, Maritza remains just as
enthralling and equally as powerful. Kálman and the
Countess Emmerich Kálman was born in Hungary on October 24, 1882.
His first operetta, TATARJARAS, was produced in Budapest in 1908 when he was
twenty-seven. Managers Karczag and Wailner took the work to Vienna and with a
German libretto. It opened to great acclaim as AUTUMN MANOEURES achieving 265
perFormances at the Theater an der Wien. In 1915 Kalman’s CZARDAS
PRINCESS became the greatest operetta hit of the war years. A Viennese paper
of the day reported that Kälmän TMat the same time stands with one foot on
Hungarian soil and the other in the dance halls from which Viennese waltz
came.” happy dichotomy enabled his operetta to triumph all over Central
Europe. Emmerich Kálman was a quiet, professionaily modest, and
superstitious man - hardly the type, one would think, to have composed the
exuberant CZARDAS PRINCESS and COUNTESS MARITZA, his two masterpieces. COUNTESS MARITZA had a sensational premiere on February
28, 1924 and a basically uninterrupted run of over a year with a total of 396
performances. Franz Lehár refused Theater an der Wein’s request to
produce his PAGANINI while COUNTESS MARITZA played there. The romantic operetta received Its Toronto premiere in
Toronto In 1945 when it was performed at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. While
the Toronto Operetta Theatre’s ticket prices are probably the best
entertainment value in Toronto today, a ticket for the 1945 performance at
the Royal Alexandra Theatre was $0.99. This production is TOT’s fourth
in its 25 years of operetta performances. |
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