This month’s Dinner and a Diva (sponsored by Bob Coleman), on Tuesday, May 16th, features highlights from Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, which is considered by many to be the greatest of all Viennese operattas.
It premièred at Theater an der Wien in Vienna on April 5, 1874, and has been part of their regular repertoire ever since. According to The Guide to Light Opera and Operetta, Die Fledermaus "was composed non-stop in forty-two ‘nights of veritable rapture’. (It) is the younger Strauss's most celebrated and popular operetta - intoxicatingly melodious and exuberant. Mistaken identities, flirtations at a masked ball, elegant frivolities and confusions of all kinds provide a hilarious vehicle for some of the most captivating music ever written. . . The Overture is one of the most popular ever written, with five of the best tunes woven into a framework of the great 'Fledermaus Waltz'."
Capitol City Opera cast members performing this month are: sopranos Megan Mashburn and Jessica Dennison; tenors Will Green and Pedro Carreras; and baritone Jonathan Spuhler. They will be accompanied by Catherine Giel, Capitol City Opera's music director.
The event includes hors d’ oeuvres, salad, choice of two entrees, dessert, coffee/tea, and two glasses of wine, for only $60 per person (tax included; gratuity separate). The performers from the Capitol City Opera Company sing between each course. The evening begins at 6:15 p.m. with a cash bar and hors d’oeuvres reception; the dinner and performance start promptly at 7 p.m. Reservations are required at 404 634-6268.