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by Franz Lehár, directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin

Toronto Operetta Theatre, Jane Mallett Theatre, Toronto

December 27, 2002-January 4, 2003

"Hummel Shines in 'Smiles'"

The Toronto Operetta Theatre production of "The Land of Smiles" is musically one of the best the company has yet presented.  The TOT has assembled a fine cast and the orchestra under conductor Robert Cooper has never sounded better.  Highlighting the show is the radiant performance of former COC Ensemble member Tamara Hummel in the role of Countess Lisa.

"The Land of Smiles" ("Das Land des Lächelns") in one of a series of operettas Franz Lehár wrote for renowned tenor Richard Tauber.  In this series Lehár sought to move operetta closer to the realm of opera by adopting a more complex musical language and by choosing romantic stories with less than happy endings.  In this gender-reversed "Madama Butterfly", Countess Lisa has fallen in love with Prince Sou-chong while on a visit to China.  While in Vienna as an ambassador Sou-chong declares his love for Lisa and she, despite warnings from her friends and family, decides to move to China with him to be his wife.  Once there she finds the constraints of Chinese court society too great.  Fortunately for her, Captain Gustl, also in love with her, has followed her to China and helps her to escape while Sou-chong and his sister Mi, who loves Gustl, are left heart-broken.

Like the other "Tauber operettas", "The Land of Smiles" is generally thought of as a showcase for the tenor lead.  As things turn out, this production becomes more of a showcase for the soprano lead simply because Tamara Hummel's performance is so much more emotionally involving.  The role of Sou-chong is a challenging one.  When we meet him in Vienna he is an outsider and is naturally more formal than the Viennese around him.  In China he is further constrained by an elevation in rank and the necessity of complying with court etiquette.  Only in his few moments alone or with Lisa can he pour out his true feelings. 

Tenor Marcel van Neer has a beautiful, cultured voice with a glowing tone and refined phrasing.  The difficulty is that he delivers the string of famous numbers Lehár has given Sou-chong, including the celebrated "Yours is My Heart Alone" ("Dein ist mein ganzes Herz"), more as a collection of separate art songs than as parts of a dramatic or emotional arc.  To be fully effective van Neer needs to show the emotion behind the formality--behind the smiles (as the song has it)--and to contrast it with the moments when Sou-chong gives his feelings free expression.  The song he makes most magical is the apple-blosson song, "Von Apfelblüten einen Kranz", which is a song sung on request.  One admires van Neer's voice throughout but wishes he were more dramatically engaged.

This is not the case with Hummel as Countess Lisa.  Her clear, rounded tone and secure high notes are a constant pleasure.  Besides this, she successfully traverses the emotional arc of a girl naively fascinated with an exotic culture and the man who represents it through to the complex mixture of shame, anger and regret when she realizes the folly of ever thinking she could ever be accepted in such an alien world.  Hummel brings this about not only through her acting but by making each of Lisa's numbers mark a new stage in her character's growth.  Her difficult operatic scena  "Alles vorbei!" is very powerful.  Her portrayal is so sympathetic it makes one rethink the story, for a change, from the woman's point of view.

Laird Mackintosh, fresh from a summer playing Freddy in Stratford's "My Fair Lady", is excellent as Captain Gustl.  He gives the character a suavity and poise lacking in what is usually treated as the comic tenor role.  Unamplified and in a smaller house, he is more at ease and much more effective than at Stratford.  Peilu Ni and Saemi Chang alternate in the role of Princess Mi, Sou-chong's sister.  Ni took the role at the preview performance I attended and her portrayal was both charming and affecting.

The one fly in the ointment is Eric Woolfe as Chief Eunuch and Majordomo Chi-fu, the only outright comic character in this bittersweet story.  Woolfe, who has done such fine work elsewhere, plays up the eunuch jokes but ends in being merely shrill with most of the poorly written or improvised humour falling flat.  I still have fond memories of David Walden, whose Chi-fu for the TOT in 1989 was rather like the Caterpillar in "Alice in Wonderland". 

Stage director and General Director of the TOT, Guillermo Silva-Marin, manages the action with his usual facility allowing the serious aspects of the plot to have the weight they should.  The TOT wisely engaged Artistic and Movement Consultant Xing Bang Fu, who worked on the opera "Iron Road" last year, to lend an air of authenticity to the staging and to choreograph the dances with ribbons and fans that start Act 2 with a burst of colour.  Design Consultant David Rayfield has chosen impressive period costumes from Malabar, quite spectacular for the Chinese scenes.  His sets simply but effectively suggested the lushness of both locations.  Cameron A. More's lighting enhances the splendour of state and parallels the work's darkening mood.

From the very first bars of the overture, I knew the operetta was in good hands under Robert Cooper.  He has a masterful sense of rubato and draws such fine playing and colour from the 16-member orchestra one might have thought Lehár had scored it for just such an ensemble.  Cooper seems to relish the dissonances and shifting harmonies that link Lehár's writing more to his contemporary Richard Strauss.

"Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" may be the song everybody knows, but the score brims with one memorable tune after the other.  When played and sung as well as here, it's clear why the work has remained so popular.  Four of the seven performances are already sold out.  Act soon if you don't want to miss out on this delectable musical feast. 

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.

Photo: Tamara Hummel and Marcel van Neer. ©2002 Toronto Operetta Theatre.