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by Oscar Straus, directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin

Toronto Operetta Theatre, Jane Mallett Theatre, Toronto

April 26-29, 2017

    “Three ladies sat by the fireside   

    To warm their hopes for the morrow.

    A shepherd boy appeared one night

    And banished all their sorrow”  (Trio, Act 1)

Last April when Toronto Operetta Theatre announced its 2016/17 season, it could not have known how fitting an operetta it had chosen for April 2017.  Oscar Straus’s The Chocolate Soldier from 1908 satirizes macho posturing, male dominance over women, delusions of grandeur and the inability to admit flaws.  It’s a pleasure to hear a song about “Sympathy” and a chorus asking people to “Forgive”, rather than incitements to rancour and revenge.  The reason for this is that Straus’s source was George Bernard Shaw’s 1894 comedy Arms and the Man.  Though Shaw stipulated that the names had be changed and none of his dialogue used in the operetta, still the main themes of his play come through.  The result is one of the greatest operettas of the genre’s Silver Age that includes Franz Lehár and Emmerich Kálmán.

The work’s anti-romantic nature makes it quite different from other Viennese operettas of the period and much more like those of Gilbert and Sullivan.  The new English book by Agnes Burnelle’s and Adam Carstairs’ witty lyrics only emphasize this connection.  G&S, however, never wrote such an intimate domestic comedy as Straus’s.  While the work does have a huge hit song in Nadina’s “My Hero”, the piece is more notable for its series of trios like the lovely “Three Ladies Sat” that closes Act 1 to quartets and sextets.    

Though the work was originally written for a tenor in the role of the Swiss mercenary Bummerli (Bluntschli in Shaw) and a baritone in the role of the Bulgarian military hero Alexius (Sergius in Shaw), the TOT uses Ronald Hanmer’s version of the score where the voice types are reversed as it did in 2004.  Baritone Michael Nyby gives a thrilling performance as Bummerli.  His voice is large, lush and expressive and his every contribution is thoughtful and well-judged.  He sings Bummerli’s main solo “If We Could Do What We’ve a Mind To” in Act 2 beautifully, subtly bringing out all its irony.  He also is a fine comic actor.  Add to this his good looks and it is perfectly logical that the three women of the house should protect this chocolate-loving enemy soldier from discovery.

Jennifer Taverner sings the role of Nadina (Raina in Shaw), the romantic young woman who idolizes her fiancé Alexius but who falls in love with Bummerli in spite of herself.  Taverner, who was so delightful as Kathy in TOT’s The Student Prince in 2015, proves equally so here.  Her lovely soprano is rounded, warm and rich and she sings “My Hero” with such intensity and ardour it brought down the house.  Taverner also well conveyed through her acting and tone of voice Nadina’s growing disillusionment with Alexius and increasing acknowledgement of her love for Bummerli.

The secondary leads are Alexius and Mascha, Nadina’s cousin, a replacement for the servant girl Louka in Shaw.  Tenor Cian Horrobin is suitably stiff and lacking in a sense of humour as the proud Alexius should be.  He has a piercing tenor that becomes fuller and more rounded the higher he sings.  Anna Macdonald is a sprightly Mascha with a bright soprano who has clearly thought early on that Nadina’s loss of Alexius could be her gain.

As Nadina’s parents, the Popoffs (actually a funnier choice of name than Shaw’s Petkoffs), baritone Gregory Finney as the father and mezzo-soprano Eugenia Dermentzis both sing well while Finney has the best comic timing of the cast. 

Director and designer Guillermo Silva-Marin has set the work in the period of the action, i.e. during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885, and has cleverly placed the risers of the set on a slant so that it can easily be converted from Nadina’s bedroom in Act 1, to other locations inside and outside the Popoff’s house in Acts 2 and 3.  Act 2 of the original operetta ends with the break-up of Nadina's and Alexius’ wedding resulting in an unusually short Act 3.  Silva-Marin solves this problem ending Act 2 after the women’s hilarious search through Popoff’s robe and Nadina’s final admission to Mascha that she really loves Bummerli, not Alexius.  He shifts the entire wedding scene to Act 3 and thus creates a much better balance in the action before and after intermission.

Peter Teifenbach conducts a nine-piece ensemble in a excellent account of the score.  It is possible that Tiefenbach enjoys the gentleness of the music a bit too much since his tempi tend to be slightly on the slow side and not as varied as they could be.

When TOT first presented The Chocolate Soldier (Der tapfere Soldat in the original) in 2003, it was the first professional production of the piece in Toronto.  Now that TOT is revisiting it in 2017, this is only the work’s second professional production in the city.  Those already familiar with the work will know what a delightful piece it is and will surely want to see it again rather than risk waiting another 14 years.  Those unfamiliar with the work should waste no time getting to know it.  Thanks to its source in Shaw, it is one of the funniest and most intimate of Viennese operettas, one that finds its humour in character rather than in impersonations or unusual plot twists.  Given TOT’s fine production, The Chocolate Soldier will leave you with a warm glow as the characters finally understand themselves and each other.  And we all could use more of that satisfying feeling.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.

Photos: (top) Jennifer Taverner as Nadina and Michael Nyby as Bummerli; Jennifer Taverner as Nadina and Cian Horrobin as Alexius (centre) and the TOT Ensemble. ©2017 Gary Beechey.

For tickets, visit www.torontooperetta.com.