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by Johann Strauss, Jr., directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin

Toronto Operetta Theatre, Jane Mallett Theatre, Toronto

April 17–19, 2026

Chorus: “Wo Spass und wo Tollheit und Lust regiert!”

Toronto Operetta Theatre is giving Toronto audiences a rare opportunity to see Johann Strauss, Jr.’s 1883 operetta, A Night in Venice (Eine Nacht in Venedig). This is the first time since 1997 that TOT has staged the piece. Although A Night in Venice is as full of memorable tunes as Die Fledermaus (1874) or Der Zigeunerbaron (1885), what has always held the work back is its overcomplicated plot. This time TOT Artistic Director Guillermo Silva-Marin has completely reworked the story without sacrificing any of the music. The result is the clearest storyline for this operetta that I’ve seen so far. Now we can sit back and concentrate on the production’s showcase for wonderful singing instead of wondering who is who and who is doing what.

The libretto for A Night in Venice has been a difficulty from the start. After the work’s premiere in Berlin, Strauss and his librettists reworked the story for its premiere in Vienna. The standard version in German is that revised by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Hubert Marischka in 1923. Every time the work has been revived in English, the libretto has also been reworked. One of the most successful translations and adaptations is that of Murray Dickey for the English National Opera in 1976.

For the current TOT production, there is no point in reading the plot synopsis on Wikipedia. Using Dickey’s translation as a starting point, Silva-Marin has made radical changes to streamline the plot and make it acceptable to a modern audience. The parts of the original that Silva-Marin retains are the setting in Venice on the eve of Carnival, the dreaded arrival of the Don Juan-like Duke of Urbino and the key characters of Caramello the Duke’s personal barber; Annina, a fisher girl; Bartolomeo Delacqua, a senator of Venice; and Pappacoda, a macaroni cook.

One key figure Silva-Marin omits is Barbara, Senator Delacqua’s wife, whom The Duke is hoping to seduce. Instead, Silva-Marin has invented the character of Nina who is Senator Delacqua’s ward and the woman that the elderly senator hopes to marry. Another omitted character is Enrico, Delacqua’s nephew, with whom Barbara is having an affair.

Silva-Marin gives us quite a different Duke from the original for our time that no longer finds womanizers amusing. Silva-Marin’s Duke was once a rake but, after meeting Nina at last year’s carnival, he has fallen in love with her and has sworn off his former licentious ways. Though Delacqua hopes to marry Nina, Nina fell in love with the Duke last year and hopes he will propose this year. To simplify all the amorous plots of the original, Silva-Marin invents an annual contest held in Venice to select the Queen of the Carnival to be closen by the Duke to be his escort for the festivities. The Queen is to be selected from among four candidates and what she proclaims that evening becomes law.

Silva-Marin also makes the character Agricola the head of a local pro-feminist women’s organization established to wrest control of Venice from its current males-only regime. Unlike the original, Silva-Marin changes Agricola, the wife of a senator in the original, to a twice widowed and currently unmarried woman with an eye on Delacqua as a future husband.

In one of his best ideas, Silva-Marin has Agricola force Pappacoda to be disguised as one of the four candidates for Queen to ensure nothing untoward happens between the Duke and the women. The misunderstanding in the original between Caramello and Annina ensues, but when the Duke chooses Annina as the Queen of the Carnival, she is free to resolve all the plot’s mix-ups.

The ending of the original leaves the Duke the same reprobate he was before. In Silva-Marin’s version, the reformed Duke longs to marry but will only do so if Nina will give her consent to have him. The one failing of Silva-Mari’s revised version is that we do not get the big reveal of Pappacoda’s identity we are expecting. This would finish off that plot thread nicely and suitably embarrass the Duke for his past behaviour. Also, since Duke’s beloved Nina is one of the candidates, why does he not choose her again instead of Annina?

While not every detail of the plot is as clear as it could be, the new version is the most enjoyable version of this operetta of the four productions I have seen so far. As usual the principal pleasure of a night at Toronto Operetta Theatre is the music-making itself. Silva-Marin has assembled a strong cast who bring so much vitality to the work you wish it were staged more frequently.

Though the tenors have the most famous songs in this work, the performer who stands out most is Andrea Núñez as Annina. Of all the cast Núñez is the most at home on stage, and her pertness and wry sense of humour seem to embody the mood of the entire operetta. She has a fine, clear soprano and effortless coloratura that bring out the playfulness of each of her musical numbers.

In some ways A Night in Venice seems like a battle of the tenors — the charming but immoral Duke of Urbino versus the honest and devoted Caramello. As Caramello, Ryan Downey commands a large voice very like a German Heldentenor which, at its best, produces high notes that really ring. He gives a fine account of one of the show’s greatest hits, the “Gondola Song” (“Komm in die Gondel”). Downey makes Caramello’s call to assemble the gondoliers sound positively Wagnerian.

In contrast, Jeremy Scinocca as the Duke possesses a suave tenor in the Italianate mode. Throughout he sings with control and beauty of tone, well representing the new conception of the Duke as a charming person deeply in love. Scinocca gives a passionate rendition of one of the show’s other great hits, “Dear City of Dreams” (“Ach, wie so herrlich zu schauen”). He leads off the quartet “Ninana” with delicacy as if the Duke were caressing through song the name of the woman he loves.

A third tenor Marcus Tranquilli gives us a lively interpretation of Pappacoda’s entry song “To Be a Macaroni Cook” (“Ihr habet eurer Markusplatz”), which is actually more about Venice itself than about pasta. Tranquilli gets a great chance to show his abundant talent for comedy (and ability to walk in high heels) when he is disguised as one of the candidates for Queen of the Carnival.

Other well-taken roles are those of Senator Delacqua, the maid Ciboletta in love with Pappacoda, and the distinguished widow Agricola. Sean Curran brings out the irony in each of the Senator’s remarks. Madeline Cooper lends her lovely mezzo-soprano to express Ciboletta’s frustration with Pappacoda’s eternal delay of their marriage. And Meghan Symon uses her strong mezzo-soprano and gift for comedy to link Agricola to the various imperious matrons in Gilbert and Sullivan such as the Duchess of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers.

As usual the contributions of the TOT Chorus are a major delight. Conductor Kate Carver leads the 10-member TOT Orchestra in a spirited traversal of the score. TOT last presented A Night in Venice in 1997. Now that Silva-Marin has resolved so many of the difficulties of the libretto, let’s hope to see it revived more often.

Christopher Hoile

Photos: Andrea Núñez as Annina; Jeremy Scinocca as the Duke of Urbino; Ryan Downey as Caramello; Madeline Cooper as Ciboletta and Marcus Tranquilli as Pappacoda. © 2026 Gary Beechey.

For tickets visit: www.torontooperetta.com.