Approaching the halfway mark of its extensive tour of Eastern regional town, Co-Opera, expertly led by Brian Chatterton, reflected its resurgent support with finely-honed ensemble skills, bristling with unflagging energy.

Confidence radiated between the nine singers with split-second timing, singing and acting histrionics, agile movement and a flexible use of space.

Though derived in part from the early 18th century French form of comic opera with its popular vaudevilles, the 19th century opera comique blended elements of romance and humour.

The libretto of Die Fledermaus reflected the Vienna of 1870s.

Johanna Allen's contemporary version has transferred some witty and topical changes to the original script and songs. Falke, a notary, decides to play a practical joke as revenge on his friend the Baron von Eisenstein, who the previous year compelled him to wear his bat costume at a masked ball.

Jeremy Tatchell as Falke, conveys suave dignity as he concocts his master plan and sings throughout with a smooth, dark-hued tone and an ease of delivery.

Eisenstein agrees with Falke's required to attend a ball rather than go to goal, but in not telling his wife, Rosalinde, the joke unravels with potentially devastating consequences.

Benjamin Rasheed as Eisenstein displayed a wide emotional range, as he assumes a number of character changes, including Marquis Renard at the ball and later as Doctor Blind, before he unmasks his true identity to resolve the plot.

In this major role, his lyric tenor was well focused, clearly articulated and smoothly blended in ensemble passages.

Falke also invites Eisenstein's maid Adele to the ball, played with farcical gusto by Phoenicia Johnson, along with Rosalinde, performed by Lynette Harris, who revels in her disguise as a Hungarian countess and ultimately fobs off her husband and Frank, the town gaol Governor and would-be film director, played by Nicolas Cannon with jocular British flair and resonance.

Another outstanding soloist was Sarah Sweeting as Prince Orlovsky, the elegant host of the ball, whose creamy and flexible mezzo-soprano voice was given full rein, as she played along with Falke's manoeuvres. Alfred, alternating as the passionate Italian amorist of Rosalinde and as a substitute of Eisenstein in goal, received a fullblooded and committed account by tenor, Ernst Eris.

Strong and sustained support was also provided by Randall Stewart as Doctor Blind and Eleanor Brasted as Sally.

Regardless of genre, Co-Opera has maintained a top class performance standard and deserve all the support and success that they can get.

Max Reeder, Western Advocate, Wednesday 13 April 2005.


Shoestring Strauss goes walkabout

Ever energetic and entrepreneurially ambitious, Brian Chatterton's Adelaide based Co-Opera ventured brief seasons in two Sydney suburbs, Chatswood and Rockdale, late in March.

The audience it managed to draw the Bailey Hall, part of the Willoughby Civic Centre complex in Chatswood, on Maundy Thursday, was distressingly tiny, but the 10 performers seemed unfazed and gave their all to a scaled down version of Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, which was surprisingly effervescent and satisfying.

It took some time, Chatterton told me philosophically at interval, for his group to make an impression on Melbourne, but it persevered and has begun to thrive there. Clearly, he's hoping to replicate that success in Sin City.

This was bare-bones opera of the most skeletal sort. Backed instrumentally only by Chatterton on an upright piano, performed in the three-quarters round on a bare platform equipped only with a free-standing coat rack and a couple of tiny, movable one-person platforms that were redeployed during the intervals, it still managed to capture a good deal of the ebulience of this evergreen Strauss score and scenario.

A couple of costumes devised by Giovina D'Angelo lent an appropriate air of dash and flamboyance to the proceedings - as Alfred, the indefatigably intrusive and self-confident suitor of Rosalinde, Ernst Ens was clad in a garishly geometric suit of blinding brilliance dominated by bright yellow and spoke authentic fruit-vendor Italian; as Prince Orlovsky, Sarah Sweeting wore a snazzy slinky suit of dully violet hue and sported a phoney yet appealing tiny false moustache as one could want as well as a deliciously husky pseudo-male speaking voice. The other wore dinner gear, party frocks or street clothes, underscoring the flamboyance of those mentioned first.

Doubling as Frank the prison chieftan and his minion Frosch, Nicholas Cannon plucked an accommodating make patron from the sparse audience, handcuffed him to himself, carted him off to gaol and promptly "lost" the key, rifling a female patron's handbag in futile search before finally deigning to locate it in his own pocket.

Bare bones this Fledermaus most certainly was, particularly encountered in the near-aftermath of the decidedly opulent Opera Australia version playing in the same time frame on Bennelong Point; but it was in no way slapdash or amateurish as to onstage talent.

Scarcely a vocal chord misfired all night - there was a satisfying abundance of quality sound and a good deal of fancy footwork and bouncy music-making from just about everyone - managing, in particular, to create the illusion of Orlovsky's well-attended Act II party with a mere handful of actual people at its disposal.

Lynette Harris was a convincingly aristocratic Rosalinde, playing the lady with consummate poise and coping impressively with the intermittent flamboyance of her vocal requirements.

Benjamin Rasheed's Eisenstein was more the rough diamond type then the finely honed aristocrat, but created a credibly indignant character when confronted in Act III by the reality of his wife's dalliance with Alfred.

As the mastermind of the revenge of the bat which is what the operetta purports to be all about, Jeremy Tatchell's Dr Falke could have used a trifle more conspirational dash, but he filled his important niche with conviction.

The impersonations of Act II were about as convincing as they ever are - this is, not particularly - but that is an inevitable part of the Fledermaus performance game.

Rasheed's Marquis de Renard spoke splendidly fractured French, and it was not difficult to glimpse the Rosalinde lurking not so far below the flimsy mask of Harris' Hungarian Countess. Phoenicia Johnson's Adele was as flippant a parlor maid as they come, and obviously luxuriated in the double takes provoked by her Olga persona in Act II.

The ensembles worked like a consistent charm, with everyone on stage having a good time and not infrequently drawing the audience into the spirit of the thing.

It's just a pity they had so few receptors on which to work their magic at this performance.

This Fledermaus is on tour through the wilds of tropical Queensland during the first week in May before ending its exhausting tour on the fringes of Adelaide later in the month. Catch it if you can.

David Gyger, Opera Opera, May 2005.

Co-Opera brings champagne comedy of Die Fledermaus to chardonnay country.

The weather at the weekend was perfect for music outdoors, and two Yarra Valley wineries drew appreciative crowds to operatic offerings.

Complete with large orchestra and chorus, Melbourne Opera restaged the hit of its 2004 season, Madama Butterfly, and Co-Opera, a small ensemble based in Adelaide, brought the champagne comedy of Die Fledermaus to chardonnay country.

Puccini's tragic tale of a Japanese teenage bride who is used then deserted by her American husband plays well in the open air because it has enough musical and dramatic power to reach the back of the paddock.

Framed by the well-equipped outdoor stage at Rochford winery and amplified by an industrial-strength sound system, this Madama Butterfly really packed a punch.

Sometimes the impact was just too strong. Antoinette Halloran, as Butterfly, sang accurately and acted well, but her voice is a big one with few soft edges, and the microphone gave it a shrillness that persisted until her quieter singing in the closing scenes.

Kathryn Grey, as the servant Suzuki, sounded even harsher.

The audience lapped up David Rogers-Smith's performance as the caddish Lieutenant Benjamin Pinkerton. Here is an impressive tenor voice matched by admirably deft vocal and dramatic technique.

Francesco Fabris, as Butterfly's suitor, Price Yamadori, was badly let down by his radio microphone, which distorted and deadened his voice. (Was the tall metal headpiece he wore picking up signals from the ether?)

Roger Howell reprised his excellent performance in the role of Sharpless.

Overall, a decent show and almost the last opportunity to hear this company before it merges with Melbourne City Opera.

This Butterfly represented what we have come to expect from Melbourne Opera in tis two brief years of existence: traditional repertoire on an ambitious (sometimes too ambitious) scale, consistently high-quality musical direction, and some outstanding individual performances from singers. In short, productions that tend to be excellent in parts.

Meanwhile, near Yarra Glen, Co-Opera showed what can be achieved with a small but energetic troupe of talented singers, a portable stage and a single piano as accompaniment.

Its production of Johann Strauss's operetta Die Fledermaus was sparkling entertainment.

The farcical tale of cheating spouses and romantic shenanigans, spiked with some of Strauss's best-known tunes, was presented in an earthy English translation. The entire cast was strong, but Phoenicia Johnson was a stand-out playing the saucy maid Adele as a Viennese Anna Nicole Smith.

Sybil Nolan, The Herald Sun, Wednesday 16 March 2005.

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