Die Lustige Witwe – Francisco Negrin

The challenge here was for a totally non-germanic director to direct a classic Viennese operetta , not so far from Vienna, and for a germanic audience with a long tradition of the genre. So the setting was changed to the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas where a dubious eastern-european Mafia-type group is having a huge reception. The show was a total hit and surprised many people, not least Francisco Negrin who had thought taking the genre over towards Broadway was perhaps risky business! It seems the re-writing of the libretto and the spectacular dance numbers went a long way to help the Leipzig audiences forget their habits! Unfortunately Robin Adams’ splendid performance as Danilo was seen by few as he had to cancel all but two of the performances due to personal circumstances.