So, tonight I was in line for the Men's Room at intermission, and behind me a young man around 17 years of age said to his friend, "Isn't it wonderful?" And his friend replied, "I'm having a good time and the house is full." I agreed with both of them, as I thought, this is a good thing indeed.
And the good thing indeed? It was tonight's final performance of Victor Herbert's 1910 operetta NAUGHTY MARIETTA at the High School of Performing Arts. The libretto was played with fast and loose, but it was never a great libretto and the director did a lot of tinkering with it: the ending was more G&S than Rida Johnson Young, the young men weren't as vocally adept as the ladies, but I just saw one hundred students perform with great humor and energy an operetta by Victor Herbert, accompanied by an enthusiastic student orchestra with a concert master who played the violin solos beautifully.
The set was simple and beautiful, the costumes ran a gamut of periods and I wondered why Marietta never dressed her hair up for her appearance at the ball. I also wondered why she wasn't being passed off as Rudolfo's son, but I suspect she was too beautiful and curvy to let the audience sustain more belief. But it was a very full reading of the original score, the chorus work was very good, but the tempo for the Convent Girls appearance in the opening was too fast for a group of demure Catholic school girls to walk and the chorus to sing about.
The score was kicked around a bit; "'Neath the Southern Moon" was moved to Act Two so Adah could have a yearning solo under a large moon following a cut number, "Mr Voodoo," and scene with the Voodoo Queen. Our villain Etienne was deservedly given a second solo, "I Want What I Want When I Want It," and Simon and Lisette got the duet "Sweethearts" for the last scene. The old Metropolitan Opera version of LA PERICHOLE had interpolations from several Offenbach works as well, and it never bothered me. Besides, I was completely caught up in the sheer pleasure and knowledge that a lot of high school students would be graduating with the knowledge that they had performed in - or seen and cheered for - a show 100 years old, written long before there was a HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL or an AMERICAN IDOL style of singing, when melodies soared - and they do soar in NAUGHTY MARIETTA - and I thought, these works will last and never be completely lost. And I am very happy.
