by Mike Telin

Reality TV step aside! Beginning on Thursday, March 13 and continuing through Sunday, Oberlin Opera Theater presents four performances of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (The Bat) in Oberlin College’s Hall Auditorium. Raphael Jiménez conducts the Oberlin Orchestra in his Oberlin Opera Theater debut.

Strauss’s classical comedy with libretto by Carl Haffner and Richard Genee is filled with infidelity, mixed romantic messages, bored-to-tears tears royalty, and manipulation. And who doesn’t like a Strauss waltz? “I’ve done Fledermaus so many times and it’s kind of nice to have an opera that is rooted in music that people absolutely love,” says Oberlin Opera Theater director Jonathon Field. “The interesting thing is, the waltz used to be considered decadent, so a challenge has been to try to figure out how to put the sexy back into the waltz and still keep it kind of period.” [Read more…]