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Franz Lehar - Der Zarewitsch
Франц Легар - Царевич
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Год записи: 1973

Лейбл: DGM
Страна-производитель: Germany
Жанр: Operetta-Film
Продолжительность: 90 min.
Язык: German
Субтитры: English, German
Режиссер: Arthur Maria Rabenalt

Исполнители:
Wieslaw Ochman
Teresa Stratas
Birke Bruck
Harald Juhnke

Kurt Graunke Sinfonie Orchester
Сonductor - Willy Mattes

Качество видео: DVD9
Формат/Контейнер: DVDVideo
Видео кодек: MPEG2
Аудио кодек: PCM, DTS
Видео поток: 720x480@540, 6700 kbps, 29,970 fps
Аудио поток: DTS 1510 kbps 5.1, PCM 1536 kbps, 2.0; 48000Hz

As a belated celebration of the one hundreth anniversary of the American premiere of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe) at New York's New Amsterdam Theatre on 21 October 1907, it seems appropriate to revisit this German 1973 filming of Lehar's February 1927 Operetta The Tsarevich (Der Zarewitsch). The brilliant success of the Merry Widow on Broadway, with its combination of sparkling light opera, comedy and a truly memorable score, sparked the growth of a new American theater musical. Sigmund Romberg, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Rogers and Hart are all beneficiaries of Lehar's success. The Tsarevich premiered in Berlin rather than Vienna and starred the tenor heart-throb Richard Tauber.

This production, with it's beautifully sumptuous Russian fairy tale ambiance, stars the lovely Teresa Stratas as Sonja. She first catches the eye of The Tsar's young son, The Tsarevich, dressed as a male Circassian dancer. The traditional dancing is stunningly performed, complete with balalaikas, by The Kuban Cossacks. The Tsarevich, betrayed in love, has sworn off women. The Prime Minister and Grand Duke approach Sonja, asking that she continue her male disguise in order to get close to the Tsar's son, eventually to reveal herself once she is the object of his love. Siberia is her alternate option if she refuses their scheme. She accepts. The Tsarevich, played with a stolid and smug smarminess by Wieslaw Ochman, sees through her disguise after a quick sword fight, but appreciates her honesty and cleverness in suggesting they continue the scheme in order to foil it. Naturally, he falls in love with her. The sub-plot, involving the wisecracking Royal man-servant Ivan and his lovely wife Masha, serves as a wellspring of comic relief and is a source of much of the fun.

Eventually Sonja and The Tsarevich are forced to flee to Greece in order to preserve their love. Ivan and Masha travel with them to provide additional comic relief. Real life intrudes at the end and Sonja faces a hard decision when it is revealed that the Tsar has died and The Tsarevich must replace him. This European operetta's message: true love cannot defeat RealPolitik. Ouch!

The performances are splendid with the singing lip-synched but the spoken dialogue filmed live. The lip-synching is merely fair, with Ochman often a beat behind, which is distracting. He has a nice tenor voice, however. Stratas is exemplary: she can sing and act with superlative naturalness and grace, breathing life into the role. Stratas was filmed just prior to her breakthrough performance as Salome, also available on a DGG DVD. Harald Juhnke as Ivan and the lovely Birke Bruck as Masha, are a major reason for the success of this film. The set design, with its Russian fairy tale background, is breathtaking. Opulent and colorful, it's fun just to gaze at its beauty. The move to Greece is similarly lovely to look at. Lehar's score is quite good, though less memorable than Merry Widow.