World premiered in 1905, The Merry Widow has enjoyed unrivalled success with more than 250 000 performances in 25 different languages around the world, including countless recordings, films, television programmes, ballets and ice shows.
The story is about a love that can save a whole country from bankruptcy. Once upon a time, a young man fell in love with a beautiful girl and they would have lived happily together, but the young man came from a rich family and his chosen one was a simple peasant girl, so the young man’s parents were against their marriage. But to everyone’s surprise, the girl took and married the richest man in the land.
The young man left his homeland for Paris. So the years went by, and then one day… At an embassy reception in Paris, the consul, Baron Zeta, breaks the astonishing news: Hannah Glavary, the richest widow in the Highlands, has arrived in Paris! She has decided to find a new husband here, because – this is Paris, where the French live! If Hanna falls in love with one of them and withdraws all her money from the Highland bank, the country, which is now in an absolutely critical situation, will go bankrupt… It’s a disaster!
“This play is about love, which is more important than anything; even second chances. It’s about how only love can save a country from bankruptcy and the world from a new madness. It is the reason why we can do anything, and the most important thing: without love, nothing really matters,” says the play’s director Jānis Kaijaks.
The performance features the Operetta Theatre Orchestra, Choir and dancers, performing popular and beautiful music that has delighted audiences around the world. Plácido Domingo also likes to end his concerts with Hanna and Danilo’s love duet “Lips are silent” straight from The Merry Widow.
The operetta “The Merry Widow”, produced by the Operetta Theatre/Latvian Operetta Foundation, is one of the most famous operettas of all time, regularly performed in all the most prestigious opera houses and musical theatres in more than 25 languages around the world.
