Lyric Opera of Chicago Presents DIE FLEDERMAUS, 12/10

Extreme flirting, lots of champagne, and dance-to-dawn partying - it's Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, Jr. The most famous of all Viennese operettas arrives at Lyric Opera of Chicago December 10 in an effervescent new-to-Chicago production starring Juliane Banse* as Rosalinde, Bo Skovhus as Eisenstein,Daniela Fally** as Adele, Michael Spyres* as Alfred, Adrian Eröd* as Falke,Emily Fons as Prince Orlofsky, and Andrew Shore as Frank. Die Fledermaus is conducted by Ward Stare with E. Loren Meeker in her Lyric Opera directorial debut. (*Lyric debut, **American debut)

There's plenty of deception when Falke (baritone Adrian Eröd) brings his friend Eisenstein (baritone Bo Skovhus) to a costume party at the home of Count Orlofsky (mezzo-soprano Emily Fons). Eisenstein, though, should be serving a brief jail sentence. When the warden Frank (baritone Andrew Shore) shows up to escort him to jail, the warden finds Eisenstein's wife, Rosalinde (soprano Juliane Banse) with her ex-lover Alfred (tenor Michael Spyres).Rosalinde has Alfred impersonate her husband, and he's marched off to jail while Rosalinde dashes to the costume party disguised as a Hungarian countess. There she sees her husband flirting with her chambermaid, Adele (soprano Daniela Fally),who has shown up disguised as an actress.

There's all manner of intrigue and laugh-out-loud goings-on in a plot as thick as Viennese Kaffe mit schlag. But best of all, the music is by the greatest melody writer of all time, Johann Strauss, Jr.

Drenched with Viennese opulence, the sets are designed by Wolfram Skalicki, with costumes by Thierry Bosquet. Duane Schuler is the lighting designer. Chorus master is Michael Black andthe choreographer is Daniel Pelzig.

Lyric will present nine performances from December 10 through January 18. (Dec. 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, Jan. 10/m, 12/m, 15/m, and 18.) Die Fledermaus is sung in German with projected English texts. Evening performances at 7:30pm, matinees at 2pm.

The Lyric Opera presentation of Die Fledermaus is generously made possible by the Donna Van Eekeren Foundation and Katherine A. Abelson and Robert J. Cornell. Production owned by San Francisco Opera Association.

For tickets and information call (312) 827-5600 or go to lyricopera.org.

Lyric's Discovery Series session on Die Fledermaus takes place on Thursday, November 21, from 6 to 7 pm at the Civic Opera House and features a discussion with singers Bo Skovhus, Juliane Banse, Daniela Fally, conductor Ward Stare, director E. Lauren Meeker and Lyric Opera dramaturg Roger Pines. For information on this and other Discovery Series offerings go tohttp://www.lyricopera.org/discovery/.