Incredibly fabulous! Il Lamento di Eduardo

(Second of two parts)

What Eddie and Dellie Yap “gawked” at in Melbourne’s Opera House was an incredibly fabulous and fantastic presentation, judging by Eddie’s description. Andre Rieu, conductor-violinist, was the producer, and his architect son Pierre recreated the entire Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna as setting, its grand ballroom lined with mirrors, golden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Part of the Palace was a fountain spouting water five feet high.

The stage was on three levels with the orchestra at center; an ice skating rink on either side had dancers in constant motion. The golden coach, driven by white stallions, toured the perimeter of the covered stadium built for 30,000 spectators. (That night, there were half of these, but the number was still daunting.)

Midway in the program, Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Sissi descended from the coach, then danced the Emperor’s Waltz, with no less than 80 debutantes and their partners waltzing along with the couple! Ballet was an integral, enlivening highlight, with the visiting ballet company complemented by the home-based Australian Ballet.

Empress Sissi (Brazilian soprano Carmen Monarcha) sang O mio bambbino caro (from Puccini’s Giana Schicchi, while kneeling before conductor Rieu (who was impersonating her father), and pleading with him to allow her to marry her suitor. Monarcha’s vocal interpretation and emoting were most convincing.

The Johann Strauss Orchestra played classic, contemporary and pop music: soprano Suzan Erens sang Voices of Spring, Roses from the South, My Heart Will Go On. A tenor sang Nessun Dorma from Turandot; the orchestra played Mozart’s A Little Night Music, Ravel’s Bolero, with the drummer seated in front of the orchestra, Purcell’s A Trumpet Voluntary among others.

There were several encores and during Waltzing Matilda, Australia’s favorite song, the magnified screens onstage showed Rieu with tears running down his cheeks. Why?

For him, the impossible was a dream come true. Staggering problems involved not just transporting the tons of stage sets, the coaches, the stallions, the ravishing, elegant costumes for the cast of hundreds, but also something nearly beyond the realm of dreams.

Let me quote Rieu from the program notes: “Some people say ‘all dreams are lies’ — I don’t agree! I have always dreamed of the famous palace of the Empress Sissi and the Emperor Franz-Josef. And in 2006, we did finally give a concert in the historic Schonbrunn Palace. But that wasn’t the end of my dreams. I wanted my public to come from all over the world to see our concert at Schonbrunn Palace!

“My architect son Pierre seemed the only person who didn’t say I was mad, with this Schonbrunn Palace idea. He just set to work with great enthusiasm, and now we are taking a colossal palace with us on our world tour. Every part of the palace is packed into one hundred sea containers for shipping — including the entire structure, the wall panels, the two ice rinks, the enormous Viennese ballroom — absolutely everything. What a huge job! Once all this arrive at its destination, Pierre and his hundred builders have only five days to put the entire palace together. They work 24 hours a day — in shifts, of course.

“We had tour managers of other artists taking a look; they couldn’t believe what they had heard! But it turned out to be true: our team had built an enormous palace in five days. It’s not just the palace as setting; the technical feats were really impressive. How do you get two large ice rinks frozen well before the concert? How do you make sure you have enough water pressure for the fountains? And when I see Pierre still smiling, I just feel it’s a real privilege to stand on that stage. When I saw for the first time the biggest traveling set and stage in the world — I could hardly believe my eyes. We had achieved the impossible. So dreams can come true!”

Eddie Yap’s own dream has still to come true. He rues the local paucity of opera presentations which need not be on Rieu’s epic scale. Meanwhile, with no regular opera season here, Il Lamento di Federico (from L’Arlesienne) turns into Il Lamento di Eduardo.