MUSIC REVIEWS : An Awkward ‘Countess’ at the Ambassador

When does an operetta relic, in a mere concert performance, attract a capacity crowd? Through a downpour that turns automobiles into hydroplanes? With a cast of unknowns, no less?

When the Los Angeles Concert Opera Assn. gives its sixth annual outing at Ambassador Auditorium, as was the case Sunday afternoon. Talk about hardy devotees!

But it took a leap of imagination to believe that this same “Countess Maritza,” by Emmerich Kalman, could have been one of the Austro-Hungarian gems that played night after night at the famous Theater an der Wien.

And that’s because of the tentative production values it received here. Even so, one could enjoy the tuneful overture, overseen spiritedly by conductor Todd Helm and his little pit band.

What’s more, the performance was instructive--it showed that Kurt Weill, for instance, had a common ground with Kalman and Lehar; his cabaret songs differ only by way of their added decadence.

As for the elements of tongue-in-cheek humor and arch sentimentality, they did not have an easy time with the cast seated on chairs when not performing, along with two neat rows of chorus members (Roger Wagner Chorale Institute). Awkwardness marked the proceedings and drained away the best theatrical possibilities.

Style, in fact, counts for much in the operetta genre. Otherwise the libretto formula--silly fortune-hunter antics and phobias that get mixed up with romantic quests and identity deceptions--can seem like stale sitcoms.

Unfortunately, the cast could not hurdle the built-in staging problems. In the title role, Demetra George was hardly more than an attractive but chirpy prototype, while the exceptionally handsome Keith Alexander Bolves, whose small, fine-grained tenor had unusual warmth in the middle range, strained at the top and turned inaudible for Count Tassilo’s bottom notes.

Brad McMurray, in the small role of Prince Moritz, knew all about projection--spoken and sung--and immediately put distance between himself and the others. So did the full-throated Michelle Sarkesian as an earthy Gypsy Manja.