The Bartered Bride

The New Zealand Opera season of The Bartered Bride opens in Wellington tomorrow night. Last night, we were lucky enough to get a sneak peak at the final dress rehearsal. I have enjoyed hearing how the last few months of rehearsals were progressing and it was great to see everything coming together on stage.

The Bartered Bride is a comic look at Bohemian life by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. Originally set in the 1860s, it's all about scheming, social climbing and marrying favourably to settle family debts, thereby ensuring financial security but all the time threatening the happiness of the star-crossed lovers. The circus performers stole the show with their short segment and Conal Coad gave a standout performance as the scheming matchmaker, Kecal. Predictably, true love prevails and things all work out amiably. Of course.

At 2 hours 40 minutes, this opera is a long time sitting. Thankfully it is sung in English, although subtitles were projected above the theatre boxes on both sides of the stage.