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Jacques Offenbach's LA BELLE HÉLÈNE (The Beautiful Helen) Zurich Opera 1997

This production is available both as a VHS and a DVD. Though both are from the same production of the same opera from the same theater and using the same cast, the VHS version is NOT from the same performance as the DVD version.

The opera:
The Beautiful Helen of Sparta... Beauté fatale! The story of her ill-fated escapade with Paris of Troy inspired so many tragic opera and plays that this comic take on how Helen of Sparta became Helen of Troy plays like a real breathe of fresh air!

The back-story to know before the curtain rises has to do with the apple of discord. Eris, the goddess of discord, was so miffed at not being invited to the wedding between Peleus and Thetis on Mt. Ida that she crashed the party and threw a golden apple onto the table where Juno (Hera), Minerva (Athena), and Venus (Aphrodite) were seated, saying that it is her gift to the fairest among them. With each of the goddesses claiming themselves deserving of the apple, Zeus intervened and designated Paris (AKA the most beautiful man alive) to decide the matter. Lured by Venus' promised of the love of the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta), Paris gave the apple to the goddess of love and set off to Sparta to claim his prize.

After a perky overture quoting many musical numbers from the opera proper, Act I opens in front of the Spartan Temple of Apollo where High Priest Chalchas meets and agrees to aid Paris in his poaching of Helene. What follows is a series of farcical conning the kings of Greece (Menelaus, his brother Agamemnon, his nephew Oreste (a trouser role), Achilles, the two Ajax's... amusingly portrayed as Siamese twins joined at the hip!). It ends with Paris and Helene eloping to Troy, of course.

This zany 1864 opera based on libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy is supposedly Offenbach's satire of the 'anything goes' hypocrisy of the French upper class during the 2nd Republic. The music is delightfully perky and the lyric very witty. It is right on the borderline between being really ‘operatic’ and being ‘broadway-ish’... In short, an operetta sung operatically. If you love fun Broadway musicals, you will not get enough of this show. Offenbach experienced no composer’s block in writing hook-infested tunes for this work, especially for Hélène and Paris (a hook is an ear-catching musical phrase). And if you like this witty satire opera buffa, then you’ll also love Offenbach’s other great satire work Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), where Orpheus is a womanizer and Euridice is a wh.. Oops, can't use that word... O, well,... a w.. worldly woman who runs off to get with the god of Hades!


This production:
The set is minimalistic and pinkly elegant. Acts I and III are on the steps outside of the temple of Jupiter. Act II is inside the Spartans royal residence (same set, with addition of another row of columns). The costumes are another story; however, A mix bag of amusingly stylized Roman togas of many colors, and most with some writing on them. Hélène first appears in one with AMOUR (love) stitched across her skirt. And Paris, he’s a walking book! The whole thing looks like something you would see in a grade school production of Joseph and the Amazing Multi-Color Dream-coat... but it works really well in this farcical setting. Cheers to stage director Helmut Lohner.

To see video clips from the DVD, go to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ICL86-qG3w
and www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYCmtFFmQMM&fmt=18

Hélène, who is either a Falcon soprano or a high mezzo in her vocal range, is beautifully sung and alluringly acted by the Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova. Naturally one of the better looking lasses on the opera stage, she is at times compromised by the overly starched blonde wig into uncomfortable resemblances of a square-jawed drag queen in certain close-up shots (especially in the VHS version). Once she opens her mouth and starts singing, though, she is the undisputed most beautiful and erotically alluring woman in the world! A more sensual voice than hers is hard to imagin, especially in the middle of the vocal range. Hélène’s music really allows her to exploit that to great effect. If you have only heard her in trouser roles before, you'll be surprised how different and feminine the voice is here, especially up high where many a soprano would kill for the clear and free quality of her top notes. Kasarova also displays a very adept comedic acting instinct, and in the DVD performance she is less prone to exaggerated arm movements than the one captured on the VHS version.

I particularly enjoy her invasion and harassment of the orchestra pit during the second act and how vocally seductive she is her duet with Paris (‘Oui, c’est ne qu'un reve!’). Musically that thing is practically X-rated. Her Helenic timbre is as smooth as silk and as sultry as a dripping wet Angelina Jolie in the little solo at the beginning of the little Act II ending waltz, 'Va t'en, mon amour te suivra/ Un vile séducteur!’ (Go, and my love goes with you/ a vile seducer!).' Honestly, if any man doesn't catch that the "go" here is actually a "don't go", he is too dense to be allowed to reproduce!

The late South African tenor Deon van der Walt is in fantastic voice and sings Paris marvelously in the DVD performance! In the VHS version he sounds rather tired -his high notes strained and underpowered, and his coloratura (vocal ornamentation) rather suspected. None of that is present in the DVD performance (this is the biggest differences between the two recordings, by the way). His Act I hit aria, ‘Au Mont Ida’ (On Mt Ida)’ in the DVD deserves all the applause it drew, while in the VHS version he struggles on high notes and in keeping in tempo with the orchestra.

The Spanish basso Carlos Chausson is the dream Chalchas in both versions! Vocally secure and with consistently great comic timing. The German Tenor Volker Vogel does fine as Menelaus, Helene’s beleaguered husband. He acts better than he sings, which is not a bad thing in this well-cajoled farce. The dependable Rumanian mezzo Liliana Nichiteanu is a spunky Orestes with a strong and radiant voice. Her phrasing and care in finishing all the notes in the DVD version show improvement from the VHS performance, too.

Maestro Nikolaus Harnoncourt leads the small-size Orchestra of the Zurich Opera in spiritedly brisk tempi, moving the show a bit faster on the whole in the DVD version than in the VHS one, though in the DVD version he lets his oboist get a little too loud during the Act II duets between Paris and Helene. That distracts a bit from the voices. It is great that he has such a light touch on this opera, since he is known more for his more ‘serious’ works (his recording of Bach’s Matthaus Passion has a way of sticking in my CD player for hours on end). The curtain call for this show is not to be missed as well!

Bottom line
A perfect work to introduce any newcomer to the opera with. The staging and the singing are light and witty without being obnoxious or childish. It is two hours of roaring laughters in the best sense of the word! Go for the DVD rather than the VHS tape. It is the slightly better performance. I'd rate the DVD 5 stars, and the VHS 4 1/2 stars.


1 VHS with fixed English subtitle or,
1 DVD. **Check player’s system requirement!!** My DVD is in PAL format, the NTSC version is Region 2 coded. Run time: 124 minutes. Sung in French with subtitle in: English, German (the menu claims it is Danish, but it is German!... at least on my DVD anyhow). There isn’t any package insert in either version.

PS: This is a complete rewrite of a previous review of the VHS performance to also include the DVD version since I couldn't add a separate DVD entry. It is a very odd occurrance to have the DVD and the VHS of the same opera production from the same house with the same cast being from different performances rather than the exact same one on different media.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12