Soprano Ruth Ann Swenson stars as Anna Glawari, the wealthy and very marriageable lady whose fortune is needed to save the tiny country of Pontevedro from bankruptcy, with baritone Rod Gilfry as Count Danilo, the only man around who isn't burning to marry her. (He does come around eventually — this is operetta, after all.) Tenor Stephen Costello, who made quite a splash in the Metropolitan Opera's Lucia di Lammermoor earlier this season, plays Camille de Rosillon, with soprano Nathalie Paulin as the flirtatious Valencienne and bass-baritone (and comic expert) Andrew Shore as Baron Mirko. Graeme Jenkins, The Dallas Opera's music director, conducts the company's chorus and orchestra.
The Dallas Opera gives four performances of The Merry Widow: this evening, Sunday afternoon (Dec. 2) and next Wednesday and Saturday, Dec. 5 and 8 at the Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas. For information and tickets, visit www.dallasopera.org.
