The Merry Widow Opens Season
September 6 – 16,
Featuring Spectacular Scenery and Costumes by Roberta Guidi di Bagno

From September 6 – 16, 2007, Houston Ballet opens its season in style with the return of the comic and enchanting The Merry Widow. Adapted from Franz Lehár’s beloved operetta, the internationally-admired British choreographer Ronald Hynd adds a new layer of lavish spectacle and choreography to the original story of The Merry Widow to create an irresistibly charming and intoxicating tale of high jinks, finance, romance, and intrigue.  The production
will feature magnificent scenery and costumes by the Italian designer Roberta Guidi di Bagno not seen before in Houston. 

“Ronald Hynd has a long association with Houston Ballet and we are fortunate to have him return to work with the company to stage his ballet,” said Mr. Welch. “The Merry Widow has become one of the twentieth century’s most beloved works performed by many companies across the world.  The ballet is a showcase for four richly developed leading characters, and the title character of Hanna is a wonderful role.  It’s rare in ballet that you have a powerful woman completely in command of her destiny who is able to define the terms of her relationship with the man she loves.

The Merry Widow premiered by The Australian Ballet to outstanding success on November 13, 1975 at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne and immediately established itself as a classic of the twentieth century full-length ballet repertoire.  Like the operetta, the ballet has proven to be very popular and has been adopted into the repertoires of many companies.  Houston Ballet first performed Mr. Hynd’s The Merry Widow in 1995.

“Mr. Hynd’s choreography and concepts rise to another and brilliant level,” writes Anna Kisselgoff for The New York Times.   The New York Post's Clive Barnes describes The Merry Widow as "delicious," "enchanting," "joyous," and "glamorous" and a "wonderful mix of vulgarity and gossamer charm."

Set in Paris in 1905, The Merry Widow is the story of the fictitious Balkan state of Pontevedro and a beautiful and rich widow, Hanna Glawari. With the threat of losing Hanna and her fortune to a foreigner, the nation’s dashing Count Danilo reluctantly prepares to woo and win her – and her fortune – thus securing the country’s economic status. At the embassy ball in Paris, however, the plan is thwarted as Danilo and Hanna realize they were once young lovers. Fueled by the possibility of rekindled love, the ballet deftly intertwines the plot’s political and economic intrigue with the characters’ devious and comical undertakings.

Ronald Hynd’s works have been performed over the last twenty years by English, Australian, American, South African and European companies to great critical acclaim. After training with British ballet pioneer Marie Rambert, Mr. Hynd joined the Sadler’s Wells company in 1951 and progressed quickly to soloist and then to principal dancer rank, dancing in such important new works as John Cranko’s Prince of the Pagodas. After his debut as a choreographer with a 1967 Baiser de la Fée for the Dutch National Ballet, it was John Cranko who urged Mr. Hynd to accept the position of director of the Munich State Opera Ballet, where he remained from 1970 to 1973 and 1984 to 1986. Based in London since that time, he has choreographed extensively as a freelance choreographer. A fluent choreographer with a light popular touch, his ballets spring from a wide range of score and subjects and include: Dvořák Variations, Charlotte Brontë, The Merry Widow, The Sanguine Fan, The Nutcracker, Rosalinda, Papillon, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Sleeping Beauty.

Houston Ballet has seven works in its repertory choreographed by Ronald Hynd: The Merry Widow (1995), Papillon (which was created for Houston Ballet in 1979), Dvořák Variations (1980), The Seasons (1980), Rosalinda (1981), The Firebird choreographed with Annette Page after Michel Fokine (1981) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (which was created for Houston Ballet in 1988).

Born in Rome, Roberta Guidi di Bagno enjoys an international reputation as a set and costume designer. She created scenery and costumes for John Cranko’s Onegin for Teatro alla Scala, and her designs were later taken into the repertoires Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Colòn Buenos Aires and Opéra de Nice. For English National Ballet, she created designs for two new productions by Derek Deane: Romeo and Juliet (1998) and The Sleeping Beauty (2000) both performed at The Royal Albert Hall in London. In 2000, she also created new sets and costumes for Mr. Hynd’s productions of The Nutcracker for Teatro alla Scala and Coppélia for Deutsche Oper Berlin.  In 1996, Ms. Guidi di Bagno was commissioned to create new sets and costumes for Mr. Hynd’s The Merry Widow for Teatro alla Scala, which was restaged in Seattle by the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Mr. Welch has collaborated with Roberta Guidi di Bagno on two of his productions: Ønsket (1998) and Ander (1999) for Royal Danish Ballet.