Die Fledermaus

Tokyo Spring Festival 2025

Johann Strauss II
Karl Haffner, Richard Genée

Semi-staged production • Dialogue version by Lilli Fischer

Team

Conductor: Jonathan Nott
Director: Lilli Fischer

Orchestra: Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
Chorus Master: Satoshi Yoneda

Cast

Eisenstein: Adrian Eröd
Rosalinde: Anita Hartig
Adele: Sofia Fomina
Alfred: Dovlet Nurgeldiyev
Dr Falke: Markus Eiche
Prince Orlofsky: Angela Brower
Dr. Blind: Tadahiro Masujima
Frank: Koji Yamashita
Ida: Yuki Akimoto
Frosch: Fumihiko Shimura

Chorus: Tokyo Opera Singers

Die Fledermaus is an operetta about people performing versions of themselves for one another. The question is why, and for whom.

Invited by the Tokyo Spring Festival, I conceived and directed the scenic realization of this semi staged production at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, working with conductor Jonathan Nott and an international cast. Without a set, the hall itself became the stage: singers entered and exited through the architecture of Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, and every prop, costume and gesture had to carry the story on its own. The result was fast, playful and unmistakably a comedy.

Comedy only works when the audience always knows exactly who is lying to whom, and why it matters.

That was the starting point for everything we built on stage.

Reviews

The semi-staged format allowed the singers’ acting to shine, creating a highly engaging theatrical experience. The finely shaped performances owed much to the work of Lilli Fischer, whose direction gave the production its lively dramatic dimension.

– CLASSICNAVI, Kiwami Miyajima
(translated from Japanese)