The Bat - the Brat! - Opera Company of Philadelphia

Gluecklich ist, wer vergisst.

Time: Late 19th Century
Place: Vienna

After a fancy-dress ball in which Dr. Falke was dressed as a bat and spent the night carousing with his friends, he was left asleep by his pal Eisenstein on a public bench to be awakened in broad daylight by a jeering crowd.
Now Dr. Falke plots revenge. He takes Eisenstein – who is due to report to jail to serve a short sentence for a minor offense – to a ball given by prince Orlofsky. Meanwhile Eisenstein´s flirtatious wife Rosalinde has plans for her own amorous encounter that evening with her former lover Alfred. When the jailer arrives to claim Eisenstein, he finds and mistakenly arrests Alfred in his place.
At the ball, Eisenstein (disguised as a Marquis Renard) meets his maid, Adele, and his wife Rosalinde (disguised in a mask) with whom he flirts shamelessly. He also meets the prison warden, who has already arrested a man he believes to be Eisenstein because he had found him dining cosily with Rosalinde.
The complicaitions come to a climax when all gather at the jail after the party breaks up early the next morning. There, Dr. Falke discloses to be astonished Eisenstein that all of the night´s harassments have been merely “the bat´s” revenge.

“Die Fledermaus” von Johann Strauss / 5 Dollar, rush hour ticket / 3. Rang, aber brilliante Sicht, da direkt ueber dem Orchestergraben / deutsch gesungen, englische Obertitel / herrlich witzige Inszenierung, in der sogar ein „Saddam“-Witz fiel (uiui.)
Trotz drei-stuendiger Auffuehrungsdauer und zwei Pausen ein unglaublich kurzweiliger Abend. [In den Pausen wurden in allen Raengen Kaffee, Wein, Wasser (aus Plastikbechern!) und Cookies verkauft.]

Zwischen Kartenkauf und Opernstart mussten die Marathon-Baeuche noch etwas gestaerkt werden. Da erneut „American Food Day“ angesagt war, wurde ein „vegetarien taco“ (1,81 Dollar, extrem gesund mit Reis, Mais, Bohnen und Co.) verspeist + Cola (+Eiswuerfel aus der Euswuerfelmaschine!!).