Search - Justin Legris, Derek Parks, Victor Herbert :: Victor Herbert: Sweethearts/Ohio Light Opera

Ohio Light Opera triumphs again with Victor Herbert

11/01/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Sweethearts 2-CD set is Ohio Light Opera's latest release of a previously unrecorded, complete Victor Herbert operetta and it's a delight. There seems to be an annual Herbert offering from this adventurous and still-little-known troop out in the Midwest: we have had Eileen a few seasons back, then Naughty Marietta. Last season Albany Records released The Red Mill and now, in their best project yet, the tuneful Sweethearts.
Herbert may have begun life in Ireland, but his work is as American as a Jeanette Macdonald/Nelson Eddy love duet on Broadway or the Silver Screen. The title song alone is worth the price of admission here.
OLO star soprano Suzanne Woods has been featured as both Marietta and Eileen and steals the show--as usual--here as Silvia, the humble maid who captures Prince Franz' heart and, in the end, turns out to be a legitimate princess in her own right, but this is only revealed after many duets, songs and comic plots unfold.
For once, the dialogue--which can sometime seem dated in these works from almost 100 years ago--has a charming and entertaining quality that keeps the listener amused--perhaps it's the infectious work of a large and committed cast. Whatever--bravo to them all and to Albany, to director Steven Daigle and the omnipresent producer John Ostendorf for another generous product."