Renée Fleming Stars in a New Production of Lehár’s Sparkling Operetta ‘The Merry Widow’ by Tony Award-Winning Director Susan Stroman; Broadcast Live in HD to Your Local Movie Theater Saturday, January 17

Broadway director and choreographer Susan Stroman, whose many credits include the Tony Award-winning musicals Crazy For You, Contact, and The Producers, makes her Met debut with a lavish new staging of Lehár’s effervescent operetta The Merry Widow. Star soprano Renée Fleming adds a new character to her wide-ranging Met repertory as Hanna, the widowed Pontevedrian millionairess. Sir Andrew Davis conducts the stellar cast that also includes baritone Nathan Gunn as Hanna’s lover, Danilo; tenor Alek Shrader as the young nobleman, Camille de Rosillon; and baritone Sir Thomas Allen as the scheming Baron Zeta. Broadway star Kelli O’Hara, best known for her acclaimed performances in South Pacific and The Light in the Piazza, makes her highly-anticipated Met debut as the Baron’s coquettish wife, Valencienne. The delightful operetta will be performed in English, in a new translation by Jeremy Sams. Lehár’s best-known composition has been an audience favorite since its 1905 premiere and features a great deal of well-known music, including the Vilja Song, “Then Off to Chez Maxim,” and the “Merry Widow Waltz.” (approximate running time: 3 hours)

An encore presentation of this performance will be exhibited in select movie theaters on Wednesday, January 21, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. in all time zones.

Click here for a list of participating U.S. cinemas and ticketing links. Ticket prices vary. More information is available at www.FathomEvents.com or http://www.metoperafamily.org/hdlive.