Falstaff the knight is a plump, pompous and vain bon vivant who seeks to seduce two married women in Windsor to con money out of them. But the cunning ladies make a mockery of his presumptions.

The stage is set for an entertaining evening at the Opera House with the revival of Peter Langdal’s light-hearted and colourful staging of Verdi’s last great masterpiece. Peter Langdal is famed for giving the great classics a twist so they speak to the intellect, the eye – and in this case also the funny bone. Peter Langdal’s production from 2013 draws its inspiration from 1950s nostalgia, classic virtues and ‘The New Look’, but the morals are unchanged: pride comes before the fall, and women’s wiles are no laughing matter.

The figure Falstaff appears in several of Shakespeare’s plays, including The Merry Wives of Windsor, which inspired Verdi to create his only comedy. The comic yet refined opera was the composer’s last operatic work and embodies all his masterly talent.

American baritone Donnie Ray Albert lends both body and voice to the whirlwind adventures of the merry knight. He shares the role with Danish opera star Johan Reuter, who debuts in the role as the portly aristocrat.

Falstaff is performed in Italian with Danish supertitles. The Royal Danish Theatre wishes to thank the A.P. Møller Foundation for the generous funding that has enabled the staging of Falstaff.