A snippet, from YT, of the current Metropolitan Opera version (final dress rehearsal) featuring Kelli O'Hara in her Met debut:
Oh, the gorgeous score by Lehar, in English, by the New York City Opera: what fun!
The Merry Widow (German: Die lustige Witwe) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play, L'attaché d'ambassade (The Embassy Attaché) by Henri Meilhac.
The operetta has enjoyed extraordinary international success since its 1905 premiere in Vienna and continues to be frequently revived and recorded. Film and other adaptations have also been made. Well-known music from the score includes the "Vilja Song", "Da geh' ich zu Maxim" ("You'll Find Me at Maxim's"), and the "Merry Widow Waltz".
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Hugh Downs explicates it between acts. So I'm not sure how much you need to know about the plot in advance. Apparently it took the western world by storm.
Most recently, the Metropolitan Opera has revived it; it is running through January at the Met, with Renee Fleming in the title role, and the toast of Broadway, Kelli O'Hara, playing the diplomat's wife. Anthony Tommasini, in the NYT, gave this version a less-than-stellar review; but he mostly blamed the venue, saying that he wondered throughout how this version would have sounded in a theater one-third the size of the Met's cavernous three-thousand-plus seat house.
http://www.nytimes.com/...{%222%22%3A%22RI%3A12%22}
I highly rec Mr. Tommasini's review, if only for the luscious photos from the current performance.
BTW, I do apologize for embedding this City Opera version from Live From Lincoln Center. The production itself is marvelous. But. They talk too much: shut up and get on with the show! I don't really care about the lighting! I'm still waiting for Act II half an hour later. If I can find a better version (better in the sense of better production values; the Beverly Sills version had lousy production values) I will embed it below.