Latest Articles
“Ball at the Savoy”: An “Alluring Hotch-Potch” At Drury Lane (1933)
It might be imagined by those who underrate the virility of convention that the good old-fashioned musical comedy would not
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Ábrahám’s “Ball at the Savoy” At Drury Lane In A 1933 Oscar Hammerstein Production
Paul Abraham’s Ball im Savoy opened at Berlin’s Großes Schauspielhaus in December 1932 with a superstar cast – and was
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From Pula to the World: Franz Lehár’s Early Career in Croatia
It’s Franz Lehár’s 150th birthday – and after the first round of publications to celebrate the event (click here for
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Paleophonics: A Journey To The Dawn Of Recorded Sound In Musical Comedy
If you are interested in what original audiences of early 20th century English operetta and musical comedy heard, there is
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The Show Will Go On, Or: A New “Großherzogin von Gerolstein” At Komische Oper
“344 Menschen, that‘s besser wie nix!” That’s what intendant Barrie Kosky said when he presented his brand new schedule for
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Revisiting Ivan Caryll’s “The Shop Girl” As A Palaeophonics Cast Album
The record label Palaeophonics is specialized in historic cast albums attractively packed as old The Play reprints of the respective
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“Cheer Up! British Musical Films 1929-1945” By Adrian Wright
In a preface to Cheer Up! British Musical Films 1929-1945, author Adrian Wright tells us that British Film Studios made
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Remembering Hans May And His “Die tanzende Stadt” Or “The Dancing City” (1934)
In 2018 the score of Hans May’s operetta Die tanzende Stadt (The Dancing City, 1934) came up for sale in
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Lehár’s “Cloclo” (1924) On CD & DVD From The Ischl Festival And Ohio Light Opera
Franz Lehár’s 1924 operetta Cloclo is not one of his more famous titles, and it hasn’t stayed in the repertoire
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The Royal Voice of Betty Fischer On Truesound Transfers
In 1924 Betty Fischer created one of the greatest operetta roles of the 20th century: Gräfin Mariza in Emmerich Kálmán’s
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Remembering Will Marion Cook, Composer Of “In Dahomey” And The Cakewalk
Will Marion Cook was born inWashington, DC, on 27 January, 1869. The son of a well-off and well-educated family, Cook
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“In Dahomey”: One Of The First American Black Musical Hits
In Dahomey was an early American “Negro musical comedy” (in a prologue and 2 acts), one of the first to be
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“Die lustige Witwe”: First CD Release Of The Original 1907 Berlin Cast
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this first ever CD release of Die lustige Witwe with the 1906/7
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Hot Mikados and Swingin’ Pinafores: Stewart F. Lane’s “Black Broadway”
It’s not a new topic, but a brand new book nonetheless: Black Broadway by Stewart F. Lane. According to the
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“Kunst der Oberfläche. Operette zwischen Bravour und Banalität”
Unter ihrem Intendanten Barrie Kosky hat die Komische Oper Berlin seit 2012 einen eigenen, unverwechselbaren Operettenstil gefunden: sehr bunt und
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Remembering Mady Mesplé – France’s “Madame Opérette”
I heard yesterday that Mady Mesplé had died. I have to admit that, to me, she belonged to a past
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Adolf Wohlbrück or Anton Walbrook? A Retrospective In Berlin & A New Book From Vienna
Wohlbrück or Walbrook? Adolf or Anton? Whatever you choose to call him, the actor known under two names was one
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Listening To The Berlin Recordings Of Josef Josephi. Or: The “Elitekorps der Operette”
I’ve been on a bit of a Truesound Transfers trip these past few days. You know, that small Berlin based
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The First Oscar Hammerstein and New York’s Golden Age of Theater and Music
With such an irresistible title as this, anyone with an interest in early American musical theater would want to read this newly
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Opéra-Comique Overtures By Lecocq, Offenbach & Co.
The record label Naxos has just released a fascinating CD containing French 19th century overtures. One of these is the
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Interview With Mr. Barihunks: The Beefcake Side Of Oper(ett)a
In 2007, a music manager in the US started a blog called Barihunks, dedicated to hunky baritones. Over the years,
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The Father Of The “Silver Operetta” Age? Happy Birthday, Franz Lehár
It doesn’t happen often that an operetta composer gets that much attention in the general media, certainly the Germany language
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Robert Stolz At The Vatican. Or: 68 Versions Of “Ave Maria”
Soprano and producer Andrea Chudak has been working with settings of the “Ave Maria” for over 15 years. During this
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“Trafalgar sur un volcan”: An(other) Operetta About Terrorists?
The German record label cpo has recently released a CD of two short operettas. One of them is a real
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Embarrassment of Riches? A New Franz Lehár Reader At Böhlau Publishing
The only way I can describe my reaction to this attractively packaged new Franz Lehár reader, published to coincide with
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“One Long Gender-Bender”: Berlin’s Queer Operetta Revolution In The Years 2010-2020
The Drama Review (TDR) is planning a special issue on the developments in the German theater scene from 2010 to
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„…der Offenbachstil unserer Zeit…“: Offenbach und die „avancierte“ Regie im frühen 20. Jahrhundert
Karl Kraus und Felix Salten haben 1909 bzw. 1906 Diagnosen zur Situation des musikalischen Unterhaltungstheaters und seiner Rezeption in Wien
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Lillian Russell (1860-1922) Revisited: The Amazing Life Of A “Scandalous” Operetta Diva
With all this free time at home right now I’ve started working my way through various DVD boxes I’ve had
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Reading “The Cambridge Companion To Operetta” In Times Of Self-Isolation
The paperback edition of this fascinating, useful and, on the whole, well researched book sells for about 20 Euros on
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90 Years Ago “Der blaue Engel” Premiered – With Operetta Star Marlene Dietrich
Today, 90 years ago on 1 April 1930, the famous film Der blaue Engel premiered in Berlin’s Gloria Palace. It
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World-Premiere Recording of Strauss’ “Blindekuh” (1878) On Naxos
When it comes to Naxos and operetta, and Johann Strauss shows in particular, the famous budget label has a rather
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Catch Him If You Can? A New Biography Of Willi Kollo (1904-1988) Discussing His Nazi History
You could be surprised: here’s a brand new Willi Kollo (1904-1988) biography, and the only picture you’ll find anywhere in
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Four “Legendary Recordings” Of Richard Genée Shows, Including “Seekadett” & “Nanon”
On a sunny summer afternoon last year I had a long inspiring conversation about Richard Genée (1823-1895) with two operetta
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Mörbisch Festival 2020 Cancelled – Bad Ischl Plans To Go On
There’s a certain irony at play here: the world’s largest operetta festival in Mörbisch kicked out their old director, Dagmar
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Focussing On Kurt Weill And Johann Strauss: Komische Oper In 2020/21
So here it is: the new season at Komische Oper, presented in the midst of the Corona crisis in digital
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Sullivan, Cellier & Ford: “Haddon Hall,” “Captain Billy” And “Mr Jericho” On CD For The First Time
In 2018 the National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company staged the first professional revival of Haddon Hall for about one
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