Latest Articles
George London On Broadway – But Without His Partner Mario Lanza
And now, I would like to talk to you about George London. Yes, I am aware that he didn’t sing
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“Sehnsucht 202” On DVD: A Very Queer Version Of Vienna With Fritz Schulz & Paul Kemp
The Austrian newspaper Der Standard has added a forgotten film operetta to their DVD series “Der österreichische Film”, a movie
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Why oh why oh why oh! Burleycue in Ohio: “The Bandbox Revue” Of 1922
This picture looked to me like a rather nice American girlie entertainment from the Twenties. Wonder what it is, thought
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A Naughty Gaiety Girl …
When you ‘live’ in a certain ‘world’ – in my case, that of the 19th century musical theatre – you
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The Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live! Presents “Heart O’Mine” Online
Over the last several months, the beloved New York institution dedicated to all things Victor Herbert, has been streaming video
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When Theaters Stay Closed, Operettas Go Online – Not Just In Budapest
The 2nd wave Corona lockdown has made operetta performances virtually impossible in many countries, and it looks like it might
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Jaromir Weinberger’s Last Weimar Operetta “Frühlingsstürme” On DVD
You might be as baffled by this new release as I am: the recent production of Jaromir Weinberger’s “last Weimar
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Georges Prêtre Conducts Two Outstanding Offenbachs In His Final La Scala Concert
Conductor Georges Prêtre is generally considered one of the best interpreters of French music, and the list of famous recordings
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World Premiere Recording Of Kálmán’s Symphonic Poems “Saturnalia” & “Endre és Johanna”
In 2013 and 2016 the University of British Columbia performed two of Emmerich Kálmán’s early symphonic poems, Saturnalia and Endre
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Waiting For Offenbach In Times Of A New Corona Lockdown: So What Happens Now?
You could say it’s a bitter irony: ever since theaters in Germany re-opened after the summer, Barrie Kosky has said
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David Monod’s “Vaudeville & The Making Of Modern Entertainment” 1890-1925
David Monod, professor of American social and cultural history, has undertaken a massive challenge in presenting a history of American
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Ivan Caryll & The Heyday Of The Gaiety Musical Comedy
Ivan Caryll was the principal composer and conductor for the heyday of the Gaiety musical comedy who encouraged the development
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“My Song For You”: A Marta Eggerth & Jan Kiepura Exhibition In Vienna
Devotees of classic Hollywood musicals – the sort that are the staple of Turner Classic Movies – will know Hungarian
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CHIN-CHIN, Or A Modern Aladdin Musical Fantasy (1914) With Music By Ivan Caryll
An updated version of the Aladdin story, rewritten to feature the comedians Dave Montgomery and Fred Stone, Chin-Chin cast its
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“Swapping The Canon” To Dismantle Racism & Hetero-Cis-Patriarchy? Proposals For Higher Education In The USA
There’s a lot happening in the world of theater right now, not just because of Corona and the ongoing lockdown
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Offenbach, Composer Of Zarzuelas? An Interview With Enrique Mejías García
From 14 October onwards the Fundación Juan March is presenting a special program dedicated to Jacques Offenbach. The series of
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Lotte de Beer: The Future Of Operetta At Volksoper Wien Is Female
The future of operetta in Vienna is female: Lotte de Beer was presented this week as new artistic director of
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“Jery und Bätely” From Malmö: Operas & Operettas By Women Composers
Women opera and operetta composers are often even more in the shadows than women composers in general, and if it
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A Legendary American Burlesque: “Evangeline” (1874), Beautiful Country Girls & A Dancing Heifer
A burlesque of Longfellow’s poem of the same name, the extravaganza Evangeline followed the trials and tribulations of its heroine
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A Bi-Polar “Merry Widow”: The Life Of Lily Elsie (1886-1962) Revisited
Elsie Hodder was born in a rather squalid theatrical lodging house in Leeds on 8 April, 1886. Her mother was
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Lorenzo Viotti Wants To Overcome The “Stiffness” Of The Classical Music World: “Csardasfürstin” From Zurich
The Zurich Opera presented its new Csardasfürstin on Friday, after a long Corona delay. As compensation for the waiting, the
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Leo Fall’s “Die Rose von Stambul”: What About The Hijab Controversy?
This new recording starts overwhelmingly: with gongs, whole tone scales, rhythmic oriental rattling, bouncing horn passages à la Richard Strauss.
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Jeanette MacDonald (1901-1965): Hollywood’s Most Successful Soprano Star Of Celluloid Operetta
After beginning her singing career as a teenager in the chorus of a New York revue, Miss MacDonald (born in
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Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972): Parisian Music-Hall Star & Hollywood’s Singing Very-Frenchman
After an early career spent performing in cafés and suburban music halls, Maurice Chevalier (born in Ménilmontant on 12 September,
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“Bretter, die die die Welt bedeuten“: The DDR Musical Returns To Musikalische Komödie Leipzig
Is this the start of something like “reparation” after an endless period of neglect? On 18 September 2020 Bretter, die
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Lily Elsie (1886-1962): Becoming “The Most Photographed Woman In The World”
A child of mysterious origins (she was rumoured, when fame came, to have been the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat
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Broadway Producer Henry W. Savage (1859-1927): “Merry Widow” and “Sari” Were His Greatest Hits
Harvard-educated Henry Wilson Savage was born in New Durham (New Hampshire) on 21 March 1859 and well established as a
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Ethel Jackson (1877-1957): Broadway’s First “Merry Widow”
A descendant of the painter Henry Inman, Miss Jackson was born in New York on 3 February 1877. She studied
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And Here’s Broadway’s First Danilo in “The Merry Widow”: Donald Brian (1877-1948)
Donald Brian was the bright-eyed and boyish star of more than 20 years of Broadway operettas and musicals, among them the
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The First English Language Danilo in “The Merry Widow”: US-Comedian Joseph Coyne (1867-1941)
Joseph Coyne was a light comedy actor-who-sings who moved from silly-ass rôles in his native America to stardom as Britain’s
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Marktplätze, Kampfzonen und Elysium: Zwei neue Bände zu „Musik und Gesellschaft“
Beim Verlag Königshausen & Neumann ist soeben in zwei Bänden Musik und Gesellschaft erschienen, mit den Schlagwörtern „Marktplätze – Kampfzonen
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The Planned Assassination Of Napoléon Bonaparte: “Viva Napoli” by Francis Lopez
Probably the best of the later, post Raymond Vincy, musical shows written by the already fading Francis Lopez, Viva Napoli
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Francis Lopez’ “Andalousie”: Tenor Bull Fighting In The South Of France
One of the most successful of the series of post-war musicals authored by Raymond Vincy (and, in this case, Albert
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Turning Point In French Musical Theatre: “La Belle de Cadix” By Francis Lopez
As much as one show can, La Belle de Cadix marked the same kind of a turning in the musical
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“Le Chanteur de Mexico”: An “Opérette à Grand Spectacle” By Francis Lopez
Le Chanteur de Mexico followed behind La Belle de Cadix and Andalousie in the continuing series of Raymond Vincy/Francis Lopez
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A Semi-Staged “Camelot” At The Watermill Theatre
In the United Kingdom restrictions on ‘live’ performance, owing to Covid-19, were lifted with regard to outdoor theatre at the
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