Latest Articles
Kurt Gänzl’s “The Musical: A Concise History” Revisited & Revised
The original edition of Kurt Gänzl’s The Musical came out in 1997, as a “Concise History” published by Northeastern University
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Operetten-Gesamtaufnahmen der letzten zehn Jahre: Ein Überblick
Operette hat Konjunktur. In den letzten Jahren sind (meist beim Label cpo) rund zwei Dutzend Aufnahmen auf CD erschienen, meist
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Young, Versatile & Hungry: James Gaffigan New Music Director At Komische Oper Berlin
So, now it’s official: James Gaffigan will be the new music director of Komische Oper Berlin. The 43 year old
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Homage to Carl Michael Ziehrer: The Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert 2022
It’s only a few days now, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will be at their exercise again. Their 1 January
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“From Gold to Silver”: Ziehrer’s Life & Musical Works
Carl Michael Ziehrer (1843-1922) and his music have always been overshadowed by the achievements of the Strauss dynasty, and this
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Marthaler’s Joyless “Giuditta” In Munich
One should have known this would happen. If you hire the 70-year-old Christoph Marthaler, you get exactly that: Marthaler. He
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“Hurra! Wir sind wieder da!” – New Year’s Concert in Marzahn
No, the Marzahn district in East-Berlin is probably not what first comes to mind when thinking of operetta. But: on
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Lehár’s “Giuditta” As A Mash-Up With Ödön von Horváth’s “Sladek, Or: The Black Army”
The premiere of the new production of Lehár’s last operetta Giuditta is coming up at Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. It’s
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Glitzy Genitalia & A New Cast: Kosky’s “Orpheus in der Unterwelt“ Arrives In Berlin
After a very (very!) long wait, Barrie Kosky’s vision of Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers has finally arrived at Berlin’s Komische
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“Le Photographe” By Meilhac & Halévy: The Template for “La Vie Parisienne”?
In the latest newsletter of the Jacques Offenbach Society (No. 98), there is a reprint of the full Meilhac &
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Glitter And Be Gay: Marin Alsop’s New “Candide“ From London
Finding the best of all possible Candide recordings is hard. Because Leonard Bernstein’s eclectic work from 1956 – his only
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Christiane Rösinger’s “Planet Egalia”: A Sci-Fi Operetta About Feminism and Queerness?
The world of science fiction is somewhat underexplored when it comes to operetta. Even though Offenbach famously wrote Le voyage
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“Roxy und ihr Wunderteam” Comes To Bühne Burgäschi In 2022
So, the success story continues: the recently rediscovered “vaudeville operetta” Roxy und ihr Wunderteam by Paul Abraham will come to
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On the Air: “Blume von Hawaii” Comes to Deutschlandradio Kultur
It’s the end of an era. For ten years Barrie Kosky made it his mission to revive forgotten Weimar Republic
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A New “Porgy & Bess” With Marin Alsop And Angel Blue
Another Porgy and Bess recording? Pentanone Classics has released highlights conducted by Marin Alsop, taken from a live concert in
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Are We Finally Rediscovering Victor Hollaender?
No, the orientalist silent film orgy Sumurun, filmed in the Ufa studios in Berlin-Tempelhof in 1920, doesn’t need to be
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“When the Music Stopped…Willy Rosen’s Holocaust”: A New Book By Casey J. Hayes
He was Weimar Germany’s answer to Barry Manilow, the most popular entertainer and songwriter of his generation, writing hit after
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„Ganz großer Kitsch, aber gigantisch gekonnt“: Benatzkys „Der reichste Mann der Welt“ in Annaberg
In der Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Operette bedeutet die sogenannte Machtergreifung der Nationalsozialisten Anfang 1933 einen radikalen Einschnitt: Die bis dahin
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“Nanon, die Wirtin vom Goldenen Lamm“: Richard Genée‘s 1877 Hit Revisited
This operette in 3 acts by F Zell is based on the comédie-vaudeville Nanon, Ninon et Madame de Maintenon by
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An 18th Century Operetta Composer? First Recording Of Charles Dibdin’s “The Wags”
Charles Dibdin is often thought of, assuming he is thought of at all, as one of the links between the
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Kurt Gänzl’s “Gilbert and Sullivan: The Players and the Plays”
I feel very honoured and flattered to have been asked to write about the most important book to be written
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“La Fille de Madame Angot” On Palazzetto Bru Zane: A Recording Of Reference From Now On
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a young lady radio or TV ‘interviewer’ asked me: what was
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Offenbach’s “Ein Ehemann vor der Tür”: A New Student Production In Leipzig
The students of Leipzig’s Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschule had planned to put on Offenbach’sUn Mari à la Porte / Ein
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One Singular Sensation? Hahn’s “Ciboulette” Re-Released On DVD By Naxos
It’s back again: the performance of Reynaldo Hahn’s Ciboulette, filmed at Opéra Comique in February 2013, has been re-released on
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Are We Finally Getting The Full Original Version Of “La Vie Parisienne”?
What if Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, the most famous German language operetta, had been performed incomplete for the last
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Peter Oliver Loew über Polen in der deutschsprachigen Operette
2013 wurde dem Slawisten und Historiker Peter Oliver Loew (er ist seit 2019 Direktor des Deutschen Polen-Instituts Darmstadt und seit
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CIBOULETTE: Opérette in 3 acts by Reynaldo Hahn
The most successful stage musical work of Reynaldo Hahn, Ciboulette was written to a text by two of the most
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The First Truly “Complete” Recording Of Kálmán’s “Gräfin Mariza” On CPO
Did it really take until 2021 for a complete Countess Mariza recording to come out? Of course, there have been
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“Bitte Britisch”: Wenn Frankensteins Monster die Hose runterlässt
Vermutlich kennen Fans der Mel-Brooks-Filme den ekstatischen Liebesschrei „A Sweet Mystery of Life“ besser als die meisten Operettenfans hierzulande. Denn
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Kosky macht Kopfkino: Minimalistisches Mahagonny
Kurz nachdem im Spätsommer die lang erwartete (und mehrfach verschobene) Dreigroschenoper am Berliner Ensemble herauskam und ekstatische Reaktionen hervorrief, ging
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Benatzky’s “Der reichste Mann der Welt“ In Annaberg-Buchholz
With the discovery of the opera Leonce and Lena by Erich Zeisl and, now, the first production of Ralph Benatzky’s
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A “Candid” Version of Bernstein’s Operetta At The Enescu Festival
Leonard Bernstein’s one-and-only operetta Candide is slated to premiere at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest on Friday, 24 September. It
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Ersan Mondtag’s Over-The-Top Gay Production Of “Der Silbersee”
Kurt Weill’s “Wintermärchen” Der Silbersee is not exactly an operetta, more of a fairy tale “with music” that tells the
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The Patriarchy Thinks Dicks Smell Like Roses: “Lila Lied” As Queer Cabaret At SchwuZ
“Welcome to the 20s” says the poster for Lila Lied, “The Queer Cabaret” that was presented in Berlin’s SchwuZ. In
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Curtain Raisers: “Les Deux Aveugles” and “Cox and Box” At Wilton’s Music Hall
Opera della Luna, under the artistic direction of Jeff Clarke, has built a well-deserved reputation for staging inventive productions of
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Richard Genée’s “Die Antisemiten” (1868): Solo Scene Translated Into English
With a title like Die Antisemiten (The Antisemites) attached to a “Grand Opera” you have the immediate attention of most
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