Comments on: The 2016 Ohio Light Opera Season: “Hollandweibchen” and “Dancing Years”

By: Kurt Gänzl

Kurt Gänzl — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 03:58:09 +0000

What ‘lost prologue’ to THE DANCING YEARS? That’s my photograph of Ivor. Its from the Drury Lane archive and its not of anything ‘lost’. Its part of the original photo set.

By: Robert H. Rempe, Ph.D.

Robert H. Rempe, Ph.D. — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 13:13:57 +0000

This is a great article. I enclose for additional consideration work I have been doing: Here is a Wall Street Journal on my research into the 1934 operetta ROSE OF THE DANUBE by Arthur A. Penn and Geoffrey F. Morgan:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-theater-lovers-quest-to-perform-rose-of-the-danube-1487182895

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 08:50:49 +0000

Thank you, Harry Forbes, for this extensive update on the 2016 Ohio season. It was especially amusing to read about Andras Szentpeteri’s operetta renewal ideas being presented at a place that is so absolutely opposed to anything of the sort. At least officially. Because “inofficially” the OLO versions are just as far removed from any original performance style of the 1910s and 1920s, in terms of singing, acting and orchestral playing. So who is to say which approach is “correct”?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 08:31:11 +0000

I’m glad to hear that Kalman’s “Hollandweibchen” got an airing in Wooster; it’s such a fun show. The first act – with its “traditional” setting – is a fabulous parody of old-fashioned operetta conventions, very much in the style of Lubitsch and his “The Smiling Lieutenant” movie from 1931, i.e. ten years after the Kalman premiere. Lubitsch uses the same basic ingredients and situations, to maximum comic effect. I am also glad to hear that someone bothered to restore the Nazi elements in “Dancing Years,” because without them this Novello show is just another romantic piece, with them re-installed it’s a one-of-a-kind show that deserved renewed attention, also in Germany and Austria.