“A Greek Slave”: Musical Comedy In 2 Acts With Music By Sidney Jones
Musical comedy in 2 acts by Owen Hall. Lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross. Music by Sidney Jones. Additional
read moreAll posts by kevin
“Pretty little China girl, velly, velly nice”: How Do You Revive Kerker’s “Belle of New York” Today?
As a conductor and operetta researcher, I have been working, for the last month or so, on restoring the orchestral
read more
From Persia to Performing German Schlager From the 1920s: Atrin Madani
It’s always a special treat to see new – and interesting – people coming to musical material that some consider
read more
Csárdás Interruptus: Three Kálmán CDs With Historical Recordings From The USA
Back in 1997, Michael Miller, the chair of the Ohio Light Opera Board of Directors, and president of the Operetta
read more
Anneliese Rothenberger & Max Hansen In “Orpheus in der Unterwelt” 1958
It’s an unusual coupling, to say the very least: Anneliese Rothenberger and Max Hansen in one recording? The hairspray-star of
read more
Paul Abráhám’s “Märchen im Grand Hotel” (1934) At The Komische Oper Berlin
Of course there’ve been chamber operettas long before 1933, just think of the glorious small scale pieces written by Mischa
read more
A Star Is Born: Jonas Dassler In Spoliansky’s “Alles Schwindel” At Gorki Theater
In a way, it’s what every operetta fan secretly dreams of: you go to a performance with new unknown singers,
read more
Barbara Denscher: Der Operettenlibrettist Victor Léon
Victor Léon (1858-1940) hat im Lauf seiner mehr als fünfzigjährigen Theater-Karriere über hundert Bühnenstücke geschrieben, knapp die Hälfte davon wird
read more
Richard Heuberger’s “Opernball” From Graz: Stylish And Re-Written By Peter Lund
The Austrian composer Richard Heuberger was born in Graz in 1850, trained as a railway engineer, then moved to Vienna
read more
The First Charles Kálmán Chanson Prize At Bundeswettbewerb Gesang 2017
At the beginning of December, the winners of this year’s Bundeswettbewerb Gesang presented themselves at the Friedrichstadt Palast in Berlin,
read more
A Trip to …. America: Genée and Suppé At Concert Operetta Theater In Philadelphia
It’s not very often that off-the-beaten-track Viennese operetta is performed in the USA nowadays, with the possible exception of Ohio
read more
“Die große Sünderin”: Gorgeous Künneke Melodies, Sumptuously Orchestrated
Kevin Clarke has recently penned a fascinating article concerning the background to the composition of Die große Sünderin, first produced
read more
Victor Herbert’s “The Red Mill”: Holland Mania Sweeps New York Once Again
The third major Manhattan outing in recent years of Victor Herbert’s once hugely popular Broadway operetta The Red Mill proved
read more
W. R. Heymann’s “Der Kongress tanzt” from Volksoper Wien
Erik Charell, the director of the original film version of Der Kongress tanzt, labored long and hard to bring his
read more
My First Queer Operetta: “Die Insel Tulipatan” At Staatsoper Berlin 1982
Since Offenbach’s Island of Tulipatan has popped up again on the general radar, with a brand new English language recording
read more
Offenbach’s “The Island of Tulipatan” In A World-Premiere English Language Recording
We need to talk about Offenbach, seriously and right now. Is it a sign of our gender-queer times that of
read more
Kismet Meets Operetta: Nico Dostal’s “Prinzessin Nofretete” From Leipzig
If you like your operettas exotic, grand, over-the-top and as a total blast, you will probably love the overture to
read more
Victor Herbert’s “The Red Mill” Returns To New York City
The Victor Herbert Renaissance Project LIVE! is launching its fourth season with The Red Mill, Broadway’s longest running success by
read more
Joseph Rumshinsky’s “The Broken Violin”: Call For Help
In 1916 two of the leading exponents of the Yiddish Theater of New York got together to work on one
read more
“Die Blume von Hawaii” In Basel: Was It Really That Terrible?
The Theater Basel has presented us with a brand new production of Paul Abraham’s 1931 Die Blume von Hawaii. Recently,
read more
Gaiety, Glitz & Glamour: Reawakening the “Silver Age” of 20th Century Operetta
Last weekend, the Royal Musical Association devoted one of its study days to what has controversially been described as the
read more
Künneke’s “Die große Sünderin” In Leipzig: Bringing Back Aryan Operetta Today
You might recall that back in the 1990s a renewed interest in so called ‘degenerate’ operettas spread around the world.
read more
Richard Genée’s “Der Seekadett”: New Edition By Dario Salvi
New operas are hard to come by these days—at least that is what I have always been told. Finding an
read more
“Must Close Saturday”: The Decline and Fall of the British Musical Flop
When this heavy, 350 page book, closely but clearly typed and well-illustrated, arrived in the post I thought I would
read more
“Sunset Boulevard” in Altenburg: Mit Angelika Milster als Norma Desmond
Es gibt in Deutschland eine nicht unwesentliche Gruppe von Intellektuellen – in Forschung und Journalistik – die sogenannte Mega-Musicals für
read more
The New Emmerich Kálmán Research Centre In Budapest
We recently reported on the new Emmerich Kálmán Research Centre that will open in Budapest. It’s an academic institution funded
read more
Les chevaliers du Ciel: Das Neuköllnical “Fly, Edith, Fly” im BKA
Ja, es gibt Menschen die Dragqueens als Wegbereiterinnen des modernen queeren Lebens sehen und damit auch als Vorkämpferinnen einer offeneren
read more
The Recording Of Edward German’s “Tom Jones” On Naxos
I really don’t listen much, these days, to show recordings. Especially new recordings of my beloved older shows. Those, in
read more
Sensationell: Sophia Euskirchen als Sally Bowles
Ja, dieser Auftritt der neuen Sally-Bowles-Darstellerin im Berliner Tipi-Zelt am Kanzleramt ist vergleichbar mit einem Blitzeinschlag – der mit gleißendem
read more
Kálmán’s “Herzogin von Chicago” At The Deutsches Theater Munich
I have just seen the much-heralded Budapest Operetta Theatre’s re-imagining of Kálmán’s 1928 musical mashup, Die Herzogin von Chicago, at
read more
Bring On The (1860s) Dancing Girls
Today I got led (via my blonde burlesque ladies) into the world of the ‘spectacular theatre’. You know, those shows
read more
The Emmerich Kalman Research Center. Plus: Yvonne Kalman’s 80th Birthday Gala
It was a dazzling party: Yvonne Kalman celebrated her 80th birthday last week-end in Budapest as a big gala event,
read more
“The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief”: First UK Revival Since 1937 At Opera della Luna
Opera della Luna is a well-established company, specializing in small-scale touring productions of operetta. Having concentrated on Offenbach and Sullivan
read more
“Darwinian Man, Though Well Behaved, At Best Is Only A Monkey Shaved”: G&S’s “Princess Ida”
Great Malvern is an attractive spa town of 30,000 souls, nestling in the English Midlands and surrounded by the Malvern
read more
Barbara Denscher’s Victor Léon Biography & Matthias Kauffmann’s “Operette im Dritten Reich”
Has operetta research shifted gear? One could think so, considering that there are finally in-depth academic studies coming out that
read more
“Like Rheingold, But With More Tunes”: Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” At The National Theatre
There are a few ‘musicals’ written in the last seventy years which, because of both the specific quality of their
read more