Puccini’s Operetta “La Rondine” At The Deutsche Oper Berlin
When I was very young, I had a book called something like The Operas of Puccini. I can’t remember –
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Offenbach’s sexy medieval spoof “Geneviève de Brabant”
Of the great opéras-bouffes of Offenbach’s early years, the one which has suffered the most inexplicable eclipse in the 20th
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Frédéric Barbier’s “La Baronne de Haut-Castel” In Halle
In Halle you can see the first German production Frédéric Barbier’s operetta Die kleine Baronesse (La Baronne de Haut-Castel) on
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Zwischen den Zeilen und Zeiten: Das Ur-Publikum und der Reiz der Ur-Operette
Vielleicht ist es Ihnen ja auch schon mal so gegangen: Bei der Lektüre von Texten zur Ur-Operette – also der
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“The Golden Apple”: A Holy Grail For Musical Theatre Buffs
Applause now, please, for PS Classics and Lyric Stage of Irving, Texas, whose combined resources bring us the first complete
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“In Frisco ist der Teufel los”: Two Concert Performances In Leipzig
It’s a topic that’s in the air right now, at least in Germany: remembering the situation in former East Germany
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German Cast Recordings Of “West Side Story”
Today, the Opera Leipzig will present a new production of West Side Story. Not at the Musikalische Komödie, but in
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Rare First Editions of Offenbach & Co.
Getting hold of scores – for operettas – has always been a challenge. Admittedly, the situation has become a lot
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The “Europäische Stiftung Operette” Is Back With A Vengeance
The headline in the email to the local press certainly caught our attention: “Europäische Stiftung Operette (ESO) präsentiert Berliner Operette
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The “Sommer Arena” Is About To Open
It’s summertime, and of course that means that the out-door operetta season is taking off in Europe. One of the
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Forbidden But Not Forgotten: “Entartete Operette” In Historic Recordings
The label Intense Media has issued a 10 CD box with so called “Degenerate Music,” i.e. music and recordings by
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Ethan Mordden’s New American Operetta History
Anyone who has walked into a bookshop in the USA recently will have noticed that Ethan Mordden’s attractively packaged Anything
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Golden Schikaneder Statues: The Third Annual Austrian Music Awards
Obviously, the whole world watches the Tony Awards and what’s happening on Broadway – which excludes operetta. (Even if The
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Concerts at the Musikalische Komödie: “In Frisco ist der Teufel los”
As a grand finale to the festival week 1000 Years Leipzig and the local street festival, the soloist, ballet and
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Uncool (And Proudly So): Mel Atkey’s “Breaking Into Song”
Mel Atkey’s new book Breaking Into Song has arrived: a collection of articles, essays and interviews from the past 35
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“Girls With No Clothes To Speak Of”: Broadway-Operetta Then And Now
There is a renewed interest in operetta internationally, not just the French and Austrian variety of the genre, but also
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A New Tap-Dancing Musical About James Cagney
An unlikely subject for a musical perhaps – though, of course, he starred in several – Hollywood tough guy James
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What Is Johann Strauss Doing In The Exhibition “Homosexualität_en”?
To say that I was surprised would be putting it mildly. Here I was, at the opening of the grand
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Cole Porter In Hollywood: Or What We Can Learn From John Wilson
Yes, Mr. John Wilson and his orchestra are at it again. After they presented Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate at
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Lost “My Fair Lady” Songs Rediscovered And Performed
Obviously, My Fair Lady is one of the greatest “modern” operettas ever. Almost everyone knows the score and the hit
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“Zehn Mädchen und kein Mann”: Early Franz von Suppé In Hannover
The girls are at it, again. Yes, the students of the Hannover Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien are tackling
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Charell & Bendow: Honored As Great Personalitites In Berlin’s History
Yes, it fills us with joy – and a little bit of pride too – that the brochure entitled Persönlichkeiten
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Josh Groban Sets An Example With “Stages”
Here it is: a album of Josh Groban singing musical comedy. The American pop tenor has squeezed 15 famous (and
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Something Rotten! New Shakespeare-Spectacle On Broadway
This very clever new musical is a rib-tickling winner across the board, a hilarious riff on Shakespeare and his times.
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Puzzlingly Updated: Herbert’s “The Only Girl” Revived In New York
Light Opera of New York (LOONY) seems to go from strength to strength with each new season, and their latest
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Forget Dames At Sea: Here Come Twelve Gay Sailors
My first reaction was: ‘Not another fairy tale musical!’ But after Monday night’s concert at The Ballery in Berlin, where
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“Moscow, Cheryomushki”: Remembering Russian Operetta
It’s a grand day in Moscow today, filled with military parades. Perhaps it’s the appropriate time to remember one of
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“Doctor Zhivago”: Laughably Derivative?
Not only does this overblown musical of Boris Pasternak’s classic novel not measure up to the sweep and majesty of
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“Trip To Africa”: Reconstructing A Forgotten Classic
Within the next couple of years A Trip To Africa (Die Afrikareise), widely considered to be Franz von Suppe’s best
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“In der Bar zum Krokodil”: Schlager-Music Exhibition
The exhibition is not exactly new, but it seems to be so successful that it is being passed around: In
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“Shall We Dance?” Kelli O’Hara As Anna Leonowens
This opulent revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s enduring 1951 classic certainly has much to commend it. For starters, theatergoers have
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The Hungarian Connection: Reclaiming The Repertoire
Vienna and Budapest: those are two important fixtures in the operetta universe. And two highly profitable marketing terms. There are
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“L’Île de Tulipatan”: Playing With Notions Of Gender And The Idea Of Same-Sex-Marriage
Even after the success of his full-length opéras-bouffes and the disappearance of the constrictions which had limited him in earlier
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Kander & Ebb: “The Visit” Starring Chita Rivera
Broadway at last! The John Kander and Fred Ebb musical, originally conceived as a vehicle for Angela Lansbury, who withdrew
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Glamour For Goebbels. Or: The First Sperm Donor Operetta In History
If you check the International Movie Data Base, you’ll find that the Nazi film operetta Liebespremiere (1943) is an adaptation
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A Day Of Liberation? The 8th of May 1945 In Operetta History
The 8th of May, 1945 was a sunny Tuesday in the Third Reich. It was the day General Hans-Georg von
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