Revisiting 1932 with Oscar Straus’ “Eine Frau, die weiß was sie will”
I can’t help it. I’m an addict. I’m hopelessly addicted to Komische Oper in Berlin. For me, as an American
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Yiddish Operetta Songs: A Re-Discovery On Auschwitz Memorial Day?
The 27th of January 2015 was a memorial day, not only in Germany, but there especially. 70 years ago the
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“Die schöne Helena” As A WW2 Drama Of Homosexuality
Considering that Offenbach’s La belle Hélène recently received two extremely “gay” interpretations at the opera houses of Hamburg and Berlin
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“Das Verdächtige Saxophon”: Albrecht Dümling’s Classic Re-Published
Finally: Albrecht Dümling’s great big book on music and operetta in Nazi times, Das verdächtige Saxophon, has been re-published. After
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Down To My Last Two Days: Linie 1 & Lillie Claus
Down to my last two days in Berlin. The Komische Oper was hosting a three-day symposium on operetta, the last
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Is There An Ideal “La Belle Hélène” Recording – With Sex Appeal?
In early 2015, the Komische Oper presented their very first Operetta Symposium, dealing with the “kinky” side of the genre
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“The Auto Race” And Other Tuned-Up Operettas From Early Broadway Days
If you wish to experience operetta off the beaten track, then look no further than this brand new CD with
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What Really Influenced Noël Coward’s “Bitter Sweet”: “Die Fledermaus”?
Amazingly Noël Coward’s first musical book show was Bitter Sweet. Up to that point he had built his reputation as
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Flying Down To Berlin: For the First Operetta Festival At The Komische Oper
You know it’s finally happening when the first international guests fly in and need to be picked up at Tegel
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Have You Heard Of Henri Christine’s “Phi-Phi” (1918)?
Do you know Phi-Phi? Unless you are French or Hungarian and over 90 years of age, you won’t ever have
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A Musical Comedy Orgasm: Seeing “Clivia” In Berlin From A Broadway Perspective
Tuesday and Wednesday in Berlin were exasperating for me. A combination of misunderstandings, bad directions, getting lost, buying a theatre
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An American in Berlin: Seeing Operetta At The Komische Oper
Richard C. Norton, New York City based author of A Chronology of American Musical Theater, regular contributor to the Operetta
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Mixing Pop And Opera: Triumph Or Trouble?
In the music world, sometimes the concept of mixing vocal genres in the same performance works well, and sometimes it
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From Dingsda To The Mississipi: Bumping Into Alen Hodzovic Again
Perhaps you know that feeling: you see a super-duper operetta performer one day, and the next he’s vanished. Or so
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The “Dancing Conductor” Joseph R. Olefirowicz In Munich
If you’re watching this space, you might have registered some recent frustration with current operetta conductors who were not quite
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A Kálmán Bonanza For Christmas: “Mariza”, “Arizona Lady” & “Csárdásfürstin”
It’s a real Kálmán bonanza this holiday season. Wherever you turn, there is Kálmán, and more Kálmán. In St. Gallen
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4 For 45: Operetta Movie Classics On Sale At Warner
It is not quite an “indecent proposal,” as in the 1993 Robert Redford movie. But still, it’s a stunning offer:
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Serkan Kaya Redefines Operetta As Kalman’s Cowboy Hero in “Arizona Lady”
Truth be told: the performance of Turkish musical comedy star Serkan Kaya as a swaggering cowboy hero in Kalman’s Arizona
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Happy New Year: Josef Strauss Meets Offenbach For A Quadrille Ride
If you know your operetta history, you will be aware of the fact that Johann Strauss Jr. was the most
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Coffee With Jochen Kowalski – And Laughing With Novikova
Admittedly, Heilbronn is not the first city that comes to (my) mind when talking about operetta “Made in Berlin.” Still,
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The Man Behind “Die Fledermaus”: New Biography of Richard Genée
As the author of Die Fledermaus (1874) and a whole series of other famous Strauss operettas, Richard Genée is not
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“Bodies & Gender”: Operetta Symposium In Berlin
Finally, you might say. Or, as the Germans would put it: „Endlich!“ Yes, the Komische Oper Berlin will present the
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Reynaldo Hahn’s Magical “Ciboulette” From The Opéra Comique In Paris
Did anyone ever wonder what happened to Rodolfo after Mimi’s death? Truth be told, I did not. At least not
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A New German “Fiddler On The Roof” On CD
This past summer of 2014, Austria’s Mörbisch Lake Festival departed somewhat from its traditional programming of German operetta to present
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Celebrating Charles Kálmán’s 85th Birthday
In Vienna, a grand musical birthday celebration will be held in December. The “birthday boy” is Charles Kalman, oldest son
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Five Year Plan: Glorious Rarities At The Festival In Ischl
Yes, it might be true that the Austrian operetta festival in Bad Ischl is fighting for “pure survival,” as director
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Operetta From Socialist Germany: A Conference in Freiburg
Today and tomorrow, the Deutsches Musicalarchiv hosts its annual conference in Freiburg. Among the various talks on the history of
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Offenbach’s Bavarian Romp “Fantasio” – Finally On Disc And Complete
Offenbach aficionados may rejoice. Here is the first complete recording of his opéra comique in 3 acts, 4 tableaux, Fantasio.
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“Ich reiß’ mir eine Wimper aus”: How To Revive Operettas From The Nazi Era
It is an inventive new approach to an old question: how do we deal with the ideological baggage of operettas
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„Zwei Cowboys im 3/4-Takt: Emmerich Kálmáns Arizona Lady, oder wie die Wiener Operette in den Wilden Westen kam“
Zu Weihnachten 2014 schenkt die Komische Oper den Berlinern eine sehr späte – und überfällige – Hauptstadtpremiere von Emmerich Kálmáns
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War & Love : A Cabaret Evening At The Black Pig
Nothing makes love’s longing bloom as intensely as a heavy crisis! Or so the saying goes. At the restaurant Zum
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Popular Musical Theatre In London And Berlin: 1890 To 1939
Here is something really yummy: a collection of essays dealing with various aspects of popular musical theater at the beginning
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“Inszenierte Moderne”: A New Study About Operetta, Musical Comedy And Revue
One of the most interesting young German scholars in the field of operetta research and examining the entertainment industry, Tobias
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Out & Proud: “Csárdasfürstin” With Netrebko, Florez And Thielemann
Are you ready for this? The Semperoper Dresden and its musical director Christian Thielemann will dedicate the 2014 New Year‘s
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Art Is Calling For Me: Reviving Victor Herbert In 2014
The Artistic Director of the Victor Herbert Renaissance Project (VHRP), Alyce Mott, has already had a major triumph this year
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What Can You Expect From Nikolaus Harnoncourt Conducting Johann Strauss Jr.?
Yes, we all know that conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt is one of the pioneers of the Early Music Movement. Together with
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