Offenbach’s “Orpheus” in Berlin
Am 18. Dezember 1983 erlebte die Deutsche Oper Berlin eine kleine Sternstunde heiteren Musiktheaters. In der dritten Spielzeit seiner Intendanz
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“Madame Pompadour”: Battle of the Divas
Needless to say, casting Leo Fall’s Madame Pompadour is not an easy task. Because there’s the overwhelming shadow of Fritzi
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MENSCHENsKIND: The Songs of Friedrich Holländer
Needless to say, German operetta fans already know her: the actress Dagmar Manzel dazzled audiences at Berlin’s Deutsches Schauspielhaus years
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Erik Charell (April 8, 1894 – July 15, 1974)
Charell was born as Erich Karl Löwenberg in Breslau. He was the first child of Markus Löwenberg and Ida Korach.
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“The New Moon”: Romberg Performed By LOONY
This isn’t the first time this fearless little company has attempted a great big operetta that, by all rights, should
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Rodgers & Hart’s ‘Native Operetta’: A New “Dearest Enemy” Cast Album
Aye, you might very well ask: why is a recording of Rodgers & Hart’s “American Musical Comedy” Dearest Enemy coming
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Cross-Dressing in Operetta: A New Catalogue from Munich
Now, here’s a topic for a book publication to make our operetta hearts beat faster: Ein Bild von einem Mann
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Victor Herbert’s Fabulous “Lohengrin” Spoof
LOONY’s real season doesn’t get underway till 2014 when they’ll be doing full productions of Sigmund Romberg’s The New Moon
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“Um acht beginnt die Nacht”: Lehar program in Berlin
I don’t know what it is about Lehar that attracts so many people. Well, that’s not entirely true. I do
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“Orpheus in der Unterwelt” Live From Berlin 1984 – The Götz Friedrich Production On DVD
It’s a historic document, of a special kind: when the Deutsche Oper Berlin was the only opera company in good
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Maybe Art Imitates Arabs: “The Road to Qatar”
It all began with an email. “We want you write musical … how much?” Was my Spam blocker set on
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THE STUDENT PRINCE Musical play in 2 acts
The Student Prince was not the first musical to be based on Meyer-Förster’s 1901 Studentenstück Alt Heidelberg (Berliner Theater 22
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HERVÉ: Florimond Ronger (b Houdain, 30 June 1825; d Paris, 3 November 1892)
Florimond Ronger, known to the musical and theatrical world simply as Hervé, was one of the great characters in,
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Gender, Genre & Parody
Quite simply put, this is the best book on Gilbert & Sullivan that I have come across. Not in a
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Burning to Sing: Gustave Kerker’s Operetta Rediscovered
It’s good to know that German operetta aficionados are busy rediscovering gems from the vaults of the genre’s history. And,
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Kálmán Gala from Dresden: Happy New Year
So here it is, the Emmerich Kálmán gala from Dresden’s Semperoper on CD. Christian Thielemann is conducting the forces of
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Operetten Over The Rainbow
Nacktes Fleisch, Frivolitäten, feminin-lamboyante Männer, »blasende Hirten«, selbstbewusste Frauen – die Operetten der 1920er und 1930er Jahre haben mit dem
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The 19th century’s most popular musical-theatre composer: Jacques Offenbach
The son of a German bookbinder, music-teacher and cantor called Eberst, but known as Offenbach, the young Jacob was given
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Altenburg bei Paris? Or: “Toi c’est moi”
Yesterday I went to Altenburg. I know, even my German friends say ‘where?’. Well, it’s a lovely town in Thüringen,
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“Song of Norway,” or: Edvard Grieg’s Return to Broadway
The operetta fashioned by Robert Wright and George Forrest from the melodies of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg – hugely popular
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Das deutschsprachige Operettenlibretto: Figuren, Stoffe, Dramaturgie
2013 began with some major new publications. One is Heike Quissek’s PhD Das deutschsprachige Operettenlibretto: Figuren, Stoffe, Dramaturgie, written at
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The Nance (Lincoln Center Theater)
Nathan Lane gives a polished, multifaceted performance as a fictitious 1930s burlesque performer named Chauncey Miles. He plays what was
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Der Studentenprinz von Heidelberg
Es ist schon seltsam, dass einige der derzeit interessantesten Operettenaufführungen an eher entlegenen Orten im Osten stattfinden. So spielt zum
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“The Rose of Stambul” from the Chicago Folks Operetta
Of course, there have been many recordings of operetta in English before. There’s the famous Decca series featuring Kitty Carlisle,
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The Irish Have a Great Day Tonight: “Eileen” on New World Records
The Irish are always good for a song. Or so the saying goes. And Dublin-born Victor Herbert’s only “Irish” themed
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“Welt der Operette: Glamour, Stars und Showbusiness”
This big and lavishly illustrated coffee table book appears as a companion to an exhibition at the Österreichischer Theatermuseum in
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Goethe as a musical hero: The case of Lehár’s “Friederike”
Franz Lehár was not the first to think of Goethe as an opera or operetta hero. There was the precedent
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Die Geburt der Operette aus dem Geist der Pornografie
In Wien präsentierte 2012 eine Ausstellung im alt-ehrwürdigen Theatermuseum eine ungewöhnliche Sicht auf die Operette. Statt als biedere Unterhaltung für
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ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS Opéra-bouffon in 2 acts
Orphée aux enfers was Offenbach’s first venture into mounting a full-scale opéra-bouffe at his blossoming little Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, where
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Das Osmanische Reich als Vorbild wider Willen in Leo Falls “Rose von Stambul”
Als sich am Abend des 2. Dezember 1916, mit wenigen Tagen zeitbedingter Verspätung, der Vorhang im eleganten Theater an der
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New Biography of Carl Millöcker – in English and German
One could call it revolutionary and decidedly up to date: a Viennese operetta biography published in English and (!) German,
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Rudolf Friml (b Prague, 8 December 1879; d Hollywood, Calif, 12 November 1972)
The Prague-born Friml studied music in his native city from a young age, and made his early career principally as
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“Der Krimi geht weiter. Noch immer lässt die Offenbach-Philologie viele Fragen offen”
Gehört Offenbach nicht allen? Auch Jean-Christophe Kecks Offenbach-Edition lässt Fragen offen. Ein Versuch, einige zu klären. Die Offenbach-Philologie ist eine
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“Die Stumme Serenade”: Schmalz & Nostalgie
Er kan niet genoeg lof over de kleine labels afgestoken worden. Het is aan hen te danken dat wij eindelijk
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Operette – die aus der Zeit gefallene Kunst?
Als mich vor ein, zwei Jahren eine humanistische Gesellschaft wegen eines Vortrags ansprach, mich gleichzeitig aber darauf aufmerksam machte, dass
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Nächster Halt: La-La-Land: Bemerkungen zum “Weißen Rössl”
Die Revue-Operette Im Weißen Rößl, 1930 im Großen Schauspielhaus Berlin unter Erik Charell uraufgeführt, war einer der größten Theatererfolge der
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