Remembering Musical Theater Historian David Hummel
This isn’t an obituary. No facts. I never met Dave, though we have been in touch for half a century.
read moreThis isn’t an obituary. No facts. I never met Dave, though we have been in touch for half a century.
read moreThe Operette für zwei schwule Tenöre by composer Florian Ludewig and text author Johannes Kram is back in Berlin for
read moreAt first glance, Hanns Eisler doesn’t have much to do with operetta. But if you look closer, the very first
read moreEncountering Im weißen Rössl in its French version can be a joy, as anyone knows who has ever heard Bourvil
read moreThe original edition of Kurt Gänzl’s The Musical came out in 1997, as a “Concise History” published by Northeastern University
read moreOperette hat Konjunktur. In den letzten Jahren sind (meist beim Label cpo) rund zwei Dutzend Aufnahmen auf CD erschienen, meist
read moreI knew that I should enjoy this 1927 French operetta directly after I read Richard Traubner’s dismissal of Marcel Lattès
read moreSo, now it’s official: James Gaffigan will be the new music director of Komische Oper Berlin. The 43 year old
read moreIt’s only a few days now, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will be at their exercise again. Their 1 January
read moreCarl Michael Ziehrer (1843-1922) and his music have always been overshadowed by the achievements of the Strauss dynasty, and this
read moreOne should have known this would happen. If you hire the 70-year-old Christoph Marthaler, you get exactly that: Marthaler. He
read moreNo, the Marzahn district in East-Berlin is probably not what first comes to mind when thinking of operetta. But: on
read moreThe premiere of the new production of Lehár’s last operetta Giuditta is coming up at Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. It’s
read moreAfter a very (very!) long wait, Barrie Kosky’s vision of Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers has finally arrived at Berlin’s Komische
read moreIn the latest newsletter of the Jacques Offenbach Society (No. 98), there is a reprint of the full Meilhac &
read moreFinding the best of all possible Candide recordings is hard. Because Leonard Bernstein’s eclectic work from 1956 – his only
read moreThe world of science fiction is somewhat underexplored when it comes to operetta. Even though Offenbach famously wrote Le voyage
read moreSo, the success story continues: the recently rediscovered “vaudeville operetta” Roxy und ihr Wunderteam by Paul Abraham will come to
read moreIt’s the end of an era. For ten years Barrie Kosky made it his mission to revive forgotten Weimar Republic
read moreAnother Porgy and Bess recording? Pentanone Classics has released highlights conducted by Marin Alsop, taken from a live concert in
read moreNo, the orientalist silent film orgy Sumurun, filmed in the Ufa studios in Berlin-Tempelhof in 1920, doesn’t need to be
read moreHe was Weimar Germany’s answer to Barry Manilow, the most popular entertainer and songwriter of his generation, writing hit after
read moreThis operette in 3 acts by F Zell is based on the comédie-vaudeville Nanon, Ninon et Madame de Maintenon by
read moreCharles Dibdin is often thought of, assuming he is thought of at all, as one of the links between the
read moreI feel very honoured and flattered to have been asked to write about the most important book to be written
read moreOnce upon a time, not so very long ago, a young lady radio or TV ‘interviewer’ asked me: what was
read moreThe students of Leipzig’s Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschule had planned to put on Offenbach’sUn Mari à la Porte / Ein
read moreIt’s back again: the performance of Reynaldo Hahn’s Ciboulette, filmed at Opéra Comique in February 2013, has been re-released on
read moreWhat if Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, the most famous German language operetta, had been performed incomplete for the last
read more2013 wurde dem Slawisten und Historiker Peter Oliver Loew (er ist seit 2019 Direktor des Deutschen Polen-Instituts Darmstadt und seit
read moreThe most successful stage musical work of Reynaldo Hahn, Ciboulette was written to a text by two of the most
read moreDid it really take until 2021 for a complete Countess Mariza recording to come out? Of course, there have been
read moreVermutlich kennen Fans der Mel-Brooks-Filme den ekstatischen Liebesschrei „A Sweet Mystery of Life“ besser als die meisten Operettenfans hierzulande. Denn
read moreKurz nachdem im Spätsommer die lang erwartete (und mehrfach verschobene) Dreigroschenoper am Berliner Ensemble herauskam und ekstatische Reaktionen hervorrief, ging
read moreWith the discovery of the opera Leonce and Lena by Erich Zeisl and, now, the first production of Ralph Benatzky’s
read moreLeonard Bernstein’s one-and-only operetta Candide is slated to premiere at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest on Friday, 24 September. It
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