The Career Paths of Composer Béla Szabados (1867–1936)
There are artists – quite a few – whose names disappear from public consciousness in the decades following their death
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Roger’s “Joséphine Vendue Par Ses Soeurs” Returns to Paris
In January 2025 the Compagnie Fortunio is bringing the opéra-bouffe Joséphine Vendue Par Ses Soeurs back to Paris, for a
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“Social Evil”: The Girards and Offenbach’s “Princess of Trebizonde” in Melbourne
Recently, Offenbach researchers have started looking a little beyond the usual boundaries of “established” source material, one of them is
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Carl Millöcker (b. Vienna, 29 April 1842; d. Baden bei Wien, 31 December 1899)
Carl Millöcker was one of the trio of Viennese composers who were responsible for the bulk of the outstanding Operetten
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“Der arme Jonathan”: Operette in 3 acts by Carl Millöker
Hugo Wittmann and Julius Bauer based their libretto on Les Deux Anglais by P-F Merville, Carl Millöcker wrote the music. Their show, Der
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Offenbach’s “La Jolie Parfumeuse” in Philadelphia 1876
In the summer of 1876 Jacques Offenbach visited Philadelphia. At “The Offenbach Garden,” located on the southeast corner of Broad
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The Biography of Valtesse de la Bigne, Mistress of Paris
We’ve all read stories about the big players: Jacques Offenbach, Ludovic Halevy, Henri Meilhac, and certainly Napoleon III. But you
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CAMELOT Musical in 2 acts by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe
Camelot had the impossibly difficult task of following behind My Fair Lady in the opus of Lerner and Loewe, and
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Stanislavsky and “The Mikado”
Operetta was one of the most successful forms of theatre to go transglobal in the 19th and early 20th century.
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Gilbert & Sullivan: Is Sexual Innuendo Imbedded in “HMS Pinafore”?
It is an accepted notion that Gilbert and Sullivan were careful to exclude anything in their comic operas that could
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Daniela Ziegler as the Grand Duchess of Gerolstein – and Other Offenbach Treats
The good news is: Daniela Ziegler finally gets to perform Offenbach and star in an operetta. At the Ernst Deutsch
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Where To Put an Offenbach Festival? Here Are Some Suggestions
If resources enough could be gathered together for an annual festival of Offenbach and maybe his time, where would it
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Offenbach and the Theatre Bouffe in Saint Petersburg, 1870-1878
Offenbach was introduced to the Russian stage when a French company played La belle Hélène at the Imperial Mikhailovsky Theatre
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“Offenbach, Musicien Européen” Or, Put Away the Sellotape
In the summer of 2019 researchers from all around the world gathered for a double conference in Cologne and Paris,
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Blackface and Crossdressing: The Great Minstrel ‘Prima Donnas’
In the 21st century, when it is considered oh-so-trendy for boys to dress up as girls, the trendy ones (and
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“The Pleasure Garden” and Its Place in the History of LGBT Musicals
In 2021, the “bittersweet musical romance” The Pleasure Garden premiered at the Above the Stag theater in London. It’s a
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The False Pirate; or, The Slave of Truth
The Jacques Offenbach Society Newsletter has published in its 101st issue (September 2022) a letter from Jacobo Kaufmann entitled “Copyists
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The Revue in Mediterranean Countries – A Conference in Athens
The Laboratory of Research and Documentation of Modern Greek Theatre of the Department of Theatre Studies of National and Kapodistrian
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Quirky and Esoteric: Sandy Wilson’s 1958 “Valmouth”
The show was commissioned from Sandy Wilson, the author-composer of The Boy Friend, by Oscar Lewenstein and the Royal Court Theatre as
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Revisiting the Emily Soldene Biography. Or: the Postscripta of Publication
When you have spent more than 20 years researching and writing a book, when you have lived and breathed the
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“The Grand Duke of Gerolstein”: A Milanese Byblow of the Grand Duchess
La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein was, arguably, Offenbach’s first truly transglobal success. It benefitted from opening during the Exposition universelle
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John Philip Sousa’s “El Capitan” (1896)
One of the earliest successful comic operas to come out of America, El Capitan was also the one successful attempt
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Revisting “Au Dahomey” (1892). Or: A Blackface King Béhazin?
I came upon this grand 1892 poster this week… I didn’t know anything about the show, my experience of the
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“Le Voyage Dans La Lune”: Offenbach’s 1875 Sci-Fi Spectacle
Three years and eight major shows after the splenditious production of Le Roi Carotte, Offenbach returned to the world of
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DIE DUBARRY: Carl Millöcker’s Operette Adapted By Theo Mackeben
This update of the original 1879 Carl Millöcker operetta was created by Paul Knepler and Ignaz M Welleminsky who turned
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Benatzky’s “Meine Schwester und Ich“ at Theater Vorpommern
The Theater Vorpommern is a company that plays in various cities near the Baltic Sea in North-East Germany. Its opera
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Enrique Mejías García’s New Book “Offenbach, Composer of Zarzuelas”
Here’s great news: a new book on Offenbach is out! It is entitled Offenbach, Composer of Zarzuelas and has been
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“Die Kino-Königin”: Operette in 3 Acts by Jean Gilbert
Jean Gilbert’s operetta with the original libretto by Georg Okonkowski premiered on 22 November 1912 at Deutsches Operettentheater, Hamburg, as
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“Lachende Erben“, Or: Another Weinberger?
Carl [Rudolf Michael] Weinberger was born in Vienna on 3 April, 1861, and he died there on 1 November, 1939.
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A Farcical Comedy: Victor Herbert’s “The Only Girl” Returns to New York
For a work that, for all its cherishable qualities, can hardly be said to rate as one of Victor Herbert’s
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Spain Invades Broadway: Rediscovering “The Land of Joy” at the Off-Festival in Oviedo
While German or Austrian theatres regularly programme classic Broadway musicals, Spain’s lyric theatres only rarely enter this attractive universe, though
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Rediscovering Marcel Lattès’ Swing Operetta “Le Diable à Paris” (1927)
I knew that I should enjoy this 1927 French operetta directly after I read Richard Traubner’s dismissal of Marcel Lattès
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“Le Photographe” By Meilhac & Halévy: The Template for “La Vie Parisienne”?
In the latest newsletter of the Jacques Offenbach Society (No. 98), there is a reprint of the full Meilhac &
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“Nanon, die Wirtin vom Goldenen Lamm“: Richard Genée‘s 1877 Hit Revisited
This operette in 3 acts by F Zell is based on the comédie-vaudeville Nanon, Ninon et Madame de Maintenon by
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An 18th Century Operetta Composer? First Recording Of Charles Dibdin’s “The Wags”
Charles Dibdin is often thought of, assuming he is thought of at all, as one of the links between the
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Kurt Gänzl’s “Gilbert and Sullivan: The Players and the Plays”
I feel very honoured and flattered to have been asked to write about the most important book to be written
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