THE FORTUNE TELLER: Comic opera in 3 acts by Victor Herbert
When the ambitious young soprano of the famed Bostonians company, Alice Nielsen, decided to break away from the group and
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Magdolna Jákfalvi Discusses Hungarian Operetta From A State-Socialist Perspective
Professor Magdolna Jákfalvi is specialized in the theater history of Hungary under socialism. She organized the first scientific operetta conference
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“Die Afrikareise”: Rediscovering Suppé’s 1883 Blockbuster
Vienna, 17 March 1883. At the legendary Theater an der Wien, Franz von Suppé’s latest show Die Afrikareise is given
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Das Neujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker: Angst vor der Nazi-Vergangenheit?
Am 1. Januar 2016 wird das kommerziell erfolgreiche Neujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker im Großen „goldenen“ Saal des Musikvereinsals „75-jähriges Jubiläum“
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“Csardasfürstin” Conference in Budapest
This week-end, the Budapest Operetta Theatre is hosting a conference on Die Csardasfürstin, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of that
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MÁGNÁS MISKA: Operetta in 3 acts by Albert Szirmai
Produced in Budapest during the most fecund period in Hungarian operetta, Albert Szirmai’s 1916 wartime piece Mágnás Miska (Miska the
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Emmerich Kálmán’s “Die Csárdásfürstin”: A Historic Overview
One of the most successful, and certainly the most widely enduring of Kálmán’s operettas, Die Csárdásfürstin was nevertheless composed to
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“Baby, You Can Can-Can Too”
In their 2015 summer season, the Ohio Light Opera presented the original stage version of Cole Porter’s Can-Can. It’s a
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Musical Of The Month At NY’s Public Library: “Golden Dawn”
The New York Public Library is devoting its current “Musical of the Month” to Emmerich Kálmán’s Golden Dawn, a show
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The Origins Of Lerner & Loewe’s “Brigadoon”
You will recall that the Ohio Light Opera presented Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon as part of their 2015 summer season.
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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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“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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“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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“The Beastly Bombing”: The Very Model Of A Modern Operetta
The Beastly Bombing, or A Terrible Tale of Terrorists Tamed by the Tangles of True Love is an operetta in
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Offenbach’s “La Princesse de Trébizonde” Returns To The Stage
Jacques Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde premiered in 1869 in the fashionable spa town of Baden Baden – in their
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INTO THE WOODS Musical in 2 acts by James Lapine & Stephen Sondheim
A piece in the vein of the fairytale burlesques of Victorian times, Into the Woods brought together some familiar nursery
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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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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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SHOW BOAT: Musical Play in 2 Acts
One of the most successful romantic musical plays of the 1920s, Show Boat (Ziegfeld Theater, New York, 27 December 1927)
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Josefine GALLMEYER (b Leipzig, 27 February 1838; d Vienna, 2 February 1884)
‘Die fesche Pepi’ – ‘Jolly Josie’ – was one of the most popular and famous stars of the Viennese musical
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Marie GEISTINGER (b Graz, 26 July 1836; d Klagenfurt, 30 September 1903)
Born in Graz to theatrical parents, Geistinger first went on the stage as a child and had an early exposure
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Paul Abraham: An Interview with His First Biographer
The German journalist Klaus Waller has written a 240 pages biography of Paul Abraham: Der tragische König der Operette. It
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Here Come The Lunatics: Jeff Clarke Talks About Operetta In The UK
Opera in the UK doesn’t only happen in big London theatres with rob-the-bank ticket prices. All over the country there
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Zulma Bouffar: The “Other” Prima Donna of the Offenbach-Age
Zulma Bouffar (b Nérac, 24 May 1841) made her first appearance on the stage at the age of six, at
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The Original Operetta-Diva: Hortense Schneider
She was the six-year shooting star of Offenbach’s Théâtre des Variétés series whose dazzling career declined at the same time
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Lydia Thompson, the “Father of All Drag Kings”?
Lydia Thompson [Eliza Hodges Thompson] is one of the theatre’s ‘legends’, and as in the case of other such legendary
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You Dont Have to Be a Skinny to Be a Superstar: Marie Desclauzas
Marie Desclauzas was a buxom and eventually hefty star of the opérette stage who became the most admired musical character
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Mr. Burlesque Himself: William B. Gill
Australia’s most successful ever international manufacturer of musical plays was born Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, Canada 10 May 1842. The grandson of
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Boylesque in Operetta, or: Meet Mr. Henry E. Dixey
He was one of the “hottest” male stars in operetta history, he made ladies in the audience swoon with his
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“Der kleine König”: Kalman’s Diva With the Bomb
A soprano with a bomb in her handbag, with which she intends to blow up the male lead? That’s certainly
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“Dream City and the Magic Knight”: The Marx Brothers on Speed
The Ohio Light Opera is certainly good for a surprise. Of course, they are renowned for presenting rare shows, unperformed
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“Natoma”: Victor Herbert’s Grand Opera Live
Victor Herbert’s 1911 grand opera Natoma – not performed in its original form for over a century – was accorded
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Exporting Operette: The World Is Not Enough
What became eventually known as “operetta” or “opérette” didn’t start its life under that name. The earliest works of the
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Coward & Novello
Noël Coward (1899-1973) and Ivor Novello (1893-1951), both English, both homosexual, were the two most enduring proponents of English language
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Kálmán’s Voodoo Magic: “Golden Dawn” (1927)
Fern von Europa und vom europäischen Markt vollkommen unbeachtet, kommt am 29. Juli 1930 in den USA die Verfilmung von
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NAUGHTY MARIETTA Musical comedy in 2 acts
Naughty Marietta was written as a commission from impresario Oscar Hammerstein, a transfuge from the world of opera, for a
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