“Make Me Look Beautiful, Madame D’Ora!” Or: Revivisting Elsie Altmann And The Viennese Operetta Soubrette
Ah, yes: Madame D‘Ora! She’s been one of my great operetta heroines, ever since I first found her portrait of
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“Hervé par lui-même” Presented By Pascal Blanchet At Palazzetto Bru Zane
It has been a splendid winter. Three new musical-theatre works – one English, two French – have crossed my desk,
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A New Biography: “André Messager. Le passeur de siècle” By Christophe Mirambeau
The Musical Theatre book of the decade. I sha’n’t gush. Well, I’ll try not to. But … I thought that
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The Three Lives of Jetty Treffz, First Wife of Johann Strauss: A New Biography By Peter Sommeregger
Here it is, finally: a full biography of Jetty Treffz (1818-1878), first wife of Johann Strauss and responsible for bringing
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Jacques Offenbach and the Making of Modern Culture: An Interview with Prof. Laurence Senelick
At long last someone has written a brand new Offenbach book – in English. And what’s even better, it’s a
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A Critical Quotebook: Marion Linhardt’s “Stimmen zur Unterhaltung” Revisited
This is one of those publications that should have made a big splash – but didn’t. Back in 2009, Marion
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Barbara Denscher: Der Operettenlibrettist Victor Léon
Victor Léon (1858-1940) hat im Lauf seiner mehr als fünfzigjährigen Theater-Karriere über hundert Bühnenstücke geschrieben, knapp die Hälfte davon wird
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Richard Genée’s “Der Seekadett”: New Edition By Dario Salvi
New operas are hard to come by these days—at least that is what I have always been told. Finding an
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“Must Close Saturday”: The Decline and Fall of the British Musical Flop
When this heavy, 350 page book, closely but clearly typed and well-illustrated, arrived in the post I thought I would
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Barbara Denscher’s Victor Léon Biography & Matthias Kauffmann’s “Operette im Dritten Reich”
Has operetta research shifted gear? One could think so, considering that there are finally in-depth academic studies coming out that
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Racist Minstrel Magic? The Story of the George Mitchell Choirs
A seventy-one year old man, a little crippled these days, lying in the too-scorching sun by the Australian seaside, reading
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Oscar Straus: New Academic Essays On A Mostly Forgotten Composer
Oscar Straus (1870-1954) is one of the leading operetta composers of the first half of the 20th century whose greatest
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A New Monography On Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld”
For many operetta fans, Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underword is the masterpiece with which it all began, back in 1858.
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John Koegel: Music in German Immigrant Theater, New York City, 1840-1940
John Koegel reminds us, early on in this broadly conceived, superbly researched, and elegantly written study, that the population of
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A History Of Popular Musical Theater In Dresden, 1844 Until Today
The Staatsoperette Dresden has been – for many years – one of the few theaters in Germany, before and after
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Re-Visiting The Villas Of Bad Ischl: Marie-Theres Arnbom’s New Book
Anyone who is even remotely interested in the history of German language operetta knows that Bad Ischl – a kind
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A New Biogragphy Of Charles Amberg – Lyricist Of “Clivia”
Charles Amberg (1894-1946) is not exactly a household name today, and even dedicated operetta fans will be hard pressed to
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Peter Minich At St. Pölten’s Stadtmuseum: “Ein Leben für die Musik”
For many operetta lovers, Austrian tenor and Volksoper star Peter Minich, is an icon. He certainly represents a very particular
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“Sex in Vienna”: New Exhibition At The Wien Museum Explores Forgotten Aspects Of Operetta History
We admit, in many ways the year 2016 hasn’t exactly been “good news” all around. Yet, from an operetta perspective
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“Every Country Gets The Operetta It Deserves”: Trends, Ideological Wars And New Books
In variation of the famous saying “Every country has the government it deserves” – by 18th century political philosopher Joseph-Marie
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Re-Sampling A Legend: “Ziegfeld And His Follies” By Cynthia And Sara Brideson
Here is a splashy new biography of “Broadway’s Greatest Producer,” Florenz Ziegfeld, written by the team of the Brideson sisters,
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Reviewing The Operetta Aspects In “New York’s Yiddish Theater”
As a companion volume to its recent exhibition on New York’s Yiddish Theater: From the Bowery to Broadway, the Museum
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New York’s Yiddish Theater: From the Bowery to Broadway
Considering that most new books dealing with Broadway history in coffee table format simply recycle what has already been written
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“A Trip to Africa”: Suppé’s Operetta Available At Cambridge Scholars
The enthusiasm is impressive and a role model, no doubt: conductor Dario Salvi got so excited about Franz von Suppé’s
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Victor Hollaender: The Musical Voice of Wilhelmine Berlin
Alan Lareau, Professor of German at the University of Oshkosh and a scholar specialized in the cabaret culture of the
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“A Trip to Africa”: Cambridge Scholars Publish A Critical Edition Of The Libretto
In 1883, three of the masterminds of Viennese operetta collaborated on a new masterpiece; A Trip to Africa – or
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“Operette: hipp oder miefig?” The New Issue Of The Österreichische Musikzeitschrift
It doesn’t happen too often that a musicological magazine dedicates an entire issue to “operetta”: with eight short essays dealing
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“Stars Of David”: The Influence Of Jewish Artists On Popular Music
It’s not every day that you get to see images of Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss Jr. and Richard Tauber right
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“Swing tanzen verboten”: A Little Book On Operetta After 1933
It’s a small book, but full of interesting content: Swing tanzen verboten. Unterhaltungsmusik nach 1933 zwischen Widerstand, Propaganda und Vertreibung.
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150 Years Gärtnerplatz Theater: An Illustrated History & Exhibition
Das Gärtnerplatztheater in München ist hundertfünfzig geworden. Gefeiert wurde das Jubiläum jedoch außerhalb, weil das Haus saniert wird. Ein vergrößerter
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Top 10 Hottest Operetta Hunks?
Sometimes you wonder why the opera world – of all possible spaces – can pull off such a stunt, but
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Race And Operetta: The Next Frontier?
It is often interesting to compare how researchers in different parts of the Western world look at art forms in
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Oscar Straus – Ein deutscher Offenbach?
Yes, there’s a new book on Oscar Straus, that often over-looked composer of Ein Walzertraum but also of Die lustigen
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Kunst der Oberfläche: Operette zwischen Bravour & Banalität
The Komische Oper Berlin – together with researchers Bettina Brandl-Risi and Clemens Risi – has put together a highly diverse
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The Big Operetta “Virgin Cherry Pop”: A New Study By Albert Gier
A great big new academic book on operetta, in German: Professor Albert Gier, renowned libretto researcher at the University of
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Hot Mikados and Swingin’ Pinafores: Stewart F. Lane’s “Black Broadway”
It’s not a new topic, but a brand new book nonetheless: Black Broadway by Stewart F. Lane. According to the
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