Pop Art Meets Carl Zeller: “Der Vogelhändler” From The 2017 Mörbisch Festival
You could call this year’s Vogelhändler at the Mörbisch Festival a kick-ass production – or an erect middle-finger in the
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Lehár’s “Der Graf von Luxemburg”: Live-Recording From Frankfurt With Amazing Conductor
Early Lehár operetta seems to be en vogue this season, on record at least. Here is a new release on
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Daring To Be Different: Lehár’s “Die Juxheirat” On CPO
Viennese operetta at the beginning of the 20th century was a genre in transition, claims Stefan Frey in an essay
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First Modern Recording of Franz Lehár’s Feminist “Die Juxheirat”
Julius Bauer (1854-1941) was, like many Viennese operetta librettists, a highly cultured and witty man. He studied medicine and then
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Offenbach’s Gender-Bending “L’ile de Tulipatan” From New York
The Light Opera of New York (LOONY) shifted gears this spring from its annual early American operetta – usually by
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World Premiere Recording: Kalman’s “Dryad’s Kiss”
One of Emmerich Kalman’s great musical idols was George Gershwin whom he entertained in Vienna in 1928, after they both
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“A Trip To Africa”: Franz von Suppé’s Oriental Operetta In English
It’s quite a miracle: a full cast album of Franz von Suppé’s exotic Die Afrikareise, recorded live and in an
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A New “Student Prince” With John Mauceri
This CD could probably only be released for a German market and for German operetta fans who have no idea
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Viennese Operetta Gems 1927-1949: A Classic Naxos Compilation
Any operetta compilation that starts with Charles Kullmann singing “Als flotter Geist, doch früh verwaist” like this has my immediate
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Kalman’s “Die Bajadere”: Radio Recording From Cologne
With Die Bajadere, Emmerich Kalman embarked on a new path as a composer in 1921: he changed his librettist team
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Sigmund Romberg’s 1933 “Melody”: First Complete Cast Album
Romberg’s Broadway operettas have not been revived professionally in the UK since matinee idol John Hanson – he of the
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Joseph Beer’s “Polnische Hochzeit” (1937) On CPO
“In der Heimat blüh’n die Rosen – nicht für mich den Heimatlosen”, sings Count Boleslav in his first big solo
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Sigmund Romberg’s 1933 Musical Romance “Melody” On CD: New Cast Recording
It is seemingly inevitable that a conversation among Broadway aficionados about composer Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951) eventually turns to the question:
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Dostal’s “Ungarische Hochzeit” (1939): First Complete Recording Of “Lebensraum” Operetta
Here is a new and first complete recording of Nico Dostal’s 1939 operetta Ungarische Hochzeit – premiered at the opera
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“Viktoria und ihr Husar”: The 2016 Cast Album From Mörbisch
Paul Abraham’s Viktoria und ihr Husar conquered the German language operetta scene in 1930 – and pretty much swept away
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Slay It With Music: A Conversation With Michael Colby
Librettist and lyricist Michael Colby has written musicals such as Charlotte Sweet and Tales Of Tinseltown, both have just been
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“Viktoria und ihr Husar” aus Mörbisch 2016 mit Dagmar Schellenberger
Die erste moderne Ábrahám-Aufnahme auf Basis einer rekonstruierten Originalpartitur von Hagedorn & Grimminger: mit einer elegischen Dagmar Schellenberger in der
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Lehár’s “Giuditta”: A New Recording From Munich With Ulf Schirmer
There are many reasons why one can fall head-over-heels for Lehar’s “musikalische Komödie” Giuditta, first produced in January 1934 at
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Michael Colby’s “Charlotte Sweet” Or: When Musicals Were Fun
More years ago than I care to count, I was staying at New York’s Algonquin Hotel, in my capacity as
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Ghostlight Records New Lerner & Loewe “Paint Your Wagon”: Starring Keith Carradine
In November 1951, composer Frederick Loewe and librettist Alan Jay Lerner premiered Paint Your Wagon, their homage to the American
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A Noel Coward 4-CD Box: The Complete HMV Recordings
Noel Coward. His name has become a kind of cliché, in the decades since his death, as the epitome of
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Albert von Tilzer’s “The Gingham Girl”: A New Cast Album
The Operetta Foundation in Los Angeles has made a brand new cast album of Albert von Tilzer’s 1922 Broadway hit
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“Männe, hak’ mir mal die Taille auf!”: Erotic Cabaret Songs
The art of the suggestive song is not restricted to any particular historic era; it is, however, limited to a
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Clouds of Rain: Nigel Shore’s New Album
Yes, you are right: there are not that many operettas set in South America. Okay, there is Moïse Simons‘ stunning
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Palazzetto Bru Zane: “Let’s Talk About Hervé!”
Palazzetto Bru Zane has devoted its energy to the rediscovery of forgotten (French) operas, so far. But now, an opéra
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Vienna’s New Year’s Concert: Using Johann Strauss As A PR-Tool For Tourism
How could we get through January 1st without the obligatory New Year’s Concert from Vienna? The 2016 edition was conducted
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The First Great Dickensian Operetta: “Pickwick” (1889)
Retrospect Opera, a registered charity in Britain, has launched a project to record the operetta Pickwick (1889) by Sir Francis
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Blacks Doing Yellow-Face, Or Some Very Queer Gilbert & Sullivan
Recently, ORCA received a generous donation in the form of various Gilbert & Sullivan materials that a researcher in the
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Leoncavallo’s “Zazà” Returns Triumphantly
This week, there will be a concert performance of Leoncavallo’s one-and-only operetta Zazà at the Barbican in London. It’s a
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Elisabeth Schwarzkopf At 100: “Komm’ mit mir ins Chambre separée”
Today, soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf would have celebrated her 100th birthday. That’s a perfect occasion to remember her enormous recorded legacy,
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“Grimm”: Tomorrow’s Stars In Today’s Hit-Show
Yes, here it finally is: the original cast album and DVD version of Grimm. This fairy tale musical, with some
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Chita Rivera Sings Robert Stolz? The Cast Album Of “The Visit”
Listening to Kander & Ebb’s The Visit – their adaptation of Durrenmatt’s Besuch der alten Dame – with an operetta
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Seven Brides For Seven Brothers: A New Cowboy Cast Album
It would seem that cowboys are back en vogue everywhere, not just in Hollywood with blockbusters such as Django Unchained
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Could “The Song Of Norway” Be Staged In Disney’s “Frozen” Fasion For A New Generation?
If you have any teenage girls – or younger – in your circle of friends, chances are high that you’ve
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MILF Scene of the Year: A New “Nacht in Venedig” From Mörbisch
There is no shortage of Eine Nacht in Venedig recordings. Some of them are all-time classics, such as the Elisabeth
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A Double-Disc Of Herbert’s “Dream City And The Magic Knight”
Victor Herbert is best known today for half a dozen elaborately musical operettas composed in the first decade and a
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