A New “Eine Nacht in Venedig” From Oper Graz On CPO
What grabbed my immediate attention with this new Eine Nacht in Venedig on cpo are the names on the cover:
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“The Merry Widow” À La “Mad Men” With Tony Award Winning Conductor Franz Allers & Lisa Della Casa
The aspect that initially drew my attention to this brand new re-release of The Merry Widow in “hi-fidelity stereo” was
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Post-Corona Operetta In Berlin. Or: Here’s Barrie Kosky’s Chancelled “Orpheus In The Underworld”
Has the long waiting finally come to an end, is post-Corona operetta back? After the somewhat problematic “Jewish and Gay”
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Oscar Straus’ Piano Concerto & Other Rare Orchestra Pieces
My first ‘live’ encounter with Oscar Straus was attending a wonderfully inspired production of his first operetta Die lustigen Nibelungen
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“Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm and Race” By Richard Carlin & Ken Bloom
Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm and Race arrives as a most welcome and long overdue biography of pianist and composer Eubie
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Daddy Issues At Ohio Light Opera: How Could “Constructive” Critcism Work With Lehár’s “Cloclo”?
The other day I had a long transatlantic phone conversation with an US-American operetta researcher I greatly admire for his
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Lehár’s “Cloclo” On DVD: A 2018 Live Performance From Ohio Light Opera
A performance of Lehár’s Clo-Clo from the Ohio Light Opera – filmed live at the theater in Wooster – has
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The World-Premiere Recording Of Walter Jurmann’s “Windy City” (1946)
Because of the required commitment of time, money, and dedication, it is a safe bet, with the exception of the
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Anchors Away: Franz von Suppé’s “Il Ritorno del Marinaio” On CPO
Anyone taking a close look at the oeuvre list of Franz von Suppé (1819-1895) in search for an opera entitled
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From Pula to the World: Franz Lehár’s Early Career in Croatia
It’s Franz Lehár’s 150th birthday – and after the first round of publications to celebrate the event (click here for
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Paleophonics: A Journey To The Dawn Of Recorded Sound In Musical Comedy
If you are interested in what original audiences of early 20th century English operetta and musical comedy heard, there is
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Revisiting Ivan Caryll’s “The Shop Girl” As A Palaeophonics Cast Album
The record label Palaeophonics is specialized in historic cast albums attractively packed as old The Play reprints of the respective
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“Cheer Up! British Musical Films 1929-1945” By Adrian Wright
In a preface to Cheer Up! British Musical Films 1929-1945, author Adrian Wright tells us that British Film Studios made
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Lehár’s “Cloclo” (1924) On CD & DVD From The Ischl Festival And Ohio Light Opera
Franz Lehár’s 1924 operetta Cloclo is not one of his more famous titles, and it hasn’t stayed in the repertoire
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The Royal Voice of Betty Fischer On Truesound Transfers
In 1924 Betty Fischer created one of the greatest operetta roles of the 20th century: Gräfin Mariza in Emmerich Kálmán’s
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“Die lustige Witwe”: First CD Release Of The Original 1907 Berlin Cast
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this first ever CD release of Die lustige Witwe with the 1906/7
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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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“Kunst der Oberfläche. Operette zwischen Bravour und Banalität”
Unter ihrem Intendanten Barrie Kosky hat die Komische Oper Berlin seit 2012 einen eigenen, unverwechselbaren Operettenstil gefunden: sehr bunt und
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Adolf Wohlbrück or Anton Walbrook? A Retrospective In Berlin & A New Book From Vienna
Wohlbrück or Walbrook? Adolf or Anton? Whatever you choose to call him, the actor known under two names was one
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Listening To The Berlin Recordings Of Josef Josephi. Or: The “Elitekorps der Operette”
I’ve been on a bit of a Truesound Transfers trip these past few days. You know, that small Berlin based
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The First Oscar Hammerstein and New York’s Golden Age of Theater and Music
With such an irresistible title as this, anyone with an interest in early American musical theater would want to read this newly
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Opéra-Comique Overtures By Lecocq, Offenbach & Co.
The record label Naxos has just released a fascinating CD containing French 19th century overtures. One of these is the
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Robert Stolz At The Vatican. Or: 68 Versions Of “Ave Maria”
Soprano and producer Andrea Chudak has been working with settings of the “Ave Maria” for over 15 years. During this
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“Trafalgar sur un volcan”: An(other) Operetta About Terrorists?
The German record label cpo has recently released a CD of two short operettas. One of them is a real
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Embarrassment of Riches? A New Franz Lehár Reader At Böhlau Publishing
The only way I can describe my reaction to this attractively packaged new Franz Lehár reader, published to coincide with
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Reading “The Cambridge Companion To Operetta” In Times Of Self-Isolation
The paperback edition of this fascinating, useful and, on the whole, well researched book sells for about 20 Euros on
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World-Premiere Recording of Strauss’ “Blindekuh” (1878) On Naxos
When it comes to Naxos and operetta, and Johann Strauss shows in particular, the famous budget label has a rather
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Catch Him If You Can? A New Biography Of Willi Kollo (1904-1988) Discussing His Nazi History
You could be surprised: here’s a brand new Willi Kollo (1904-1988) biography, and the only picture you’ll find anywhere in
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Four “Legendary Recordings” Of Richard Genée Shows, Including “Seekadett” & “Nanon”
On a sunny summer afternoon last year I had a long inspiring conversation about Richard Genée (1823-1895) with two operetta
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Sullivan, Cellier & Ford: “Haddon Hall,” “Captain Billy” And “Mr Jericho” On CD For The First Time
In 2018 the National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company staged the first professional revival of Haddon Hall for about one
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Kálmán’s “Hollandweibchen” Comes To You As “The Little Dutch Girl” On DVD
Kálmán’s 1920 Viennese hit Das Hollandweibchen is a special work that marks a turning point in the composer’s long career.
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Offenbach’s Final Farewell: “Die Schöne Lurette” (1880) In Two DDR Versions
As the times of self-isolation continue, so does the catching up on old and new operetta releases that I’ve been
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The Glory Of Offenbach: 2 1/2 Historical “Die Banditen” Recordings From Germany
When the world is under quarantine and everything is shut down because of a new virus – you have lots
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Celebrating Franz Lehár’s 150th Birthday With New Books At Böhlau
It’s Franz Lehár’s 150th birthday coming up in April, and various authors and publishing houses are getting ready to celebrate
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Wolfgang Jansen’s New Biography Of Willi Kollo (1904-1988): How Much Nazi History Will He Adress?
It took Berlin based musical theater researcher Wolfgang Jansen a while, and it took the various legal departments even more
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Dario Salvi: Recording Johann Strauss’ “Blindekuh” (1878) For Naxos In Sofia
“Blindekuh”, literally “blind cow”, is the German term for the “blind man’s buff” game – and it is the title
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