“Ritter Blaubart” At Komische Oper: Stefan Herheim’s Varieté Vanitas
Yes, it was a good idea to bring back Offenbach’s murderous Barbe-Bleue to Berlin at Komische Oper where, you will
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“Crazy World”: Anna Bonitatibus’ Collection Of Trousers-Roles From Offenbach To Mancini
Recently, gender and diversity Prof. Simon Dickel gave an interview on Deutschlandfunk talking about his new book Queer Cinema which
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Great Ladies of Wrestling. Or: Early 1840s Offenbach Songs
The sensational success of Jacques Offenbach in Second Empire Paris and internationally, in the 19th century, has many reasons. One
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E. A. Dupont’s “Das alte Gesetz”. Or: What #MeToo Has To Do With Operetta And Offenbach
When we talk about popular musical theater our modern focus is mostly on the ‘artistic’ values of individual shows, e.g.
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Csárdás Interruptus: Three Kálmán CDs With Historical Recordings From The USA
Back in 1997, Michael Miller, the chair of the Ohio Light Opera Board of Directors, and president of the Operetta
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Anneliese Rothenberger & Max Hansen In “Orpheus in der Unterwelt” 1958
It’s an unusual coupling, to say the very least: Anneliese Rothenberger and Max Hansen in one recording? The hairspray-star of
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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 Heuberger’s “Opernball” From Graz: Stylish And Re-Written By Peter Lund
The Austrian composer Richard Heuberger was born in Graz in 1850, trained as a railway engineer, then moved to Vienna
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W. R. Heymann’s “Der Kongress tanzt” from Volksoper Wien
Erik Charell, the director of the original film version of Der Kongress tanzt, labored long and hard to bring his
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Offenbach’s “The Island of Tulipatan” In A World-Premiere English Language Recording
We need to talk about Offenbach, seriously and right now. Is it a sign of our gender-queer times that of
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Kismet Meets Operetta: Nico Dostal’s “Prinzessin Nofretete” From Leipzig
If you like your operettas exotic, grand, over-the-top and as a total blast, you will probably love the overture to
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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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The Recording Of Edward German’s “Tom Jones” On Naxos
I really don’t listen much, these days, to show recordings. Especially new recordings of my beloved older shows. Those, in
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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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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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Jerome Kern’s “Have A Heart” From The Ohio Light Opera
If we go back in time 100 years and look at Broadway, we witness a change: the US entertainment market
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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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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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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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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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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 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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“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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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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An Overdose Of Nostalgia: The Arthaus TV Operetta Series
Can this really be happening, is Arthaus-Unitel seriously re-issuing all of these old TV operetta adaptations from the early 1970s
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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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Re-Thinking The Concept Of “Escapism”: Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land”
This month, Damien Chazelle’s movie musical La La Land hits theaters in Europe. It is a must-see for anyone interested
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