“The Pretty Polish Girl Who Sat Astride Her Virtue”: Early Opéra-Bouffe Star Joseph Kelm (1805-1882)
My last post and its original five pictures, borrowed from the gold mines of Blois, included four taken from the
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W H Payne: Reconstructing The Career Of A Pantomime Artist And Supreme Clown
When you are researching the past, and the answers and facts don’t fall obviously into place, you just have to
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Offenbach-Star “Mlle Géraldine.” Or: Every Picture Hides A Story
Many years ago, when I was collecting illustrations for my musico-theatrical books, I haunted e-bay. Bought something weekly. But then
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Stephen Storace’s “The Cherokee” (1794): First Representation Of Native Americans?
Turn the page. Item two in my volume is a 1794 show tune. And there’s another from the same musical,
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The Problem With Thielemann’s Dresden New Year’s Concert
Yes, it’s that time of year again when New Year’s concerts are unavoidable. It’s also the time when those in
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A Trip to …. America: Genée and Suppé At Concert Operetta Theater In Philadelphia
It’s not very often that off-the-beaten-track Viennese operetta is performed in the USA nowadays, with the possible exception of Ohio
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My First Queer Operetta: “Die Insel Tulipatan” At Staatsoper Berlin 1982
Since Offenbach’s Island of Tulipatan has popped up again on the general radar, with a brand new English language recording
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“Die Blume von Hawaii” In Basel: Was It Really That Terrible?
The Theater Basel has presented us with a brand new production of Paul Abraham’s 1931 Die Blume von Hawaii. Recently,
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Bring On The (1860s) Dancing Girls
Today I got led (via my blonde burlesque ladies) into the world of the ‘spectacular theatre’. You know, those shows
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Lehár’s New “Graf von Luxemburg” On OEHMS Classics
If you grew up as a kid in Germany, you probably learned early from a famous TV program to always
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The History Of A Burlesque Blonde: Belle Land
Last night, I was researching in ancient texts, trying to track down the history of a burlesque blonde who went
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“Csardasfürstin” In Magdeburg With A New “Killer Ending”
Perhaps it was only a matter of time before someone hired choreographer Otto Pichler to stage an operetta all by
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The Demystification Of “The Black Crook”
One thing leads to another … Answering various queries, after my 15 years old article on The Black Crook, which
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Wooden Cut-Outs & Selfies: The Revival Of “Cats” On Broadway
It’s “business as usual” at the Neil Simon Theater, where I caught up with the new revival of Andrew Lloyd
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From Operetta To The Russian Hit Parades: Paul Hankinson & Fiora
Not so very many years ago, two young students, already laurelled, each one, with considerable success, entered the Queensland Conservatorium
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On The Road With John Groves: “Im weißen Rössl” In Neustrelitz
To tell the truth: Im weißen Rössl at the Neustrelitz open air operetta festival was fascinating! For a start, I
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“Im weißen Rössl” In Neustrelitz. Plus: An Amazing Erik Charell Exhibition
It’s rare, these days, to encounter such personal enthusiasm for operetta history as is demonstrated in the picturesque town of
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A Re-Written And New “Paint Your Wagon” In Seattle
How very much I wish I could recommend the all new version of Paint Your Wagon in its world premiere
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“Shuffle Along”: The Making of the 1921 Musical Sensation
Deep among the indelible memories of my theatergoing life are singer Lynnie Godfrey sprawled on a piano suggestively growling “Daddy”
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Michael W. Balfe’s “Satanella,” Plus: A Contemporary Cantata And “Merman’s Apprentice”
It is not often that I write about recordings. Since my massive listening-writing effort of The Musical Theatre on Record,
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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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“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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“Spring Awakening” With Deaf Actors
I must confess that I admired more than loved Spring Awakening in its 2007 Broadway premiere, and really didn’t care
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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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Hatice Point The Way: Black- And Yellow-Face in Operetta
Most people would probably agree: operetta is all about performance. And, more to the point, about turning realities upside down
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The “Csardasfürstin” From Budapest
It’s holiday time, obviously. So unless you’re on your way to some summer festival, chances that you’ll catch a regular
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What Is Johann Strauss Doing In The Exhibition “Homosexualität_en”?
To say that I was surprised would be putting it mildly. Here I was, at the opening of the grand
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Grimm!, or Who’s Afraid of the Big, Dancing Wolf?
Last year, while in Berlin, I went to see the musical produced by the UDK musical-theatre school and its graduating
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Down To My Last Two Days: Linie 1 & Lillie Claus
Down to my last two days in Berlin. The Komische Oper was hosting a three-day symposium on operetta, the last
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A Musical Comedy Orgasm: Seeing “Clivia” In Berlin From A Broadway Perspective
Tuesday and Wednesday in Berlin were exasperating for me. A combination of misunderstandings, bad directions, getting lost, buying a theatre
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An American in Berlin: Seeing Operetta At The Komische Oper
Richard C. Norton, New York City based author of A Chronology of American Musical Theater, regular contributor to the Operetta
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From Dingsda To The Mississipi: Bumping Into Alen Hodzovic Again
Perhaps you know that feeling: you see a super-duper operetta performer one day, and the next he’s vanished. Or so
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Coffee With Jochen Kowalski – And Laughing With Novikova
Admittedly, Heilbronn is not the first city that comes to (my) mind when talking about operetta “Made in Berlin.” Still,
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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Allegro” Returns to New York
As this Off-Broadway revival of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s 1947 failure Allegro is directed by John Doyle – he
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“The Golden Apple”: Reclaiming A Classic In Texas
The Golden Apple (1954) is widely acknowledged by musical theatre scholars as a much-neglected gem, and it is presently receiving
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Who Will Be The Savior of Operetta in the 21st Century: Volker Klotz Or Barrie Kosky?
This week-end, a new production of Offenbach’s La belle Hélène premieres at the Komische Oper Berlin. Its director, Barrie Kosky,
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