Weekly Column

“Yellowface, in Your Face”: Is “The Mikado” Racist?

In Seattle, a new production of The Mikado by the local Gilbert & Sullivan Society has sparked a heated debate

For the last five days, I’ve been in Ohio. Yes, Ohio, USA. Yes, I know I said, years ago, that

Last Friday at New York’s Town Hall marked a major event for historians of musical theatre. For one night only,

Never heard of Louis Hirsch (1881–1924) and his Broadway operettas? Well, we can change that easily. Because our friends at

It’s June, and somehow, this season, I had not yet been to an opera at the Staatsoper, where I experienced

I don’t think I have been to a solo piano concert since I was at school. Julius Katchen. Lili Kraus.

I’m just back – exhausted – from Magdeburg. Yes, I didn’t know where it was either. But I do now,

I don’t know what it is about Lehar that attracts so many people. Well, that’s not entirely true. I do

Yesterday I went to Altenburg. I know, even my German friends say ‘where?’. Well, it’s a lovely town in Thüringen,