Beyond Castanet Kitsch: “Gran Gala de Zarzuela” at Deutsche Oper Berlin

Director Christof Loy brings his company Los Paladines to Deutsche Oper Berlin to present zarzuela—the Spanish sister of operetta—in a Gran Gala de Zarzuela.

By now, it’s no secret that Berlin has become the epicentre of a queer operetta revolution. In 2010, the Schwules Museum staged Glitter and be Gay, the world’s first exhibition devoted to homosexuality and operetta, bringing Erik Charell and his cosmopolitan revue productions back into public consciousness. Then Barrie Kosky arrived and returned precisely those Weimar-era works to the stage, transplanting Charell’s homoeroticism into the twenty-first century. The Maxim Gorki Theater added its own queer accent with Alles Schwindel, Mischa Spoliansky’s cabaret revue about the pitfalls of finding love through personal ads, with Jonas Dassler ideally cast in the leading role. Tipi am Kanzleramt, meanwhile, produced a delightfully camp Frau Luna starring the Geschwister Pfister. Then there was the queer operetta collective tutti d*amore, which won over audiences at Berlin techno club Kater Blau with swooning Lehár melodies. And one should certainly not forget Operette für zwei schwule Tenöre (Operetta for Two Gay Tenors) at the BKA Theater—a fitting grand finale to this remarkable Big Bang.

After that, however, things quietened down. Komische Oper Berlin has since shifted its focus to works from the former East Germany, though without generating the same international resonance. Kosky himself no longer directs operetta. Most of the productions mentioned above have completed their runs, while the tuttis are now touring Bavaria.

This is where someone like Christof Loy arrives at just the right moment, introducing something Berlin has barely encountered so far: zarzuela.

The openly gay director discovered this form of popular musical theatre in Madrid and was immediately captivated—above all by its “play with gender roles” and its “making fun of machismo,” as he puts it. He embarked on a journey of exploration, founded his own theatre company, Los Paladines, and began reimagining these classic works, freeing them from the nationalism and problematic folklore that many have associated with the genre ever since the Franco era. Loy wanted to restore zarzuela as a form of urban, sexually liberated musical theatre, comparable to the operettas of the Weimar Republic.

In Vienna he recently staged the 1923 Benamor by Pablo Luna, a One Thousand and One Nights comedy in which conventional gender roles are gleefully turned upside down—rather like L’Île de Tulipatan, only with a considerably more opulent score.

Now Loy is bringing his seven-member company to Berlin for a Gran Gala de Zarzuela, presenting highlights from a wide range of works. The programme includes numbers by Manuel Penella, Federico Moreno Torroba, Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, and, naturally, Pablo Luna. Loy promises “an emotional journey” without a linear storyline, rather like Reigen. Also appearing is the nearly ninety-year-old flamenco dancer Lucero Tena, revered by many in Spain’s LGBTQ community as an exceptional artist who has always dared to be different.

Will this Gran Gala de Zarzuela lead to more zarzuela at Deutsche Oper Berlin under its new General Director, Aviel Cahn? Rumour has it that Christof Loy is already planning a full-scale zarzuela production for another major German opera house—just not Berlin. Perhaps that will change if the Gran Gala creates the stir it deserves. Then again, Loy’s productions often seem to undermine their own effectiveness through an excess of intellectual deconstruction.

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