By: Prof. Dr. Alleswisser

Prof. Dr. Alleswisser — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 20:22:59 +0000

I agree – going to the opera in Germany is a waste of time – seeing the absurd stagings by Kosky ( How times do we have to see drag queens , Barry ? ), and listen to third-rate “singers” who are usually miked ?

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 23:27:12 +0000

Sad enough:
In nowadays Regie Theater you can‘t expect an enjoying operetta evening anymore.
The “esprit” of today – maybe there are exceptions – is completely against this type of music and stories.
Most of the singers don’t have the authentic operetta feeling in their blood any more as it still was in the 1950ies and 1960ies.
And the egocentric stage directors usually don’t have other solutions than to destroy the operetta, to make it ugly, monstrous and ridiculous, always pretending an intellectual interpretation. (Why don’t they stay away from this type of music and focus on contemporary music???)
What a bullshit (pardon!)
Every more or less intelligent and interested operetta goer knows what she/he is seeing and is able to interpret it and to integrate it in its context (sometimes the subject is even timeless and still valid nowadays)
And if she/he wants to know something about daily problems or dark historical events one can consult newspapers, books, internet and television and doesn‘t want to have it during an operetta evening which should be entertaining first of all and not educational in an obtrusive way)
What a stupid and arrogant attitude of many of our theatre people to deform and manipulate so many gorgeous pieces pretending to disdust them and interpreting things in a tasteless way although the evidence is already there, but in a much more subtle way!
I live in Zurich and I will attend the operetta presentations this season all the same without expecting a treat concerning the “mise en scene” only to be able to hear the music live again which I usually know only from compact discs and youtube.
Concerning Barrie Kosky:
The end justifies the mean:
If something generates money one can easily switch to an other attitude.
And all at a sudden Lehár is welcome…
What a luck that we still have the excellent recordings with Schwarzkopf, Güden and others where the operetta is represented in the most splendid way without ridiculous “arrières pensées”…

By: ERNESTO G. OPPICELLI

ERNESTO G. OPPICELLI — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 11:11:03 +0000

Let’s our dear WITWE by ‘lustige’ and not something else as too many directors do to enjoy not the work they stage but only their egocentrismo. Uffa and uffa and uffa again …

By: Kurt Gänzl

Kurt Gänzl — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 04:47:10 +0000

Thats not ‘original’ casting! That’s over-operatic casting. Love Volle .. but rather as the Dutchman or Rigoletto. Kevin, both you and I have played Danilo in our time .. I would have died to have (had) a voice like Volle … but why is he playing a role written for a ligt baritone-almost tenor. I hope Ive got this wrong!

Comments on: “Lustige Witwe”: Barrie Kosky Tackles the “Führer’s” Favorite Operetta in Zurich

By: Prof. Dr. Alleswisser

By: Peter

By: ERNESTO G. OPPICELLI

By: Kurt Gänzl