By: Gerald Frantzen

Gerald Frantzen — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 19:56:55 +0000

Hi Kevin,
Please post the date in January whenever it becomes available. And of course you know how I feel about the whole opera singer verse musical theater singer, as I found the Komische Oper production of Savoy spectacular in production values but lacking in vocal heft. Yes, Rosy Barsony was not an opera singer in the traditional sense of the word, but certainly she wasn’t only a musical theatre singer. There is no way that she would have ever been heard at places like the Grosses Schauspielhaus if she didn’t have a classically trained voice. Trust me on this- she never would have cut through the orchestrations, especially if she was trained like the musical theater singers of today. And certainly Dagmar, who I find to be a fine performer, never would have made it to the first callback if she couldn’t sing Savoy as written. That trained singing actress exists- even today. And while some of Abrahám’s writing certainly lends itself to pure musical theater singing, you get a lot more for your money when there’s a little heft in the voice for those numbers in which Abrahám beckons you to put out a bit more with his rich orchestrations. I would love to hear this recording of Dschainah. We will be doing Märchen im Grand Hotel this summer in Chicago. I am also sending you a link to an article in Hawaiian Airline Magazine Hana Hou about our last production of The Flower of Hawaii.https//hanahou.com/22.6the-flower-of-hawaii
As always,
Gerald

Comments on: Paul Abraham’s “Dschainah – Das Mädchen aus dem Tanzhaus” Revived After 84 Years

By: Gerald Frantzen