Lehár’s “Giuditta”: The Splendour and Misery of the Exchangeable
To speak of the genre of Viennese operetta as having a kind of Hegelian spirit, with a life course from
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Ohio Light Opera: The 2024 Saison in Wooster
In the decade or so that I’ve been attending Ohio Light Opera’s summer season of operettas and musicals, I continue
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Operette und Musicals in der DDR: Ein Gespräch mit Werner P. Seiferth vom Metropoltheater
Übers Thema Operette in der DDR wird in letzter Zeit wieder mehr gesprochen. 2012 gab es in der Ausstellung Welt
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Lehár’s “Land des Lächelns“ as a Modern Day Dating Operetta?
Franz Lehár’s 1929 hit Das Land des Lächelns, written for star tenor Richard Tauber and containing the ever popular “Dein
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It’s Finally Here: Karin Meesmann’s Biography of Paul Ábrahám
Anyone interested in Paul Ábrahám will have known – or will have heard – that Karin Meesmann has been working
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“Lustige Witwe”: Barrie Kosky Tackles the “Führer’s” Favorite Operetta in Zurich
In the past, Barrie Kosky has shunned the works of Franz Lehár. His operetta focus has been on works by
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Marthaler’s Joyless “Giuditta” In Munich
One should have known this would happen. If you hire the 70-year-old Christoph Marthaler, you get exactly that: Marthaler. He
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Lehár’s “Giuditta” As A Mash-Up With Ödön von Horváth’s “Sladek, Or: The Black Army”
The premiere of the new production of Lehár’s last operetta Giuditta is coming up at Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. It’s
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Arnold Bennett Discusses Operettas & Musicals: Journal Entries 1897-1928
The English author Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) is best known as a novelist and playwright. He also kept a journal in
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Barrie Kosky’s All-Singing, All-Dancing Yiddish Revue – Plus Other Farewell-Highlights
Of course he wasn’t going to present his last season as intendant of Komische Oper Berlin via Zoom or only
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Thomas Enzinger Claims To Reconstruct The 1928 “Lustige Witwe” In Dortmund
You need to read this announcement very carefully: the opera house in Dortmund has released a statement that says they
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Slow-Motion Lehár: “Giuditta“ At Bayerische Staatsoper In A Staging By Christoph Marthaler
There are those who consider stage director Christoph Marthaler a genius, because he takes the speed out of stories and
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“I Would Like To See More Women Writing About Operetta”: Micaela Baranello Discusses Her Book “The Operetta Empire”
The US-American musicologist Micaela Baranello joined the Department of Music at the University of Arkansas in 2017 and has recently
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Constance Drever: Creating “La Veuve joyeuse” With A Strong English Accent
The history of Die lustige Witwe has fascinated us, here at the Operetta Research Center, immensely over the past months.
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“The Operetta Empire”: A New Book By Micaela Baranello
Rejoice greatly! There’s another big English language book on operetta, following last year’s Cambridge Companion to Operetta. This new publication
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How To Handle The Racism & Sexism Of “Z*******”-Baron Today? A Conductor’s Response
Austrian author and feminist activist Marlene Streeruwitz spoke out against the patriotic “kitsch culture” in her homeland in an interview
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The Night Nicole Kidman Went To See “The Merry Widow” And Got Swatted
Who said that operettas don’t make headlines anymore? And that super stars from Hollywood wouldn’t be interested in the genre
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Lorenzo Viotti: Operetta In His Blood & Conducting “Die lustige Witwe”
Yes, it’s great to see that a younger generation of rising “star” conductors is expressing interest in operetta. More than
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Is The Gold & Silver Terminology Nothing More Than Camouflaged Anti-Semitism?
On 27 January, 1945 the Nazi concentration in Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Army. Memorial speeches all over the
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Tackling A Tauber Role: Sebastian Kohlhepp In “Schön ist die Welt” From The Bavarian State Opera
Okay, Munich has the Gärtnerplatztheater and thus a center of operetta “maintenance” in Germany which competes with Staatsoperette Dresden, Musikalische
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Dumbing Down Operetta: Thomas Macho’s New Lehár Movie On Arte
Obviously, there are many ways to present history, including musical history. At the moment, you can watch the amazing Viola
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Like Emma Kirkby Singing Wagner: “The Art Of Operetta” As A “Gramophone” December Special
“The Art of Operetta“ is the headline on the cover of the December issue of Gramophone magazine from the UK.
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When Theaters Stay Closed, Operettas Go Online – Not Just In Budapest
The 2nd wave Corona lockdown has made operetta performances virtually impossible in many countries, and it looks like it might
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“My Song For You”: A Marta Eggerth & Jan Kiepura Exhibition In Vienna
Devotees of classic Hollywood musicals – the sort that are the staple of Turner Classic Movies – will know Hungarian
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A Bi-Polar “Merry Widow”: The Life Of Lily Elsie (1886-1962) Revisited
Elsie Hodder was born in a rather squalid theatrical lodging house in Leeds on 8 April, 1886. Her mother was
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Jeanette MacDonald (1901-1965): Hollywood’s Most Successful Soprano Star Of Celluloid Operetta
After beginning her singing career as a teenager in the chorus of a New York revue, Miss MacDonald (born in
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Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972): Parisian Music-Hall Star & Hollywood’s Singing Very-Frenchman
After an early career spent performing in cafés and suburban music halls, Maurice Chevalier (born in Ménilmontant on 12 September,
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Lily Elsie (1886-1962): Becoming “The Most Photographed Woman In The World”
A child of mysterious origins (she was rumoured, when fame came, to have been the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat
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Broadway Producer Henry W. Savage (1859-1927): “Merry Widow” and “Sari” Were His Greatest Hits
Harvard-educated Henry Wilson Savage was born in New Durham (New Hampshire) on 21 March 1859 and well established as a
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Ethel Jackson (1877-1957): Broadway’s First “Merry Widow”
A descendant of the painter Henry Inman, Miss Jackson was born in New York on 3 February 1877. She studied
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And Here’s Broadway’s First Danilo in “The Merry Widow”: Donald Brian (1877-1948)
Donald Brian was the bright-eyed and boyish star of more than 20 years of Broadway operettas and musicals, among them the
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The First English Language Danilo in “The Merry Widow”: US-Comedian Joseph Coyne (1867-1941)
Joseph Coyne was a light comedy actor-who-sings who moved from silly-ass rôles in his native America to stardom as Britain’s
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Marktplätze, Kampfzonen und Elysium: Zwei neue Bände zu „Musik und Gesellschaft“
Beim Verlag Königshausen & Neumann ist soeben in zwei Bänden Musik und Gesellschaft erschienen, mit den Schlagwörtern „Marktplätze – Kampfzonen
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How Is Our “Woke-Ass Culture” Dealing With The Supposed Racism Of “Zigeunerbaron”?
There’s an increasingly firece discussion about supposed “racism” in operetta. Recently, a production of Franz Lehár’s Land des Lächelns at
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Cancel Culture Reaches “Land des Lächelns” At Manhattan School Of Music
Here’s the curious case of Dona D. Vaughn and the state of operetta in 2020. As artistic director of opera
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“The Merry Widow” À La “Mad Men” With Tony Award Winning Conductor Franz Allers & Lisa Della Casa
The aspect that initially drew my attention to this brand new re-release of The Merry Widow in “hi-fidelity stereo” was
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