Offenbach Double-Treat in London: “La belle Hélène” and “Orpheus in the Underworld”
With the BBC Proms totally ignoring Offenbach’s bicentenary, it has been left to London’s music colleges, small scale opera companies
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“Das Feuerwerk” by Paul Burkhard & Erik Charell At Musikalische Komödie Leipzig
When I was about eight years old I have vivid memories of my mother doing the housework, continually singing “Oh,
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A New “Madame Pompadour” At Musikalische Komödie, Leipzig
The 1922 Madame Pompadour is not only one of Leo Fall’s last stage works (he died in 1925), it is
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The Devil In All Of Us: Suppé’s “Teufel auf Erden” (1878) In Chemnitz
With all the attention being given to Offenbach, it is easy to forget that 2019 is also the bicentenary of
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Offenbach’s “König Karotte” In Hannover: Farewell To The Production By Matthias Davids
German regional theatres excel in searching out rarely performed stage works and often breathing new life into them. Le Roi
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“La Princesse de Trebizonde”: Revisiting The Offenbach Production In Hildesheim
The World Heritage city of Hildesheim, 20 miles south-east of Hannover, possesses a charming, intimate, 600-seater theatre staging opera, musicals
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Howard Goodall’s “The Hired Man” At Queen’s Theatre: “A Serious Musical About Ordinary People”
In November 2018 I reviewed a concert performance of Howard Goodall’s Girlfriends, recommending his previous musical The Hired Man which
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Benatzky’s “Meine Schwester und ich” At Volksoper Wien
Benatzky’s 1930 hit Meine Schwester und ich in a new Wien Volksoper production is totally delightful and enchantingly charming. More
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A New “Man of La Mancha” at ENO and Volksoper
Not seen in London since its original production at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1968, when it starred Keith Michell as
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“Dorothy” By Alfred Cellier: World Premiere Recording
Before the building of railways into London from the rest of south-east England in the third quarter of the nineteenth
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Ábrahám’s “Märchen im Grand-Hotel” In Mainz
After having had great success in Berlin with three operettas on a very grand scale – Viktoria und ihr Husar
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Kálmán’s “Kaiserin Josephine” (1936) On CPO: Live From The Léhar Festival in Ischl
Kálmán composed Kaiserin Josephine after his ‘regular’ first night theater, the Theater an der Wien, had gone bankrupt as a
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Howard Goodall’s “Girlfriends”: A Show About The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force 1941
After the success of The Hired Man (being revived at Hornchurch in the Spring of 2019), Howard Goodall turned his
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National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company: Sullivan’s “Haddon Hall”
This year the International G & S Festival, as well as the National G & S Company are celebrating their
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National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company: “Ruddigore” At Buxton Opera House
This summer the historic Frank Matcham designed Buxton Opera House, built in 1903 and seating 902, was host to the
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National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company: “The Sorcerer” & “Trial By Jury”
This year the National G & S Opera Company celebrates its silver jubilee with six new productions. I was invited
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“Csardasfürstin” At Staatsoperette Dresden: With A Right-Wing Chancellor Of Austria Deporting Gypsys
Every self-respecting operetta company needs a production of one of the 20th century’s greatest operettas: Kalman’s Die Csardasfürstin. Whether Dresden
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“Der Bettelstudent” At Theater Pforzheim: Making The Genre Relevant For A 21st Century Audience?
The excellent (and beautifully illustrated) programme calls Der Bettelstudent “one of the best-loved of all the Golden Age Viennese operettas.”
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National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company: “The Pirates of Penzance”
The Pirates of Penzance must be Gilbert and Sullivan’s most staged operetta and, as a director, it must be difficult
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“The Mountebanks” By Gilbert And Cellier: A New BBC Recording
After the success of The Gondoliers in December 1889, D’Oyly Carte, Gilbert and Sullivan had a well-publicised disagreement because Gilbert
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Abraham’s “Ball im Savoy” In Koblenz: No Lavish Sets But SS Officers
Having hugely enjoyed Barrie Kosky’s 2013 exuberant production of Abraham’s Ball im Savoy several times, I was interested to see
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Re-Writing “Roxy und ihr Wunderteam” As A Gay Football Farce In Augsburg
Theater Augsburg is in the midst of refurbishment, so the various ensembles have decamped to several venues around the city.
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Sugar-Free Chocolate: Kálmán’s “Die Faschingsfee” In Möchengladbach-Krefeld
Emmerich Kálmán’s Die Faschingsfee had a very chequered history in its first few years. It was first seen in Budapest
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Hojotoho: Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Iolanthe” At English National Opera
Iolanthe is W S Gilbert’s most satirical opera. His libretto continually pokes fun at the British hereditary system, the law
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Too Depressing To Write About? Leo Fall’s “Die Kaiserin” At Theater Baden
It’s only a short review of Leo Fall’s Die Kaiserin, I’m afraid. It was too depressing to write more. I
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Sloppy Production With A Great Tenor: “Eine Nacht in Venedig” At Volksoper Wien
Musically, Vienna Volksoper’s 2013 production of Strauss’ Eine Nacht in Venedig has much to commend it: firstly the spirited conducting
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A 15 Year Old “Fledermaus” At Semperoper Dresden: Is Johann Strauss Beneath Them?
Dresden’s Fledermaus production is 15 years old and the performance I attended was its 90th outing. It is a very
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When “Der Opernball” Meets “Downton Abbey” In Plauen-Zwickau
The small, very attractive, eastern German city of Zwickau boasts an historic theatre that is, at present, being refurbished. As
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The Gay Hussars, Or: Kálmán’s “Ein Herbstmanöver” At Theater Giessen
The unpretentious German city of Giessen has a population of 78,000 and boasts two fine buildings: the railway station and
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“Die große Sünderin”: Gorgeous Künneke Melodies, Sumptuously Orchestrated
Kevin Clarke has recently penned a fascinating article concerning the background to the composition of Die große Sünderin, first produced
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“Must Close Saturday”: The Decline and Fall of the British Musical Flop
When this heavy, 350 page book, closely but clearly typed and well-illustrated, arrived in the post I thought I would
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“The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief”: First UK Revival Since 1937 At Opera della Luna
Opera della Luna is a well-established company, specializing in small-scale touring productions of operetta. Having concentrated on Offenbach and Sullivan
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“Darwinian Man, Though Well Behaved, At Best Is Only A Monkey Shaved”: G&S’s “Princess Ida”
Great Malvern is an attractive spa town of 30,000 souls, nestling in the English Midlands and surrounded by the Malvern
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“Like Rheingold, But With More Tunes”: Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” At The National Theatre
There are a few ‘musicals’ written in the last seventy years which, because of both the specific quality of their
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24th International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival
The 860 seat Theatre Royal, in the shadow of Windsor Castle, is the third one on the site: built in
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“Orpheus in der Unterwelt” At The New Staatsoperette Dresden
The Staatsoperette Dresden has recently moved into a new, much-needed, purpose built theatre in the centre of the city. The
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