A Semi-Staged “Camelot” At The Watermill Theatre
In the United Kingdom restrictions on ‘live’ performance, owing to Covid-19, were lifted with regard to outdoor theatre at the
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Oscar Straus’ Piano Concerto & Other Rare Orchestra Pieces
My first ‘live’ encounter with Oscar Straus was attending a wonderfully inspired production of his first operetta Die lustigen Nibelungen
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“Cheer Up! British Musical Films 1929-1945” By Adrian Wright
In a preface to Cheer Up! British Musical Films 1929-1945, author Adrian Wright tells us that British Film Studios made
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Opéra-Comique Overtures By Lecocq, Offenbach & Co.
The record label Naxos has just released a fascinating CD containing French 19th century overtures. One of these is the
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“Trafalgar sur un volcan”: An(other) Operetta About Terrorists?
The German record label cpo has recently released a CD of two short operettas. One of them is a real
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“One Long Gender-Bender”: Berlin’s Queer Operetta Revolution In The Years 2010-2020
The Drama Review (TDR) is planning a special issue on the developments in the German theater scene from 2010 to
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Reading “The Cambridge Companion To Operetta” In Times Of Self-Isolation
The paperback edition of this fascinating, useful and, on the whole, well researched book sells for about 20 Euros on
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Sullivan, Cellier & Ford: “Haddon Hall,” “Captain Billy” And “Mr Jericho” On CD For The First Time
In 2018 the National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company staged the first professional revival of Haddon Hall for about one
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What The Nasty Old Lady Said. Or: “Zigeunerbaron” At Volksoper Vienna
I had really been looking forward to seeing the new production of Der Zigeunerbaron in Vienna because I had enjoyed
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Maury Yeston Meets Julian Slade. Or: “Amélie” At London’s The Other Palace
Amélie is a charming, whimsical, musical, based on a 2001 French Film, which was originally (2015) staged in California, and
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Francisco Barbieri’s “Barberillo de Lavapies”: The Classic BBC Recording In English
This is totally delightful! Francisco Barbieri (1823-94) was the leading exponent of the zarzuela revival of the mid-19th century. He
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“Mary Poppins” As London’s Unashamedly Old-Fashioned Christmas Spectacle
Mary Poppins is an unashamedly old-fashioned “feel-good musical,” at times very pantomimic in style, at times almost a “nostalgic operetta”
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Gilbert & Sullivan At Wilton’s Music Hall: An “HMS Pinafore” Performance To Remember
Wilton’s Music Hall is “the most important surviving early music hall to be seen anywhere” (says the Theatres Trust) and
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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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