BABES IN TOYLAND: Musical extravaganza by Victor Herbert
Commissioned by producers Julian Mitchell and Fred Hamlin to follow up their 1902 success with the fairytale spectacular The Wizard
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The Demystification Of “The Black Crook”
One thing leads to another … Answering various queries, after my 15 years old article on The Black Crook, which
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THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, or The Slave of Duty: Comic opera in 2 acts by Gilbert & Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan’s successor to the phenomenal HMS Pinafore proved to be another enormous international opéra-bouffe hit. Where the former
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Double Treat: “The Black Crook” From New York and London
Often, in earlier times, quoted as “the first landmark in the history of the American musical theatre”, the 1866 extravaganza
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Stanley Potter (1819-1894): A Seventy Year Old Chorus Boy!
When Stanley Potter died in 1894, his – paid – death notice said he was ‘of the Carl Rosa’. So
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Mystery Solved: The Truth About Gilbert & Sullivan’s Star Lilian LaRue
Lilian La Rue? Oh heavens, that name sounds like something out of a New Orleans drag show. Lily Street, maybe?
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Adolf Philipp (1864-1936): “Deutsch-Amerikanisches Theater” In New York
Adolf Philipp (b Lübeck, 29 January 1864; d New York, 30 July 1936) was the eclectic leading light of the
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From Operetta To The Russian Hit Parades: Paul Hankinson & Fiora
Not so very many years ago, two young students, already laurelled, each one, with considerable success, entered the Queensland Conservatorium
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CHU CHIN CHOW Musical Tale of the East In 3 Acts, Music By Frederic Norton
Chu Chin Chow was a version of the Arabian Nights’ Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves tale, put together by
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GIUDITTA: Musical play in 5 scenes by Paul Knepler and Fritz Löhner-Beda. Music by Franz Lehár
Giuditta was the last of the series of darkly coloured romantic operettas (this one purposely titled ‘musikalische Komödie’) composed by
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Michael Colby’s “Charlotte Sweet” Or: When Musicals Were Fun
More years ago than I care to count, I was staying at New York’s Algonquin Hotel, in my capacity as
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A Major Star Of 19th Century French Musical Theatre: Jean-François Philibert Berthelier
Jean-François Philibert Berthelier (b Panissières, Loire, 14 December 1828; d Paris, 29 September 1888) was a comic actor and singer
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A Noel Coward 4-CD Box: The Complete HMV Recordings
Noel Coward. His name has become a kind of cliché, in the decades since his death, as the epitome of
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THE FORTUNE TELLER: Comic opera in 3 acts by Victor Herbert
When the ambitious young soprano of the famed Bostonians company, Alice Nielsen, decided to break away from the group and
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Michael W. Balfe’s “Satanella,” Plus: A Contemporary Cantata And “Merman’s Apprentice”
It is not often that I write about recordings. Since my massive listening-writing effort of The Musical Theatre on Record,
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Happy Birthday, Barrie Kosky And Kurt Gänzl!
Astrologically speaking, we’re still living under an Aquarian moon. And this week, we are celebrating the birthdays of two of
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L’OEIL CREVÉ: Folie musicale in 3 acts by Hervé
Hervé’s second attempt, after Les Chevaliers de la table ronde (1866), to produce a full-length burlesque opérette to challenge the
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Puccini’s Operetta “La Rondine” At The Deutsche Oper Berlin
When I was very young, I had a book called something like The Operas of Puccini. I can’t remember –
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Offenbach’s sexy medieval spoof “Geneviève de Brabant”
Of the great opéras-bouffes of Offenbach’s early years, the one which has suffered the most inexplicable eclipse in the 20th
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Ethan Mordden’s New American Operetta History
Anyone who has walked into a bookshop in the USA recently will have noticed that Ethan Mordden’s attractively packaged Anything
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Grimm!, or Who’s Afraid of the Big, Dancing Wolf?
Last year, while in Berlin, I went to see the musical produced by the UDK musical-theatre school and its graduating
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Have You Heard Of Henri Christine’s “Phi-Phi” (1918)?
Do you know Phi-Phi? Unless you are French or Hungarian and over 90 years of age, you won’t ever have
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Popular Musical Theatre In London And Berlin: 1890 To 1939
Here is something really yummy: a collection of essays dealing with various aspects of popular musical theater at the beginning
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SHOW BOAT: Musical Play in 2 Acts
One of the most successful romantic musical plays of the 1920s, Show Boat (Ziegfeld Theater, New York, 27 December 1927)
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Seeing “Spring Awakening” In New Zealand – For The First Time
Frank Wedekind’s Frühlingserwachen (1891) is a ‘famous’ play. ‘Famous’ in a Lady Chatterley’s Lover way. There’s nothing like some healthy
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Josefine GALLMEYER (b Leipzig, 27 February 1838; d Vienna, 2 February 1884)
‘Die fesche Pepi’ – ‘Jolly Josie’ – was one of the most popular and famous stars of the Viennese musical
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Marie GEISTINGER (b Graz, 26 July 1836; d Klagenfurt, 30 September 1903)
Born in Graz to theatrical parents, Geistinger first went on the stage as a child and had an early exposure
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Zulma Bouffar: The “Other” Prima Donna of the Offenbach-Age
Zulma Bouffar (b Nérac, 24 May 1841) made her first appearance on the stage at the age of six, at
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The Original Operetta-Diva: Hortense Schneider
She was the six-year shooting star of Offenbach’s Théâtre des Variétés series whose dazzling career declined at the same time
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Lydia Thompson, the “Father of All Drag Kings”?
Lydia Thompson [Eliza Hodges Thompson] is one of the theatre’s ‘legends’, and as in the case of other such legendary
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You Dont Have to Be a Skinny to Be a Superstar: Marie Desclauzas
Marie Desclauzas was a buxom and eventually hefty star of the opérette stage who became the most admired musical character
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Mr. Burlesque Himself: William B. Gill
Australia’s most successful ever international manufacturer of musical plays was born Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, Canada 10 May 1842. The grandson of
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Operetta Delights in Wooster
Lovers of operetta and musicals had the rare opportunity for a week-long wallow in their favorite sport during the Ohio
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A Trip to Ohio. Or: Six Operettas (And More) in Four Days
For the last five days, I’ve been in Ohio. Yes, Ohio, USA. Yes, I know I said, years ago, that
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This Summer in Ohio: Seven Full-Scale Productions
Next week, the Ohio Light Opera is starting its 36th season – with 7 (in writing: seven!) productions on offer
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Exporting Operette: The World Is Not Enough
What became eventually known as “operetta” or “opérette” didn’t start its life under that name. The earliest works of the
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