John Philip Sousa’s “El Capitan” (1896)
One of the earliest successful comic operas to come out of America, El Capitan was also the one successful attempt
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Reviving Jean Gilbert’s “Kinokönigin” (1913) à la Bob Fosse in Leipzig?
Let’s start with the positive side of this: Musikalische Komödie has put forgotten composer Jean Gilbert (1879-1942) back on stage
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Jean Gilbert (1879-1942): One of the Most Successful Composers for the German Musical Stage
Gilbert was born as Max Winterfeld in Hamburg, 11 February 1879. He died in exile in Buenos Aires, 20 December
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Isaac Albéniz’s “The Magic Opal” at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid
If not even a month ago the Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo invited us to take a magical journey to the
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42nd Street: The First Complete Recording
I have just been on a very, very happy trip down memory boulevard. For a couple of years of my
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Glitter And Be Gay: Marin Alsop’s New “Candide“ From London
Finding the best of all possible Candide recordings is hard. Because Leonard Bernstein’s eclectic work from 1956 – his only
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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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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 Incomparable Maudi Darrell: One-Time Darling Of London’s Gaiety Theatre
The story begins almost like a fairy tale: Once upon a time there were three brothers, George, Edward and John.
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Ivan Caryll & The Heyday Of The Gaiety Musical Comedy
Ivan Caryll was the principal composer and conductor for the heyday of the Gaiety musical comedy who encouraged the development
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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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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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“Ghost Lights: Ivor Novello and His Leading Ladies“ – A Conversation With David Slattery-Christy About His New Play
Most operetta fans will know David Slattery-Christy as the biographer of Ivor Novello (1893-1951) and as a tireless champion of
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“Ball at the Savoy”: An “Alluring Hotch-Potch” At Drury Lane (1933)
It might be imagined by those who underrate the virility of convention that the good old-fashioned musical comedy would not
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Paleophonics: A Journey To The Dawn Of Recorded Sound In Musical Comedy
If you are interested in what original audiences of early 20th century English operetta and musical comedy heard, there is
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Remembering Will Marion Cook, Composer Of “In Dahomey” And The Cakewalk
Will Marion Cook was born in Washington, DC, on 27 January, 1869. The son of a well-off and well-educated family,
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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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German Operetta On Broadway And In The West End: 1900 To 1940
Considering that there are not that many new books on operetta in English, one must greet Derek B. Scott’s fresh-off-the-press
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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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