Born on the Paris boulevards in the mid-19th century, operetta took on the role of a denouncer of French society’s vices. It satirized not only the evils of contemporary life, but even the ancient heroes that had been sacred for centuries. The operetta
Orpheus in the Underworld, premiered in 1858, shocked the audience, brought on a deluge of criticism and… made its author, Jacques Offenbach,incredibly popular.
Having moved to Austro-Hungary, operetta lost its acid and burning political satire, its characters became more romantic, the plots began to work around love affairs and comic misunderstandings, and French Cancan was supplemented with Viennese Waltz and Hungarian Czardas. From there operetta travelled to the British Isles and then to America, giving birth to a new genre – the musical.
The Novaya Opera Theatre invites you for a tour of the history of European operetta. To the strains of cancan, waltz and czardas the musical time machine will take you from Paris streets to Vienna lavish palaces and the banks of the Danube.
The programme of the concert Four Operetta Kings comprises excerpts from the works of the most famous representatives of the genre – Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss, Imre Kálmán and Franz Lehár.
