Workshop 2

Operetta Workshop

This workshop will introduce GOLNY (German Operetta in London and New York: 1905-1937: Cultural Transfer and Transformation), a research project undertaken by Dr Anastasia Belina (RCM) and Professor Derek B Scott (University of Leeds), funded by the European Research Council.

In the beginning of the nineteenth-century operetta was one of the most extravagant theatrical attractions, and productions from Vienna and Berlin travelled all over Europe. London, New York, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Budapest, and Warsaw were the cities where operetta was a big business, drawing in diverse crowds. Dances and melodies from Viennese and Berliner operettas became huge hits, and were sold in popular editions for home music-making.

In 1906, the manager of the Gaiety and Daly’s Theatre in London, George Edwardes, brought Franz Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe (Vienna, 1905; Berlin, 1906) to Daly’s Theatre as The Merry Widow in 1907 and it ran for a remarkable 778 performances. The success of this work opened up the possibility of a flourishing market for German operetta. What Edwardes meant to do, however, was to stage Leo Fall’s operetta The Dollar Princess, which had a hugely successful run of 428 consecutive performances. Today, The Dollar Princess is one of the most neglected Silver-Age operettas, and this workshop will aim to bring its music back to the audiences.

Postgraduate students from the Royal College of Music will take part in an open workshop, dedicated to the performance of the second-act quartet.

13.00-13.20 Introduction to the GOLNY project and to Leo Fall’s operetta The Dollar Princess by Dr Anastasia Belina and Professor Derek Scott.

13.20-15.00 The Quartet from The Dollar Princess: open workshop

Participants:
Dr Anastasia Belina (RCM), Director
Tim Evans Jones (RCM), Vocal Specialist
Mary Ellen Beaudreau, Choreographer
Nico de Villiers (Guildhall School of Music and Drama), Piano
Samuel Oram (RCM), as Freddy
Jennifer Coleman (RCM), as Daisy
Anna Cavaliero (RCM), as Alice
Ben Smith (RCM), as Quorn