The dancer Cloclo Mustache is not yet the new star in the Paris night sky that she would like to be, but at least she is appearing in the capital's press as "an original little person". To accelerate her rise, Cloclo has given the lords of her salon fantasy titles and is therefore able to count the Prince of Veuve-Clicquot and the Count of Monte Cristo among her guests – and she does everything else to stay in the limelight.
Cloclo is smitten by Severin Cornichon, the elderly mayor of Perpignan, who is desperate to escape from his small-town marriage. When Severin's wife Melousine intercepts a letter from Cloclos to Severin, she believes that the ironic salutation "Papa" conceals an illegitimate daughter and promptly travels to Paris to adopt the supposed daughter. A welcome opportunity for Cloclo to escape from the Paris police - who are looking for her for slapping a policeman - to mimic the village girl in the country life of Perpignan and to turn all men's heads in the process...
Lehár's »Cloclo«, premiered in Vienna in 1924, breathes the spirit of the 1920s with snappy foxtrots, passionate tangos, blues and java, but of course a Viennese operetta should not be without a waltz or two. For the production, Dirk Schmeding is returning to the Staatstheater Braunschweig, who has already presented highly acclaimed works here with Weinberg's »Passagierin« and Dvořák's »Rusalka« - and will now also show his humorous side with this cheeky and ravishingly funny work.