The Pearls of Cleopatra by Straus, De (2022/2022), Dirigit per Barrie Kosky, Director musical Adam Benzwi, Komische Oper, Berlin, Germany

Hello, I am here !! - State crisis with the Berlin pharaoh Cleopatra: palace revolt, drought, rebellion and lack of men. Only ... the mysterious pearls of Cleopatra help. And direct attacks on the laughing muscles of the audience! "It is a delight to see Manzel as a heart-rending potentate whose breasts are at least three hearts beating: that of the power-conscious boss, that of the love-yearning wife and that of her heavily drunk-sounding cat Ingeborg." [Der Tagesspiegel] The Nile is drying up, Roman armies looming in the distance and, on top of that, an uprising is announcing itself in its own ranks: Cleopatra has her hands full and is also in a bad mood. The beautiful head of state only wishes a "little Egyptian flirt"! So instead of the Persian Prince Beladonis with his "little love flute" she promptly makes the Roman ambassador Silvius her docile lover. Whether international or intimate relationships - the most beautiful queen in the world rules over all men without restriction. Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald peppered their libretto with sharp wit and cheeky ambiguities for the Viennese Oscar Straus, which was also successful in Berlin. In the guise of cheerful and frivolous entertainment, with music between cabaret, jazz, late romanticism and a dash of Viennese waltz bliss, The Pearls of Cleopatra are a punchy satire on bourgeois conservatism and a clairvoyant commentary on the looming political disaster of the 1930s. More than eighty years after its sensational premiere with Berlin theater legend Fritzi Massary in the title role, the work returns to the stage of the Komische Oper Berlin with Dagmar Manzel as Cleopatra. The pyramids of Giza directly on the Spree! Libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald In the repertoire since December 3, 2016