The Bat by Strauss II, From (2023/2023), Directed by Kathrin Kondaurow, Conductor Christian Garbosnik, Kraftwerk Mitte, Berlin, Germany

As a way of getting back at his friend Eisenstein, Dr Falke a.k.a. 'Die Fledermaus' or 'The Bat', stages an ingenious mix-up game at Prince Orlkofsky's ball. Here, everyone is allowed to be whatever or whoever they want to be: single or married, aristocratic or exotic. But beware! Disguised with masks and false names, anyone you meet can equally turn out to be a nasty surprise ... And by the time the champagne haze has cleared the next morning, all the masks have ended up in the bleak prison cell of reality. This is a showpiece of the golden age of operettas: Johann Strauss' 'Die Fledermaus' not only gets the champagne bubbling at a musical level, but also fizzes with irony and subtle innuendo. In 1873, and therefore shortly after the great financial crisis known as the Panic, Strauss took a different approach to his French colleague Jacques Offenbach, opting against a mythological plot. He instead uses the present to scathingly critique society - a false bottom that director Kathrin Kondaurow selects as her dance floor for what is the second production to be directed by her at the Operetta.