"The Four Kings of Operetta" ("Четыре короля оперетты") by Various, Od (2020/2021), Dirigent Andrey Lebedev, Valery Kritskov, Novaya Opera Theatre, Moscow, Russia

Born on Parisian boulevards in the middle of the XIX century, the operetta took on the role of a denouncer of the vices of French society. And not just modern. Even the heroes of ancient myths, who had remained untouched for centuries, were ridiculed. The operetta "Orpheus in Hell", which appeared on the stage in 1858, shocked the noble audience, caused a flurry of criticism and... made its author, Jacques Offenbach, incredibly popular with the people. Having moved to Austria-Hungary, the operetta lost its sarcasticism and topical political satire, its characters became more romantic, the plots revolved around love intrigues and comic misunderstandings, and the Viennese waltz and the Hungarian csardas joined the Paris cancan. From here, the operetta went to the British Isles, and then to America, giving rise to a new genre - the musical. The Novaya Opera Theatre offers a tour of the history of European operetta. To the sounds of a cancan, a waltz and a csardas, the musical time machine will take you from the streets of Paris to the luxurious palaces of Vienna and the banks of the Danube. The program of the concert "The Four Kings of Operetta" included fragments of works by the most famous representatives of the genre: Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss, Imre Kálmán and Franz Lehár. «Четыре короля оперетты». Михаил Первушин, Сергей Тарасов, Максим Остроухов, Александр Богданов, Александр Мартынов, Борис Жуков. 10.12.2017. Фото — Д. Кочетков «Четыре короля оперетты». Дмитрий Орлов. 10.12.2017. Фото — Д. Кочетков