THE COUSIN FROM NOWHERE
Two strangers and a happy ending?
Operetta by Eduard Künneke Who doesn't like to daydream? Especially about love? And who makes a better, more romantic postillon d'amour than the good old „radiant moon”? In Eduard Künneke'soperetta, young Julia sings an aria to the moon every evening since her cousin Roderich left for Batavia seven years ago. The girl is hopelessly in love with him, the idol of her youth, and has been waiting for his return ever since. When a stranger appears and passes himself off as the longawaited Roderich, she thinks she is close to fulfilling her dream. It seems there is nothing to stand in the way of their happiness. He loves her, she loves him, and everything is fine - until Julia learns that the stranger is not her cousin from nowhere after all … „The operetta,” said Eduard Künneke, is a piece of „light entertainment. That's why the operetta libretto is a book in which light-heartedness is mixed with a hefty portion of sentimentality.” And that's exactly the recipe he followed in „The Cousin From Nowhere,” his most successful work. Premiering in 1921 at the Theater am Nollendorfplatz in Berlin, „The Cousin From Nowhere” quickly set out to conquer audiences around the world, and is still considered one of the most powerful musical comedies ever.
Künneke succeeded in creating a work with wonderful irony and a dazzling array of endearingly zany characters, skillfully combining the most passionate elements of opera and the dance rhythms of his day like tango, foxtrot and the Boston waltz to create a varied and vibrant whole.
Operetta by Eduard Künneke Who doesn't like to daydream? Especially about love? And who makes a better, more romantic postillon d'amour than the good old „radiant moon”? In Eduard Künneke'soperetta, young Julia sings an aria to the moon every evening since her cousin Roderich left for Batavia seven years ago. The girl is hopelessly in love with him, the idol of her youth, and has been waiting for his return ever since. When a stranger appears and passes himself off as the longawaited Roderich, she thinks she is close to fulfilling her dream. It seems there is nothing to stand in the way of their happiness. He loves her, she loves him, and everything is fine - until Julia learns that the stranger is not her cousin from nowhere after all … „The operetta,” said Eduard Künneke, is a piece of „light entertainment. That's why the operetta libretto is a book in which light-heartedness is mixed with a hefty portion of sentimentality.” And that's exactly the recipe he followed in „The Cousin From Nowhere,” his most successful work. Premiering in 1921 at the Theater am Nollendorfplatz in Berlin, „The Cousin From Nowhere” quickly set out to conquer audiences around the world, and is still considered one of the most powerful musical comedies ever.
Künneke succeeded in creating a work with wonderful irony and a dazzling array of endearingly zany characters, skillfully combining the most passionate elements of opera and the dance rhythms of his day like tango, foxtrot and the Boston waltz to create a varied and vibrant whole.
Cast
Musical director: Peter Christian Feigel
Production: Rita Schaller
Décor: Barbara Blaschke
Dramaturgy: André Meyer
Technical director: Mario Radicke
Choreography: Jens Nater
Josef Kuhbrot, Julias Onkel: Hans-Jürgen Wiese
Wilhelmine, seine Frau (Wimpel): Silke Fröde
1. Fremder / August Kuhbrot: Michael Heim / Falk Hoffmann
Diener Karl: Florian Maser
Shows
24.05.14 19:30
Appraissals