Die Herzogin Von Chicago

Die Herzogin von Chicago (The Duchess of Chicago) is an operetta in two acts, a prologue, and an epilogue. The music was composed by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán with a libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald. It premiered in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien, on April 5, 1928 and played for 372 performances. The work was presented in out-of-town tryouts in Newark, New Jersey and Springfield, Massachusetts by the Shuberts in 1929, but it did not make it to Broadway. The piece was forgotten until 1997, when the Lubo Opera Company performed it in concert in New York, after which Light Opera Works of Illinois performed the work in 1998 in a fully staged version with a new translation by Philip Kraus and Gregory Opelka. In 1999, Richard Bonynge made a recording of the work, which revived international interest in it.

The operetta mingles jazz elements and other contemporary dance music with musical elements traditionally associated with Viennese waltz-opera and anticipates such works as White Horse Inn and Paul Abraham's Victoria and Her Hussar. The score also incorporates traditions from Kálmán's native Hungary. The libretto has a relatively modern satirical edge and draws on the political cabaret that was a feature of radical Vienna, Berlin and Munich at the time. The piece directly addresses the impact of America and its social revolution, with its commentary on current affairs as seen in the jazz scene in Chicago. The piece reveals much about early 20th century European culture and European intellectual attitudes toward Americans, and American culture. The setting and score call for 1920s flapper costumes, jazz and the Charleston.

MAY 25/26 2012 PREMIERE IN EKATERINBURG (RUSSIA)

In April and May, 2012, a production team led by a trio of Americans mounted Kalman's The Duchess of Chicago (Герцогиня из Чикаго) at the well-known Ekaterinburg (Soviet name: Sverdlovsk) Academic Theater of Musical Comedy, only the second time in recent memory the operetta (as originally written) has been produced in Russia, coming on the heels of a 2008 St. Petersburg production. The libretto for the Ekaterinburg production was translated into Russian by award-winning Russian playwright and poet Arkadij Zastyrets. Ekaterinburg Is the fourth largest city in Russia, with a population of more than three million.

The American team consisted of Michael Unger, director (from New York), Patti Colombo, choreographer (Los Angeles), and Gregory Opelka, conductor (from Chicago). Sets, costumes and lights were designed by the theater’s long-time designer Vyachislav Okunev. One of the theater's three resident conductors, Viktor Olin, will conduct future performances of the operetta. The chorus-master was Svetlana Asueva.

The operetta premiered May 25 and 26th, with different casts on each night in most roles--Valodya Fomin played the role of Prince Sandor both evenings; Mary Lloyd was played by Svetlana Kadochnikova and Lyudmila Lokajchuk. Bondy was played by Igor Ladejshchikov while Rose-Marie was played by Tatiana Mokrousova and Anastasiya Sutyagina. The Duchess of Chicago (Gertsoginya iz Chikago) will now become part of the more than 20-show rotating repertory at the EATMC, where one of Russia's most highly regarded directors, Kirill Strezhnev, has been artistic director for the last 26 years. Strezhnev’s staging of a new Russian musical called Dead Souls recently won 4 Golden Masks, Russia's equivalent of the Tony Award.

There is on YouTube a three-minute video clip of the Ekaterinburg Duchess made by one of the local Russian TV stations during the penultimate rehearsal, on the eve of the May 25, 2012 opening. (The clip can be found by searching the YouTube site using the Cyrillic spelling of the show's title, "Герцогиня из Чикаго.") The cast numbered more than 50 (soloists, chorus, ballet, 6 children), the orchestra 30, and the theater has about 750 seats. Both premiere performances were completely sold out.