Short Introduction Die Csárdásfürstin

Director Johannes Erath: „’The Csárdás Princess’ is one of the most melancholic operettas, which you can feel in many of its apocalyptic lines. Even the question: "Do you know how long the globe will keep turning?" hints at a sinking world. And even today, we face the same question with similar fears. "When the curtain rises, the show is already over." This is the first line of the libretto, and it’s no coincidence that farewells come in waves in "The Csárdás Princess". Famous Chanteuse Sylva Varescu says goodbye right at the start to the Budapest Orpheum stage and her admirers. Edwin, madly, almost obsessively in love, must also say farewell as he is drafted and so it continues. We all know this feeling of farewell and may one day realize that endings and beginnings belong together, that something must end for something new to begin. I don’t believe theater, especially musical theater, is a place for naturalistic storytelling. Rather, it transforms dreams and reality into a surreal world. This piece is simply bittersweet, and I don’t want to question that. “Laughing through tears”, Kálmán once said and when you hear his music, you know: he understood. I invite you to hear with your eyes and see with your ears.”