Shared storytelling full of imagination

On April 13, 2026, the operetta Der Zarewitsch (The Tsarevich) premieres in a way you’ve never seen before. We spoke with director Steef de Jong about Tsarevich auditions, operetta stereotypes, and the love of storytelling.

Steef, you have a very personal connection to this operetta.

The “Wolgalied” was the first operetta music I ever heard! It was the first track on a record I owned. Back then, my prejudice was that operetta was old-fashioned and kitschy. But this song blew me away, and I immediately fell in love with the music and with operetta.

You have already staged Der Zarewitsch once in the Netherlands.

I wanted to bring my own discovery of the genre to the stage and invented a story in which I travel to Vienna to take part in an audition for Der Zarewitsch. So now that I’m staging the work at the Volksoper, a dream is truly coming true.

Drawing by Steef de Jong for The Tsarevich: Kautschukoff with a red dress in his left hand.

Steef, you are focusing strongly on the love story—what makes it so special for you?

I discovered the piece around the time I came out. And the Tsarevich also falls in love with someone he believes to be a man. For me, the “Wolgalied” is about loneliness and about feeling misunderstood. I know these feelings very well—maybe that is why this piece feels so close to me.

You work with self-created drawings that you animate live on stage.

In the drawings, I can show what this story is really about for me. I can present the characters, but also what is happening inside them. However, the drawings deliberately remain sketches. They are animated live, and singers, chorus, and orchestra then bring them to life through the music.

Projection from the operetta The Tsarevich