After the success of the Jazz Operettas concerts at Christmas time, the Komische Oper Berlin begins a new chapter. More precisely, the first chapter of operetta ever: The fiery pen of Jacques Offenbach, the founding father of modern operetta, takes center stage, beginning with the two one-act operettas Oyayaye and Fortunio ’ s Song . Although they couldn’t be more different, they are firmly within the grasp of acting legend Burghart Klaußner, who commands the evening as Fortunio himself. After a disastrous concert, the penniless contrabass virtuoso Racle-à-mort flees and embarks upon a life as a sailor. Unfortunately he gets shipwrecked in the South Seas, landing on the island of the cannibal, Queen Oyayaye… Fortunio, an elderly lawyer, would almost wish to find himself on such an island. A heartbreaker like no other, he doggedly guards his young wife Marie, and not without reason, since Valentin, his secretary, has fallen in love with her beauty. When Valentin discovers the tune of that mysterious song—with which Fortunio once charmed the world of women—and knows how to use it, the time of young lovers arrives…

Even if titles such as Orpheus in the Underworld, The Beautiful Helena or The Tales of Hoffmann are firmly established on the stages of this world, it was the one-act plays that helped Jacques Offenbach to fame; snappy and to the point, spiced with peppery humor, and carried by some of his best melodies!

By the way With this concertante Christmas operetta, actor Max Hopp makes his debut as director at the Komische Oper Berlin!