Die Fledermaus

Everyone deceives everyone here. For insulting an official, Eisenstein must go to gaol. Before he does, at Prince Orlofsky's ball his friend Dr. Falke advises him to really paint the town red one more time. Privately the doctor is indeed merely planning his revenge because Eisenstein had once left him to drunkenly stagger home dressed as a bat, to the delight of the entire town. Eisenstein’s wife Rosalinde takes advantage of her husband’s absence to meet her former lover, Alfred (who then goes to gaol in Eisenstein’s place) and therefore gives her maid, Adele the evening off. She in turn claims she must go to a sick aunt, but in truth, she also plans to go to the ball, where everyone is hiding behind a false identity. And so they flirt unashamedly, until they all meet again in gaol the following morning ...

Johann Strauss’s equally buoyant as it is deceitful operetta about the fragility of social façades has been spreading bubbly enthusiasm since its world premiere in 1874. The Gärtnerplatztheater presents the classic piece in a new staging by General Manager Josef E. Köpplinger.

sponsored by

In cooperation with Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Florence

DIE FLEDERMAUS programme reading sample