27^th Festival Season - 2005

Die Fledermaus

By: Johann Strauss II

Original libretto by: Richard Genée & Carl Haffner

Premiere: Theater an der Wien, Vienna, April 5, 1874

This is your party invitation to the most celebrated operetta in the world! Die Fledermaus is a grand potpourri of waltzes, polkas, and fresh, bright melodies, an amusing mixture of Viennese gaiety and French mirth. In mid nineteenth-century Vienna, Gabriel von Eisenstein has been sentenced to jail for a minor offense, but his friend, Dr. Falke, persuades him to postpone his incarceration until after he has attended a party given by Prince Orlofsky. Falke is actually seeking revenge for a practical joke that Eisenstein once played on him and, as part of his strategy, has Eisenstein's wife Rosalinda come to the party disguised so that she can observe her husband cavorting with the women. Rosalinda is excited that her husband will be out of the way in prison so that her admirer, Alfred, can visit. They are interrupted when the warden arrives looking for Eisenstein. Under Rosalinda's prompting, Alfred agrees to pose as her husband and is carried off to jail. At the party, Falke promises to amuse the easily bored Orlofsky by staging a domestic comedy. After joining the celebration of champagne and love, Eisenstein departs at dawn for jail, where Alfred has spent the night. Slowly all the partygoers and participants in the domestic joke arrive at the prison. Now that the revenge has succeeded, Falke and Orlofsky clear up mistaken identities. Husband and wife are reconciled, and all sing a toast to champagne. Come to the party!