Volksoper Vienna 26 January 2023 - Lady in the Dark | GoComGo.com

Lady in the Dark

Volksoper Vienna, Volksoper, Vienna, Austria
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7 PM

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Important Info
Type: Musical
City: Vienna, Austria
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 2
Intervals: 1
Duration: 3h
Sung in: German

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Overview

First performed on Broadway in 1941, "Lady in the Dark" constitutes the centrepiece of Kurt Weill’s creativity in America.

The life of successful businesswoman Liza Elliott, chief editor of a fashion magazine, is unhinged by burnout. Tormented by symptoms of stress, she seeks help from psychoanalyst Dr Brooks. He immediately encourages her to take her first therapy session, where she is reminded of a song from her childhood ...

History
Premiere of this production: 23 January 1941, Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon), Broadway

Lady in the Dark is a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart. It was produced by Sam Harris. The protagonist, Liza Elliott, is the unhappy female editor of a fictional fashion magazine, Allure (which predates the real life magazine by fifty years), who is undergoing psychoanalysis.

Synopsis

Liza Elliot (Gertrude Lawrence) finds herself constantly plagued by indecision in her professional and personal life. She is courted by two men, the already-married publisher Kendall Nesbitt who is trying to divorce his wife for Liza, and her advertising manager Randy Curtis, and cannot decide who to choose. Seeing a psychologist she delves into her dreams and memories of her unhappy childhood. She illustrates a dream of being put on trial for her indecision in a circus setting, with her photographer Russel Paxton acting as prosecutor, Kendall as a chief witness, and Randy as her defense attorney. She defends her refusal to make up her mind ("The Saga of Jenny"). She, at last, makes her decision when her marketing manager Charley Johnson is able to remember the lyrics to an old song she cannot completely recall. When Charley remembers the words to the song ("My Ship") Liza realizes that he is the man for her, and finally makes up her mind.

Venue Info

Volksoper Vienna - Vienna
Location   Währinger Strasse 78

The Vienna Volksoper is a major opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions during an annual season which runs from September through June.

Volksoper Vienna was built in 1898 as the Kaiserjubiläum-Stadttheater (Kaiser's Jubilee Civic Theatre), originally producing only plays. Because of the very brief construction period (10 months) the first director Adam Müller-Gutenbrunn had to start with debts of 160,000 gulden. After this inauspicious startup the Kaiserjubiläum-Stadttheater had to declare bankruptcy five years later in 1903.

On 1 September 1903 Rainer Simons took over the house and renamed it the Kaiserjubiläum-Stadttheater - Volksoper (public opera). His intention was to continue the production of plays but also establish series of opera and operetta. The first Viennese performances of Tosca and Salome were given at the Volksoper in 1907 and 1910 respectively. World-famous singers such as Maria Jeritza, Leo Slezak and Richard Tauber appeared there; the conductor Alexander Zemlinsky became the first bandmaster in 1906.

In the years up to and through the First World War the Volksoper attained a position as Vienna's second prestige opera house. In 1919, Felix Weingartner became Artistic Director and Principal Conductor. He was followed as Director by Hugo Gruder-Guntram. After 1929, it focused on light opera, and under Gruder-Guntram undertook a number of summer tours to Abbazia in 1935, Cairo and Alexandria in 1937 and throughout Italy in 1938, with guest appearances from Richard Tauber. After the Second World War, the Vienna Volksoper became the alternative venue to the devastated Vienna State Opera. In 1955 the Volksoper returned to its former role of presenting opera, operetta, and musicals.

From September 1991 to June 1996 the Vienna Volksoper was under a collective leadership with the Vienna State Opera. In 1999 the Volksoper became a 100% subsidiary of the Bundestheater-Holding. Since 1 September 2007 Robert Meyer has headed the Volksoper as artistic director together with the business manager Christoph Ladstätter. Each season includes about 25 productions, a total of approximately 300 performances—a performance almost every day. In addition to opera, operetta, musicals and ballet, there are special performances and children's programs.

Important Info
Type: Musical
City: Vienna, Austria
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 2
Intervals: 1
Duration: 3h
Sung in: German
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