The White Horse Inn
Orchestration
Lindau’s Puppet Theatre Orchestration needed three full years preparation time for this production. It took over one and a half years to create the puppets. An enormous challenge was to unite the charm of the 30s, the Alpine charisma and to capture a revue of the characters. The different moods are well expressed in the dance interludes. Not only do the waiters get the chance to stretch their legs but also the geese, cows and even the umbrellas come dancing into life.
Stage History
The piece was originally produced by Erik Charell as a revue operetta with the intention that the Großen Schauspielhauses in Berlin would produce a series of successful historical operettas. The head of drama at the UFA, Hans Müller was given the task to revive the piece from Schwank von Blumenthal and Kadelburg from the year 1898 and model it into an operetta. In 1931 the piece played London 651 times in succession. In New York “The White Horse Inn” played The Center Theatre on Broadway223 times. The piece was banned during the National Socialism because of the Jewish co-author and it was regarded as a “degenerate” piece of folklore. It was the bathing scene in particular which seem to annoy the National Socialists most.
Dates
Ralph Benatzky
Opera in tree Act
Libretto: Eric Charell, Robert Gilbert und Kurt Feltz
Duration: 130 Minutes incl. Pause
Production Team
Puppet Manufacturing: Bernhard Leismüller
Puppet’s heads: Kathrin Klimke / Bernhard Leismüller / Sebastian Demmel
Costumes: Bernhard Leismüller / Amand Pérez / Fabienne Haspel
Stage: Bettina Hummitzsch
Stage: Ralf Böhringer
Stage Manager: Bernhard Leismüller