Im weissen Rössl - Operetta by Ralph Benatzky

Operetta in 3 acts
Libretto and text adaptation: Eric Charell, Robert Gilbert and Kurt Feltz
Running time: 130 minutes including interval

Performed in German · With surtitles in German and English.

PRODUCTION TEAM
Puppet construction: Bernhard Leismüller
Puppet heads: Kathrin Klimke / Bernhard Leismüller / Sebastian Demmel
Costumes: Bernhard Leismüller / Amand Pérez / Fabienne Haspel
Set design: Bettina Hummitzsch
Scenery construction: Ralf Böhringer
Production assistance: Patrick Vonmoos
Direction and dramaturgy: Bernhard Leismüller

PRODUCTION NOTES
"Im weissen Rössl" poses a considerable challenge for a marionette stage. The sheer number of props the puppets must handle - notes, glasses, suitcases, musical instruments, even live animals - demands extraordinary skill from the puppeteers.

HISTORY
The premiere of "Im weissen Rössl" took place on 8 November 1930 at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin. The story is set at the Hotel Weißes Rössl in Sankt Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut region of Austria. In London, an Erik Charell production ran for 651 consecutive performances in 1931; in New York, "The White Horse Inn" played 223 times on Broadway at the Center Theatre in 1936, again in a musically reworked Charell production.

The work was banned in Nazi Germany because of its Jewish co-authors. The bathing scene, considered scandalous, drew particular hostility from the National Socialists. On 19 June 2009, "Im weissen Rössl" was revived in a new production. The rediscovered Rößl is brasher and jazzier than the 1950s arrangement still performed today - even historical recordings of individual numbers gave only a rough sense of the original.