I am intensely fond of all things Shakespearean, but my first theatrical love was operetta, those fluffy, lyrical stage confections that aren't quite operas but haven't evolved into musicals. My parents took me to a local production of Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus when I was three years old (I fell asleep in Act 3), followed shortly afterwards by a trip to the Stratford Festival to see their Pirates of Penzance. I was hooked.
Fortunately for me, the Ohio Light Opera is not too long a drive away from my home. Now in its 36th year, OLO's mission is to perform as many random operettas, light operas, comic operas and early musicals as possible. I have been going there for almost my entire life and shall be driving down again this week to get my annual operetta fix.
To celebrate, I've put together a small bingo sheet covering some of the most common (and beloved) operetta tropes. If you are going to see an operetta anytime soon, print out a copy and take it along. Just please don't shout "BINGO" in the middle of the performance.
The sausage roll song, incidentally, is from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Grand Duke. This will probably not be the last time Gilbert and Sullivan is featured on this blog...