Mitislaw der Moderne

In the organizer's words:

Operetta by Franz Lehár
Text by Fritz Grünbaum and Robert Bodanzky
In an adaptation by Hauke Berheide and Amy Stebbins

"To determine the totality of the traits in which 'modernity' expresses itself would be to depict hell."
Walter Benjamin

1907: In the opening year of the Stadttheater Gießen, the successful operetta composer Franz Lehár parodies himself: Following each performance of his successful play "The Merry Widow", you can watch the one-act play "Mitislaw der Moderne" in the cabaret "Die Hölle" in the basement of the theater. In the wicked atmosphere of "Hell", you can experience how the spoiled Prince Mitislaw, who has been trained in Paris according to the latest fashion, returns to his homeland of Benzinia. Benzinia, however, is not modern at all, but a strict military dictatorship. Does the fun of modern customs end with the choice of a partner or is that where it really begins? And which modernity is meant here anyway?