The bat

Not in the big city, not in Vienna, Berlin or Dresden, but in a suburb »Die Fledermaus« by Johann Strauss takes place. Everything is close together, people meet all the time, word gets around quickly.

Gabriel and Rosalinde von Eisenstein live in this suburb, which is also a spa town. They haven't been married for very long and yet their life together has already become somewhat stale, faded, so to speak. The only strong colours come from Mr von Eisenstein's eventful, pre-marital past: excessive parties, scandals and law-breaking were very much in keeping with the small town's longing for gossip and drama and are now entertaining elements of memories and the talk of the town.

But in order to bring the beloved gossip into the present, a splash of colour is also sought in the life of the seemingly pure wife: a former lover is found and the intrigue is already on its way to bear new forbidden fruit.

A big party with music and dancing provides the backdrop for the staging of infidelity, lies, masking, jealousy and revenge. They all find themselves here, all under false names. They dance, sing, flirt, cheat - and meet again the next morning in prison.

The text of Richard Genée and Carl Haffner's operetta »Die Fledermaus« by Johann Strauss, performed in Vienna in 1874, is based on a vaudeville: in »Le Revéillon« by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, aristocrats, bourgeois and servants also enjoy themselves at a party. At the end, everyone blames the champagne and - even if a lot of china is broken - they make up and fall into each other's happy arms, exhausted and with a proper hangover.