New-Yorker Stadt-Theater Opera: Barbe-bleue

“This, one of the funniest of Offenbach’s peculiar conceptions of operatic music, was performed last night at the Stadt theatre, and for the first time in the German language in this country. It is, since opera bouffe is beginning to be the rage among the Germans, quite creditable to the managers of this formerly somewhat neglected institution that they strive to elevate it to what a metropolitan theatre ought to be. The performance yesterday, even for a first representation, was better than a majority of the audience, which quite filled the house, expected. Everybody knows the story of ‘Bluebeard,’ and how Offenbach burlesqued it. It is needless, therefore, to repeat the funny and utterly improbable, yet amusing fable. But Miss Elsa Chorherr, as Boulotte, charmed everybody by her acting, and her singing can be compared to the best buffo singing yet heard in this city. In the second act, before King Bobeche, she united the peasant girl with the lady so archly that the whole house burst out in loud applause. Mr. Guthery, as King Bobeche, was excellent, especially in the kissing scene. Bluebeard (Mr. Herrmann) was everything that could be desired in action, but his singing was somewhat mediocre. But since he did what was in his power, and did that much well, the audience called him also before the curtain. Chorus and scenery astounded the beholders, for such extravagance has not been known in the annals of the Stadt theatre, the management of which has always been rather parsimonious.”