11/12/2025
A little over 16 years ago Alison and I took the kids on a pilgrimage to the place where we first met: the Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, Ohio. It was there that we fell in love - with each other, but also with operetta! We thoroughly enjoyed taking the kids to see a couple of shows, touring the theater’s backstage, showing them our former living quarters, and reliving memories of a time that had been so important to us, both musically and personally. In the theater lobby, on a whim, we bought a rare 1954 radio broadcast recording of the Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalmán’s cowboy operetta Arizona Lady, the last show the composer wrote. It was a tribute to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and the other singing cowboys of the 1930s. We thought it would be a hoot to listen to it on our drive back to Chicago. A hoot indeed! We absolutely loved it and immediately changed our plans for our 2010 Season. We were determined to give the American premiere of this little gem.
So on a hot summer night in July of 2010, we opened Arizona Lady to a small but mighty audience that included the chief critics of the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times. The show, featuring our new English translation, was a unique contribution to the Chicago theater scene. The reviews were terrific. Michael Miller, president of the board at Ohio Light Opera, shared this news with his good friend Yvonne Kalmán, the daughter of the composer. Yvonne must have been intrigued; she flew in from Paris to see our production!
We were honored by her presence and her enthusiasm for our work, and we were amazed by her generosity of spirit. Here was a woman who knew some of the biggest opera stars in the world, rubbed elbows with some of Hollywood’s most famous personalities, and now she was taking time - and traveling from Europe - to see our show! We were incredibly grateful. In subsequent years, she returned for two more productions of her father’s work: The Circus Princess, in 2013, and The Csardas Princess, in 2018.
We received news of Yvonne’s passing this past week. Yvonne was a tireless advocate, promoter and champion of her father’s music, and one of the last links to the world of Viennese operetta. An avid animal lover, she ran the Yvonneka Foundation that rescued and cared for stray dogs. We like to think that she adopted us, too! We will dearly miss her.
As a tribute to Yvonne, we would like to share two interviews she made while visiting Chicago: one with radio station WFMT; and the other with John Von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune.
WFMT INTERVIEW: https://folksoperetta.org/2018/07/03/wfmt-interview-with-yvonne-kalman/
CHICAGO TRIBUNE INTERVIEW: https://folksoperetta.org/2012/06/05/kalman-interview-chicago-tribune/
