Operetta in Three Acts
Libretto by Heinrich Bohrmann, Richard Genée, Julius Rosen, and O. F. Berg

Performance in German with German and English surtitles

On the occasion of Johann Strauss's 200th birthday in 2025, his operetta Das Spitzentuch der Königin (The Queen's Lace Handkerchief) will return to the stage of its premiere as early as January 18th. The seventh operetta of the 'Waltz King' became immediately his greatest success up to that point, as it evidently was a parody of the rebellious Crown Prince Rudolf, whose liberal ideas troubled the Habsburg monarchy.

Here, Portugal is under the thumb of a ruthless prime minister who wants to barter the country to the Spanish crown. And since the young king is just as little interested in politics as he is in his queen, dedicating himself exclusively to delicate truffle pastries and extramarital adventures, the downfall of Portugal threatens. Fortunately, the poet Cervantes, on the run from pursuers, ends up in Lisbon, where he injects a great deal of humor into state affairs, saves the country, and in the process gains plenty of inspiration for his satirical novel Don Quixote.

After Crown Prince Rudolf's scandalous suicide in Mayerling in 1889, the work abruptly disappeared from the playbills. However, Strauss adopted the musical main theme in his concert waltz Rosen aus dem Süden (Roses from the South), which enjoys great popularity to this day. Das Spitzentuch der Königin is a cornucopia of beautiful earworms, and the fact that Strauss had all of Portugal waltzing demonstrates unequivocally which monarchy is being mocked here.

Musical Direction: Martynas Stakionis
Production: Christian Thausing
Set and Costume: Timo Dentler, Okarina Peter
Lighting: Sebastian Alphons
Choreography: Evamaria Mayer
Dramaturgy: Christian Schröder

The King: Diana Haller
The Queen: Elissa Huber
Donna Irene: Beate Ritter
Marquise of Villareal: Regina Schörg
Cervantes: Maximilian Mayer
Count Villalobos: Michael Laurenz
Don Sancho: István Horváth
Marquis de la Mancha: Alexander Strömer