Utopia Ltd. or The Flowers of Progress
An operetta meets punk – a wild drum beat meets opera singers and the choir calls for a revolution. The explosive mixture is ready.
Recognized for its unusual music theater productions, the Schlossplatztheater and The Metafiction Cabaret, a group that falls somewhere between Brecht and Burlesque, attempt to perform Utopia Ltd. or The Flowers of Progress, an operetta written in 1893 by the then famous dream team Arthur Sullivan and William Schwenck Gilbert, and to catapult it into the 21st century!
Lapped by gentle waves, Utopia is an island full of joy and idleness. But the idyll is deceptive: a second glance reveals decay and lethargy. Clever minds have taken advantage of the standstill. The form of government of dynamite-driven despotism (which allows the king to be blown up at any time if he opposes the will of his people) has been undermined by dubious advisors. Only ambitious ideas from other parts of the world can help. The flowers of progress are imported and thriving – with all their side effects and collateral damage. A ludicrous dance of power, influence and botched business takes its course.
Translation | Bettina Bartz
Text | Steffen Thiemann
Editing and lyrics | Marc C. Behrens
Musical editing | The Metafiction Cabaret
with
The Metafiction Cabaret | Marc C. Behrens, Kai Günther, Johanna Malchow, and Richard Wutzke
Soprano | Maja Lange
Baritone | Ingo Volkmer
Project choir of the Joseph Schmidt Music School
Director | Birgit Grimm
Space and Light | Felix Grimm
Rehearsing the Choir | Johannes Meißner
Dramaturgy | Martin Brand
Tickets at www.schlossplatztheater.de
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The project is made possible thanks to the support and cooperation of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Department of Culture; the Department of Culture and the BVV of the Treptow-Köpenick District of Berlin; the support group of the Schlossplatztheater and degewo; the Joseph Schmidt Music School Treptow-Köpenick; and the Reinbeckhallen.