Sophisticated musical-theatrical canapés were the now rarely performed operetta one-acts by a certain Jacques Offenbach, among others. It was not the quality of his light-footed miniatures, but the lack of performance venues and opportunities for this format that caused his legendary one-act operas to be almost forgotten. For several seasons now, the Linz Landestheater has been in the process of rediscovering these venues. It has been leaving its traditional premises with relish and playing Upper Austrian theaters and inns.
In his production, director Gregor Horres combines two of these Offenbachian miniature stage works, Number 66 and The Electromagnetic Singing Hour, into a bizarre and absurd human hunt for happiness. Whether with the help of a lottery or by acquiring extraordinary skills such as opera singing, there are plenty of recipes for getting Fortuna on one's side. And how does luck relate to this? It does what it wants anyway.
