It could be a scene from an Emmerich Kalman operetta: the year is 1928; the place, Vienna, where music is king. The characters: a famous Hungarian composer with a new show in production and a ravishing Russian starlet half his age. They meet at the checkroom of a cafe he’s known to frequent. He helps her with her coat; she thanks him by name. “You know me?” he asks. “Oh yes,” she replies. “I’m so anxious to get a part in The Duchess of Chicago.”
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He offers his card and invites her to audition; the leads have already been cast, but the starlet finds a home in the chorus and is soon sharing rehearsal lunches with the maestro. Assuming she’ll be his date for the opening-night party, she dresses for the event, only to see him sweep off with the leading lady. Crushed, the ingenue retrieves the composer’s cigar band from an ashtray, slips it on her finger, and goes home to cry herself to sleep. The next morning he appears at her door. “You’re a young woman and should be going out with young men,” he explains. “I care for you very much, but I’ve been trying hard to fight it.” She replies, “Please don’t fight it, because I love you.”
The Duchess of Chicago is the story of a hot-dog heiress who goes to Europe to buy herself a castle. Hitler labeled it “degenerate” and banned it in Austria, partly because it includes American jazz along with Kalman’s trademark blend of Viennese waltzes and Gypsy music. Light Opera Works is staging the American premiere this weekend and next at Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson in Evanston. Shows are presented Saturdays at 8, Sundays at 2; there will also be a performance next Friday, August 28, at 8. Tickets are $22 to $49.
