Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (The Bat) has been part of the Bayerische Staatsoper’s repertoire since 1895 and has always been performed there by star-studded casts. In December 2023, the curtain rose on a spectacular new production of this piece. Director Barrie Kosky gave the “operetta of all operettas” a new look: a society, an entire city dances towards the abyss in a colourful, lavish set (stage design: Rebecca Ringst, costumes: Klaus Bruns). The setting is Vienna, the city of the golden operetta era, where Die Fledermaus premiered in 1874. A volcano boils beneath the glamour of feather boas and tutus. Not only for Gabriel von Eisenstein, the bat’s revenge becomes a nightmare when, during a glittering masked ball at the residence of Prince Orlofsky, a fake marquis and a fake chevalier, an alleged Hungarian countess and plenty of budding artists meet for a raucous party. Glasses are clinking, relationships are shaken, there are lies, there is love, and dancing (choreography: Otto Pichler). The people celebrate while they still can, true to the motto: “Happy is the one who forgets…”. General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski – in his third new Munich production together with Barrie Kosky – brings new aspects of the score to the fore. Diana Damrau makes her role debut as Rosalinde, Georg Nigl interprets her husband Gabriel von Eisenstein, Katharina Konradi appears as Adele and Martin Winkler as Frank; other roles feature Markus Brück (Dr Falke), Sean Panikkar (Alfred), Kevin Conners (Dr Blind) and Miriam Neumaier (Ida). The actor Franz Josef Strohmeier and the tap dancer Max Pollak, among others, play the six-fold Frosch.

Cast:
- Gabriel von Eisenstein: Georg Nigl
- Rosalinde: Diana Damrau
- Frank: Martin Winkler
- Prinz Orlofsky: Andrew Watts
- Alfred: Sean Panikkar
- Dr Falke: Markus Brück
- Dr Blind: Kevin Conners
- Adele: Katharina Konradi
- Ida: Miriam Neumaier
- Frosch: Max Pollak
- Frosch II: Franz J Strohmeier
- Frosch III: Danilo Brunetti
- Frosch IV: Giovanni Corrado
- Frosch V: Deniz Doru
- Frosch VI: Oliver Petriglieri

Stage director: Barrie Kosky
Choreography: Otto Pichler
Set design: Rebecca Ringst
Costume design: Klaus Bruns
Lighting design: Joachim Klein
Video director: Myriam Hoyer

Filmed in 4K
NTSC 16:9
PCM STEREO and DTS 5.1
Language: German
Subtitles: German, English, French, Japanese, Korean
Region Code: 0 (worldwide)
Total playing time: 169 min.