Buy Tickets Smiles

JUNE 28 TO JULY 14  THURS., FRI., SAT. EVENINGS 7:30

SUN. MATINEES: JUNE 30 at 3 PM——-  JULY  7 and 14 at 2 PM

STAGE 773 THEATER / 1225 W. BELMONT, CHICAGO, IL   MAP STREET AND VALET PARKING AVAILABLE    ACCESSIBLE BY TRAIN

Directed by Elizabeth Margolius.  Conducted by Kim Diehnelt.  Choreographed by Todd Rhoades.

Lighting Design Julian Pike. Set Design Ian Zwyica.  Costume design by Kate Kamphauzen. Video design Liviu Pasare.

2013 CAST of THE LAND OF SMILES

Plot Summary-The operetta is set in Vienna and China in 1912. In act 1 in Vienna, the heroine Countess Lisa marries a Chinese prince and returns with him to his homeland despite the warnings of her friends and family. In act 2, in Peking, she finds that she is unable to come to terms with his culture, and especially that he must take other wives. He assures her that it is just a formality, but unhappiness is inevitable, and she is locked in the palace. Her love changes to hate. In act 3, Prince Sou-Chong is left alone while his beloved Lisa returns to her homeland. His sister, Princess Mi had also become attached to the Viennese official Gustav, and so the ending is doubly sad. But the prince respects the rule of his custom: always smile. This ending remained, in the words of one critic, “the beautiful, and also brave, operetta conclusion, which instead of a hackneyed finale,” provided “a worthwhile and psychologically correct solution.” The Land of Smiles thus broke new ground in the genre of operetta. It will also be a new direction for our company, as we explore the richly romantic operettas of Lehár’s later years.

Watch the 1931 Film of the Operetta “Das Land des Lächelns” starring Richard Tauber and conducted by Franz Lehár