Sometimes it’s easy to give an old musical theater ham a fresh directing touch. Why doesn’t the Tsarevich in Franz Lehár’s Volga-Schmonzette of the same name chase after women’s skirts? Because he is a sophisticated spirit, a dream dancer and a fantasist? Not at all: Because he is as gay as daylight, says Steef de Jong and retells the story accordingly at the Vienna Volksoper. In his version, the tsar’s son at the center of the action is not forced by the court to marry a ballet girl, but instead sets out on his own and discovers his sweetheart in a drag theater. The Grand Duke intervenes against this – we know this phrase from the original – as the story progresses. No, a tsarevich has to serve his empire and therefore has to marry a princess. The protagonist in de Jong’s fictional kissing land also agrees to this. And that’s it!
