Former Native Turned Artistic Director for Chicago Folks Operetta

Former Oak Park native, Gerald Frantez, was announced as the the Artistic Director of Chicago Folks Operetta's "The Csárdás Princess". As part of their Reclaimed Voices Series, Chicago Folks Operetta will be featuring Emmerich Kálmán’s "The Csárdás Princess". Kálmán's mastery of the Viennese waltz and of the music of his native Hungary have made this show an enduring favorite in Europe. The story follows the ups and downs of the unlikely love affair between an aspiring young singer from the provinces and the scion of a wealthy Viennese family. Kálmán, as an assimilated Hungarian Jew living in Vienna, would have been well aware of the pitfalls of navigating the upper echelons of Viennese society. The Csárdás Princess, which takes aim at the rigid class divisions of Kálmán's time, resonates in our own. Critics consider The Csárdás Princess to be Kálmán's masterpiece.