About the work
Schikaneder is a musical by Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics) with a German book and lyrics created with the involvement of Christian Struppeck, premiered in 2016 at the Theater an der Wien. It tells the love and theatre story of Emanuel Schikaneder, the librettist and first Papageno of Mozart's The Magic Flute.
Plot
The musical depicts the stormy marriage and artistic partnership of the bustling theatre impresario Emanuel Schikaneder and his wife Eleonore in late-eighteenth-century Vienna. Amid theatrical scandals, financial risks, jealousy, and a shared passion for the stage, their greatest gamble takes shape: the premiere of The Magic Flute with Mozart. The work links the private relationship story with the creation of one of the most famous stage works in the world.
Cultural significance
Schikaneder was Stephen Schwartz's first musical written specifically for a German-language stage and was created for the Theater an der Wien—the house that stands in the tradition of Schikaneder's own theatre. The work celebrates the theatrical world of Mozart's time and illuminates an often overlooked key figure of The Magic Flute. It combines Schwartz's melodic signature with the local colour of the Viennese musical.