Attending a performance at the Salzburg Marionette Theatre is an absolute must during a visit to Salzburg. The baroque theatre with its auditorium seating 350 visitors is in itself worth seeing. This world-famous jewel is undoubtedly the leading theatre of its kind. The operas, operettas and ballet performed on the small stage by marionettes never fail to enchant audiences. Once you have entered this fascinating world, it is soon easy to forget that the characters are puppets on strings. You will be captivated by the illusion, and imagine you are seeing life-size performers.

But you don't have to go to Salzburg! Now on world tour, the Salzburg Marionette Theater brings their lively performance to stages in Orange County and San Diego, California, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Anyone who believes that marionette theatre is only something for children is very wrong. For here the great operas found in the repertoires of real opera houses are performed. World-class artists, especially stage-directors and designers, come back again and again to work for the Salzburg Marionettes. In 1996 the Salzburg marionettes participated in performances of Weber's opera Oberon at the Salzburg Festival, an indication of the high reputation enjoyed by the Salzburg Marionettes. Timelessly classical stage designs oriented towards conveying the period of the story provide the scenery here rather than modern, contemporary sets.

The Salzburg Marionette Theatre sees itself primarily as a small opera house with the five great Mozart operas in its repertoire, but operas by Rossini and Offenbach a ballet and an operetta - Die Fledermaus (The Bat) by Johann Strauss - are also performed. The repertoire was extended by Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel".

Of course the Marionette Theatre is also an ideal way of introducing children to the great operas of the repertoire. The Mozart operas have been shown as a programme for the family on television and also recorded on video with none other than Sir Peter Ustinov in the role of the narrator.

The Marionette Theatre has now been in existence for more than 90 years and has become world famous not only through its 160 annual performances in Salzburg but also through its countless international tours. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre has performed all over the world and makes regular tours and guest appearances in France, USA, Japan, in Italy, Switzerland, Germany or South Africa.

Musical recording: Deutsche Grammophon RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester
Recorded conductor: Ferenc Fricsay
Recorded singers: Josef Greindl, Rita Streich, Maria Stader, Ernst Haflinger, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Direction: Geza Rech
Stage-Design: Gunther Schneider-Siemssen
Costumes: Friedl Aicher

"There are many advantages in puppets. They never argue. They have no crude views about art. They have no private lives." Oscar Wilde