Kurt in German

In August (or thereabouts) I shall make my debut on the German-language page. No, I haven't suddenly become expert in the language of my fathers: I actually wrote this piece in English and it has been translated, tenderly and with suitable Gänzlische esprit, by my friend Kevin, who is the editor of the book 'Glitter and be Gay'.
In this book, too, I make my debut as an 'elder statesman' and an 'eminence grise'. Gone are the days when I was a 'young wolf' leading the pack in the compiling of musical theatre histories. Kevin and Christophe are, in the 21st century, the future of the world in which I made my career, and I am enjoying myself immensely being, now, the venerable one who is asked to write sage Introductions instead of vast volumes.
This Introduction, I have to admit, is not exactly 'sage'. You will see - even if you don't read German - that the book is about Homosexuality and Operette. Chuckle. No wonder Kevin asked me to be his 'expert'. But it's the sort of subject which could provoke, in hands other than those of the likes of Herr Clarke, some frightfully Kraft-Ebbische and learned theorisings. Not the Gänzl style at all. Never has been, much to the disdain and horror of certain professorial postureres. Those adepts of the footnote.
So my little piece for 'Glitter and be Gay' is, shall we say, in good humour ... a tiny case history of two almost modern musical theatre gentlemen, by names Ian and Kurt, who were, shall we say, more gay than glittering. Whose love for the musical theatre wasn't that of the clichéd 'glamourverliebten Schwulen'.
And if you don't know what that means, buy the book. It is going to be full of good things. And the introduction isn't bad either.