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The many faces of music theatre are very much present in this year’s festival programme: from 3d film opera (Sunken Garden) to concertante oratorio (The Gospel According to the Other Mary), from two-hander opera (Quartett, Suster Bertken) to vocal theatre with a 40-strong choir (When the mountain changed its clothing) and from musical graphic novel (Brooklyn Babylon) to metaopera (Tragedy of a Friendship). It appears that music theatre in the 21st century is more alive and more varied than ever before. How has this come about? Is it because this multidisciplinary art form fits in best with our modern multi-media world? And, have traditional ‘pure’ forms such as concert music and text-based theatre lost their impact?