The acclaimed gay director has recently discovered a passion for the Spanish form of operetta and is bringing highlights from works by Manuel Penella, Moreno Torroba, F. A. Barbieri, and Pablo Luna—performed by the ensemble Los Paladines—to Berlin. In doing so, he offers a fresh perspective on light musical theater—one distinct from the queer jazz operettas of the Weimar era, with which Barrie Kosky has been making waves, yet also distinct from the GDR-era pieces through which the Komische Oper is currently breaking new ground. In this production, Loy eschews the Spanish folklore and nostalgia that so often weigh down the *zarzuela*, focusing instead on the cosmopolitan and highly sensual style of the genre prevalent in the 1920s and 30s—a time when LGBTIQ* themes were still permissible, and indeed desired by audiences, before everything changed under General Franco.