Ah West Side Story again in Budapest, I have thought because I like very much the so-called classical musical version, which musicalize the story of Romeo and Juliette and put it into a modern surrounding that way it could fulfil the impossible one, the music becomes almost equal with Shakespeare’s masterpiece.

Gerard Presgurvic whose musical, the Romeo and Juliette has been played again with outstanding success that keeps it on programme again and again, in the Operetta Theatre in Budapest, he has not even tried to live up to the great Renaissance master, it is effortless, nicely catchy, he composed an almost dance tune-like music to the archaic story, which cannot express the deepness of tragedy. However, Bernstein was a genius, so his play in its genre can face up with the great operas and dramas. So, it deserves that the troupe of the Operetta Theatre would perform it too, as there are songs in it which are really significant, hard and can show the whirling deepness of soul.

Of course, we can argue about the fact that the Hungarian National Opera House with important national support would prove that they can play twenty times a year the operas by Wagner or Richard Strauss, and does not become proud of the fact that they can do it with a musical, which is much easier with this genre. It would be a fall if the performance cannot go so many times. Meanwhile it is in connection with the traditions of the Erkel Theatre that besides operas and ballets, give home to other genres too, so however many people find it a devil idea that a musical was performed there, according to me it is ok, if there is a balance, as the differ from the usual ones can mean a kind of training to the actors.

For this, they have to believe that according to the complexity of the genre there are members in the troupe, who can sing, play and dance the roles of a musical. If the management thinks that there are not that kind of singers there, it is a shame to start it. Péter Novák the director chose that unusual method to give some roles to two actors – a singer and a dancer. The musicians usually stand like columns and sing honestly and the dancers try to tell with their movements what we can listen to. It remains an illustration. The two spheres melt rarely beneficially into each other as the singers and the dancers do their work mostly separately.

When The Magic Flute was put on stage by Iván Fischer as the director and conductor in the Palace of Arts, the prose was said by the actors, but the singers acted actively in the performance that time too, with the doubling of the figures schizophrenia can be expressed as well as harmonic agreement; this method motivates well the fantasy. When Zoltán Balázs put on stage a perfect exam performance from the operetta, called The Mikado with students from the courses of opera and puppet art, he doubled the roles too, meanwhile the singers could even do acrobatic tricks, and if they had to they sang their hard solos that way, enthusiastically and with talent they got important role in the performance too. Now there is not any words of it, and as the singers get rarely into situations, more reflector lights are put on the efforts they had when they told prose texts. Their words sound many times fake, false and in an amateur way.

But at least there is not any problems with the music. With István Dénes’ conducting it sounds well, and effects too, it is strong, heart-stopping or even soaringly romantic, it reaches all scales of feelings. And it is good, even more, it is very good. But we did not come to an oratorical concert, but to a musical performance, and it is less than that, and we can tell that in spite of its success it fell.

In contrary to the performance of The Ban on Love by the Hungarian Opera Theatre in Kolozsvár, which was made in an unpraiseworthy way in coproduction with the Hungarian National Opera Theatre, we could see it in the Erkel Theatre. It was announced for two nights but finally they played it only once, it is a shame if they could not sell the tickets - it must have been seen by viewers of twenty nights. Of course, only if they can stand trough the line in front of the cashier of Erkel, which has hardly the double amounts of seats as the Opera House, where there are two cashiers, while in Erkel there is only one for the double amounts of viewers, which is always a problem, but this is the Hungarian logic. However, the performance is excellent from many points of view. It is an early opera by Wagner, it is similar to an Italian opera, it is melodious, nice, loveable, but the claws of a lion can be seen from time to time. One of the most talented young Hungarian director Máte Szabó believes that he can make theatre with singers too. He makes them move a lot, they will dance if they need to. According to their roles they argue till blood, they lose their temper, they go crazy, they run up and down, they get sweaty, they play enthusiastically and the prose is bearable too not like many of their colleagues in Budapest. In this case Shakespeare is the base again, Wagner wrote the opera based on his play, the Measure for Measure.

I do not state that each sounds were strong. But for example, Apollónia Egyed’s were, besides it she performs genuinely the nun who has just left the monastery, who can save her sibling, who has been sentenced to death with her steady determination between tyrannical circumstances too. Sándor Balla shows vividly the overbearing dictator who preaches water and drinks alcohol, he lets himself for what he sentences to death the others. But as it is a comic opera, the order of the world is set, the cunning wins, the common sense, the adoration of love and life. The orchestra, conducted by György Selmeczi sounds perfectly. Belief, proactivity, fantasy and playful joy come from the performance, in which I can find many mistakes. But why I should as the whole has a swing, it is flowing by energy, it is beautiful, it has mood to experiment, it is a brave work. It is not so set in an old fashioned way and unthoughtful as unfortunately The West Side Story was.

Gábor Bóta, Népszava, 2015

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)