The State Opera will turn into the French Riviera!
As part of the Musica non grata project, the National Theater Opera and the State Opera present the revue operetta Ball at the Savoy Hotel by the Hungarian composer, known as the “king of jazz operetta”, Paul Abraham. Soloists, a choir, a jazz orchestra and a large dance company will guide you through a story full of love sparks and funny plots!
Madeleine and Aristide de Faublas return to the French Riviera from their annual honeymoon, and old sins lead them into complicated situations full of humor and drama. “What is fascinating about this operetta is its multi-genre – a combination of big, almost musical ‘Broadway’ numbers with opera and, in fact, a very heavy drama that requires such a light, ‘Wildish’ cut,” says the Alfred Prize winner about this work Radoka, Slovak director Martin Čičvákwhich in the State Opera Ball at the Savoy Hotel prepares. In this piece, Paul Abraham combined European jazz, Hungarian czardás, tango, pasodoble, names of klezmer and Arabic music, as well as the style of classical Viennese operetta, and musically conjured up an absolutely captivating show, in which one hit after another follows. “Ball at the Savoy Hotel is a ticket to the world of great music full of hits that will immediately get under your skin,” the conductor and composer describes Abraham’s music Jan Kučera, who took over the musical production. The orchestra features harps, mandolins, banjos, historic percussion instruments, celesta or piano!
Charming music, a funny story, spectacular dance scenes and wonderful costumes by a Greek-French designer George Vafias – all this awaits the viewer of this exceptionally beautiful work, which became one of the biggest European operetta hits of the 1930s and was also adapted into six films. The operetta will be performed in the Czech language and its premiere is scheduled for September 16 and 18 from 7 p.m. at the State Opera in Prague. You can also look forward to one of the numerous reruns on New Year’s Eve as part of the popular Opera Ball. Tickets and more information at musicanongrata.cz and narodni-divadlo.cz.
Photo: © narodni-divadlo.cz | Zdenek Sokol