Page 201 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2021. Opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama ▪︎ Operetta between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 5
P. 201
288 metres of velvet, 16 pairs of shoes, 12 yellow top hats, 5 bathtubs ...
own versions. Imre Harmath, the lyricist of the original show proposed a
whole “franchise”:
Provincial theatre managers approached me several times that I
should write a revue for them with local topics. This is certainly im
possible, because I should spend one or two months in each city. But
I liked the idea so I wrote a standard revue plot which can work in
every city and I provided one or two scenes with local references too.
The first revue will be staged in Újpest as Halló, Újpest! followed by
Halló, Szeged! Halló, Pécs! and Halló, Debrecen!94
Sources do not confirm that any of Harmath’s planned shows were
staged. Instead, each provincial theatre produced its own show with a local
creative team. In the following paragraphs I attempt to analyse what “stag-
ing a revue” meant in provincial Hungarian theatres, how these regional
productions were inspired by the original Halló, Amerika!, and how suc-
cessful they were.
Halló, Pécs! was the first provincial revue show produced at the end of
March, 1925.95 The piece was the work of a local cantor, the first-time com-
poser István Petrovics (1888–?) and a local teacher, Károly Gőbel (1882–?).
They did not aim to copy the Budapest version (they might not have seen it
at all), but to make their own for the local theatre company. They kept the
“plotless” structure, but instead of visual compositions the emphasis was
on comic sketches based on local topics. A gypsy band provided the music,
which they might have found more suitable for the local audience’s musi-
cal taste. Provincial theatre critics are generally less harsh and more forgiv-
ing due to their interpersonal relationships with the performers and oth-
er members of the local community. However, the critic of the local paper
found the show defective: “the theatre, aside from two backdrops, did not
spent much on the visuals, so the genre’s main ingredient, the spectacle was
missing.”96 Moreover, the author of the review claimed the main flaw of the
auditorium, their stage is not suitable for such production and their limited income
excludes that such a big revue like Halló, Amerika! could be presented on their stage.”
Az Est, February 27, 1925.
94 Színházi Élet XV, no. 12 (22–28 March 1925): 74, https://epa.oszk.hu/02300/02343/
00554/pdf/.
95 Opening night 26 March 1925; according to the show catalogue, it had 4 performanc-
es. See Hajna Futaky, A Pécsi Nemzeti Színház műsorának repertóriuma I [Show cat-
alogue of the Pécs National Theatre I] (Budapest: OSZMI, 1992), 355.
96 Dunántúl, March 27, 1925.
199
own versions. Imre Harmath, the lyricist of the original show proposed a
whole “franchise”:
Provincial theatre managers approached me several times that I
should write a revue for them with local topics. This is certainly im
possible, because I should spend one or two months in each city. But
I liked the idea so I wrote a standard revue plot which can work in
every city and I provided one or two scenes with local references too.
The first revue will be staged in Újpest as Halló, Újpest! followed by
Halló, Szeged! Halló, Pécs! and Halló, Debrecen!94
Sources do not confirm that any of Harmath’s planned shows were
staged. Instead, each provincial theatre produced its own show with a local
creative team. In the following paragraphs I attempt to analyse what “stag-
ing a revue” meant in provincial Hungarian theatres, how these regional
productions were inspired by the original Halló, Amerika!, and how suc-
cessful they were.
Halló, Pécs! was the first provincial revue show produced at the end of
March, 1925.95 The piece was the work of a local cantor, the first-time com-
poser István Petrovics (1888–?) and a local teacher, Károly Gőbel (1882–?).
They did not aim to copy the Budapest version (they might not have seen it
at all), but to make their own for the local theatre company. They kept the
“plotless” structure, but instead of visual compositions the emphasis was
on comic sketches based on local topics. A gypsy band provided the music,
which they might have found more suitable for the local audience’s musi-
cal taste. Provincial theatre critics are generally less harsh and more forgiv-
ing due to their interpersonal relationships with the performers and oth-
er members of the local community. However, the critic of the local paper
found the show defective: “the theatre, aside from two backdrops, did not
spent much on the visuals, so the genre’s main ingredient, the spectacle was
missing.”96 Moreover, the author of the review claimed the main flaw of the
auditorium, their stage is not suitable for such production and their limited income
excludes that such a big revue like Halló, Amerika! could be presented on their stage.”
Az Est, February 27, 1925.
94 Színházi Élet XV, no. 12 (22–28 March 1925): 74, https://epa.oszk.hu/02300/02343/
00554/pdf/.
95 Opening night 26 March 1925; according to the show catalogue, it had 4 performanc-
es. See Hajna Futaky, A Pécsi Nemzeti Színház műsorának repertóriuma I [Show cat-
alogue of the Pécs National Theatre I] (Budapest: OSZMI, 1992), 355.
96 Dunántúl, March 27, 1925.
199
