Budapest Operetta Theatre Announces its Next Season
The Budapest Operetta Theatre will be presenting the grand operetta The Gypsy Baron and Dankó Pista and the fairy tale musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the 2025-26 season, which has been named the Season of Passions - announced Atilla Kiss-B. General Director at the theatre's press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.
He added that in addition to bringing new musical theatre works to life, the theatre also considers talent management and training for future generations to be its task. Graduates from three art universities - the University of Theatre and Film Arts, the Hungarian University of Dance and the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music - as well as deserving graduates of the Pest Broadway Studio are being offered opportunities to make their debuts and perform in the new season.
The general director also mentioned that the theatre will continue to perform its hit plays in the coming season, including The Magician of Orfeum, Carmen, Cinderella, The Circus Princess, Snow White, The Csárdás Queen, The Land of Smiles, First Lieutenant Mary, Jekyll and Hyde, Fiddler on the Roof, Poor Dzsoni and Árnika, Dangerous Liaisons, Túl a Maszathegyen and The Diary of Anne Frank, and will continue to regularly schedule their thematic galas.
The first premiere of the Passions season will be held on October 10, 11 and 12. The fairy tale musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame will be presented in a three-cast cast, directed by Zsolt Homonnay. The set designer of the performance will be Erzsébet Túri, the costume designer will be Anni Füzér, and the choreographer will be István Simon - said Kiss-B. Atilla.
Zsolt Homonnay highlighted that the 2019 fire serves as a good connection point to the fire appearing in the story, and also mentioned that Notre-Dame will appear not only as an architectural wonder, but also as a living, soulful mystical location.
With the second premiere, the theatre will also commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss and Mór Jókai. Johan Strauss' grand operetta The Gypsy Baron, based on the short story by Mór Jókai, will be presented in a three-cast cast on November 21, 22 and 23.
The director and choreographer of the piece is Yvette Bozsik, who said that with the performance she would like to draw attention to values such as passion, freedom, and love in today's materialistic world that Jókai also presented in the work he wrote 140 years ago.
The third premiere of the Passions season will be a world premiere on March 26, 2026 at the MVM Dome. The composer of the grand operetta, which evokes the figure and life of the famous gypsy prima, Dankó Pista, is Péter Pejtsik, the text and lyrics are written by János Dénes Orbán, and the director is Yvette Bozsik.
János Dénes Orbán emphasized that with the play they would like to recall and bring the figure of Dankó Pista back to the consciousness of the nation. He also reminded us that the gypsy prima played for aristocrats, including the Prince of Wales, toured Europe, and enjoyed worldwide success. "We will show you how magnificently and in what kind of milieu Dankó Pista actually lived," emphasized the lyricist.
via MTI, photo credit: Horváth Adrienne, Budapest Operettszínház
