Schedule
Federico Fellini's Academy Award-winning masterpiece 8 and ½ is the first directorial self-confession in cinema history, a brilliant and innovative work that has had a profound influence on other artists. As usual, the work was eventually adapted for the musical stage, and in the early 1980s Mario Fratti's musical Nine was adapted, with a libretto by Arthur Kopit and music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. On 9 May 1982, it arrived on Broadway in New York, where it was a huge success with audiences and critics alike, winning 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Lyrics, and Best Costume Design. The show has been staged 729 times here over the years, and has gone on to become an international success, with productions in the United States, South America, London and several European countries. The musical's music draws on a wide range of genres to create a colourful and captivating soundtrack, with several hits.
Budapest Operetta & Musical Theatre
The institution is a two-tiered, true musical folk theatre, which stages Hungarian operettas and their contemporary successors, contemporary Hungarian musicals, along with several literary-historical musicals for youth. It plays around 500 performances a year to nearly 400,000 spectators, making it one of Hungary's most visited theatres today.
It is recognised worldwide as the only operetta sung and performed by Hungarians, with its dynamic music, passion, fire, acrobatic dancing, rich visuals and stunning sensory-emotional storms. When the Budapest Operetta Theatre premiered The Queen of the Cards in Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote: "There are many places in many cities where you can listen to good music. There is only one sure address for the operetta: Budapest, Nagymező utca 17."
The company tours regularly abroad, having performed operettas, musicals and gala performances in countries from Europe to Asia. In the autumn of 2011, the Budapest Operetta Theatre won the exclusive German-language rights to perform Beauty and the Beast, a musical based on one of the world's most beautiful fairy tales, in a close international competition. The Superbrands and MagyarBrands award-winning institution regularly organises prestigious international music competitions.
