Beschreibung
Theatre scholars and musicologists from Russia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany came together in spring 2017 at the Center for Popular Culture and Music for a symposium, where they discussed for the first time the topic "Popular Music Theatre under Socialism: Operettas and Musicals in the Eastern European States 1945 to 1990". This involved general questions such as: Did the uniform (prescribed) worldview lead to identical plays, or are there - in spite of a transnational ideology - national specific differences? And what did these differences possibly look like? The authors of this volume describe the phases of development, the national Productions went through, and what influence the import of plays from abroad had on it, whether from the "fraternal socialist countries" or the "capitalistic West". They examine the government guidelines for authors and composers over the decades. Who were the most important authors and composers? Was there any "socialist operetta", any "socialist musical"? And what political, social and ideological topics were negotiated on stage? The volume demonstrates the importance of a topic that has so far received little attention in research on European theatre and music history.
Autorenportrait
Mgr. Pavel Bár, Ph.D., was born in Trebíc, Czech Republic, has an MA in Theatre Studies from Charles University in Prague and a PhD from the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he's currently teaching and researching musical theatre history. He is the author of monographies From Operetta to Musical (Popular Music Theatre in Czechoslovakia since 1945) and Karlin Theatre: From Variety Shows to Musicals; his articles have been published in anthologies and peer-reviewed journals. Together with his colleague Michael Prostejovsky he creates and presents Czech Radio's weekly show about musical theatre "Muzikal Expres". He is also a theatre practitioner - as a dramaturg he has frequently collaborated with the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, in October 2016 he became dramaturg of the musical company at JK Tyl Theatre in Pilsen. He has co-translated Kálmán's operetta The Czárdás Princess and also Billy Elliot - The Musical into Czech and co-written the original Czech musical The Phantom of London.
