The production, directed by György Böhm, premiered at the theatre in Nagymező Street on March 18, 2005.
Chief director Miklós Gábor Kerényi said the theatre won the rights to perform the production in large part because of the costumes, which were designed in partnership with Herendi, one of Hungary?s most famous porcelain makers.
From October, the theatre will take the production on the road for several hundred productions in Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin, Vienna and other cities. In addition, the troupe will perform ?Princess Maritza? in Germany, and it will be the entertainment at eight gala evenings in Munich?s Gasteig Cultural Centre.
Kerényi said the question of whether the theatre ? Hungary?s second-biggest after the Hungarian State Opera, with its own orchestra, chorus and ballet ? should be transferred from the local council to the state was still on the agenda.
?Every year, we put on some 500 performances of operettas and Hungarian musicals with audience numbers over 400,000,? he said. He stressed the national character of the theatre, saying, ?West End or Broadway musicals are not the engine of our success.?
Mr Kerényi conceded operetta is an expensive form of art, but noted that the theatre covers 77 percent of its costs with its own revenue, while state support accounts for just 23 percent. The theatre?s foreign performances draw higher audience numbers than any other Hungarian ensemble or troupe, he added.
The theatre balances its annual budget of about 3 billion forints by taking some revenue from musicals and using it to pay for the more expensive operettas, he said. If the theatre were only to perform operettas, it would need 2.5 billion forints of subsidies each year rather than the 620 million it gets at present, he added.
Kerényi stressed the importance of writing new Hungarian musicals, mentioning the names of the composers Levente Szörényi, Béla Szakcsi Lakatos and Szilveszter Lévay.
?We are a musical folk theatre, which is unbelievably important today,? he said.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
