The first premiere, of Christian Gundlach?s family musical ?The Wizard of Oz?, directed by Stefan Iordanescu, will take place on August 31. The company had planned to perform the piece in June, but it was postponed because of illness.
The musical, a rendering of the children?s classic by L. Frank Baum, has never been staged in Hungary, said theatre director Ildikó Frank. In this production, the scarecrow is a hippie and the lion a power figure ?fallen from grace?, she added.
On October 3, the theatre will show a joint production with the Theater (Off)ensive from Salzburg. The piece, called ?Wallenberg: End Game in Lubyanka?, was planned for 2009, but was postponed because of financial difficulties. An Austrian foundation stepped in to bring the piece about the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis? concentration camps, to the stage. It is directed by Alex Linze, who heads Theater (Off)ensive.
Theater (Off)ensive will also perform independently in Szekszárd, bringing ?The Woman in Black? to the stage on September 21. The crime-comedy is based on a novel by Susan Hill.
The Deutsche Bühne Ungarn will have two more premieres on its programme, one by a contemporary playwright, Jule Ronstedt?s ?South Sea Cellar?, a youth musical, and the classic ?Leonce and Lena? by Georg Büchner.
?The Ugly One? and ?Woman From the Past? are also on the theatre bill this season.
Frank said Melinda Pitz as well as Lena Stamm, who was named best supporting actress at the Rivalda festival, left the company in the summer. They will be replaced by Juliane Baldy and Alica Weirauch, recent graduates from Berlin, she added.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
