Hungary's most well-known rock opera returns to Dóm Square tonight
Forty years after the play's debut at the Szeged Open-Air Festival, Hungary's most well-known rock opera István, a király (ENG: Stephen, the King) returns to the Dóm Square stage tonight. The iconic music performance will be played for four more nights, with the last performance scheduled for St. Stephen's Day, August 20.
Stephen, the King was first staged on Dóm Square in the summer of 1984, a year after its legendary premiere. In the four decades since then, the most popular Hungarian rock opera has been staged at the Szeged Open-Air Festival in several successful productions and quite different interpretations.
The show is returning with a never-before-seen cast in a production by Zikkurat Produkció featuring unique solutions. Levente Szörényi's and János Bródy's rock opera, based on Miklós Boldizsár's drama Ezredforduló (ENG: Millennium), will premiere on Friday evening in the original orchestration, with a set specially adapted to the Dóm Square.
Although the play is based on the life of St Stephen, the two authors have repeatedly stressed that the goal was never really to present the real story of Stephen and Koppany, but more generally to depict the ever-present power struggles.
According to actor-musician-TV host Péter Novák, the play's director – who starred in the 2013 anniversary production of Stephen the King at Dóm Square – the piece, if only for a few hours, adds to the experience of togetherness. "To paraphrase a Shakespearean quote, it doesn't matter if it's Capulet or Montague, at the end of the day it's Veronese. That's the play's message," he said during a roundtable talk earlier this week.
During the performance, the text of the play can be read in English on the projectors located on both sides of the stage. At the time of writing, all five shows are sold out.
Photos from the August 9 rehearsal. Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify
