Musical Theatre as an Object of Transnational Political Exchange

Abstract

The paper focuses on the ways Czech-language theatres in Czechoslovakia were dealingwith the obligatory presence of Soviet operetta titles in their repertoire, dating from about 1950to 1989. The reform of Czech musical theatre began right after World War II. In search of the right,nationalized form of operetta, Czech theatre organs soon understood that the example must bedrawn from the hegemonic Soviet culture. In the Soviet discourse, mainly Isaac Dunayevsky’soperettas were considered masterpieces, and Czech theatre politicians were soon paying theirattention to them. After some initial difficulties in obtaining material for the operettas, Dunayevsky’spieces entered Czech theatre and stayed on the repertoire to the beginning of the 1960s. Afterthe Warsaw Pact Invasion in 1968, Soviet operettas re-entered the theatres’ repertoire; however,their reception and staging circumstances were much more complicated. The paper focuses on themain tendencies in staging Dunayevsky’s operettas in Czechoslovakia, the political and culturalbackground of productions, and the various ways of presenting it in Czech society and culture. Thecultural and historical microprocesses analysed may then throw light on a wider range of historicaland cultural phenomena, including cultural transfers and relations between Czechoslovakia and theSoviet Union, the discrepancies between the official and unofficial discourse, as well as the role ofpopular musical theatre in a socialist society.