Abstract
Abstract This chapter discusses Polish musical theatre after World War II. In the six years following 1952 nine musical theatres were founded. The Gdynia Musical Theatre became the most remarkable native institution of its type, and its achievements are the focus of this chapter. From the start its directors tried to create a more varied and ambitious repertoire than had been known in Poland. Danuta Baduszkowa, the Theatre’s founder and executive director, had a vision of a popular musical theatre that used contemporary scores and opened the first Polish school for performers of musicals. Eastern bloc countries didn’t have access to Western musicals, so she decided to open a theatre for native composers. Her successors in Gdynia also had daring conceptions of musical theatre, and their work contributed to the great popularity musical theatre enjoys in Poland today. The country’s many excellent theatre companies and premières of new shows constitute what might be called a ‘musical epidemic’.
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