Víg-Presser-50

2023. 03. 02.

Fifty years ago, on March 2, 1973, we premiered the musical adaptation of Tibor Déry's short story Imaginary Report from an American Pop Festival with music by Gábor Presser and lyrics by Anna Adamis at the Vígszínház. This cult production marked the beginning of the history of Gábor Presser and the Vígszínház, which has produced such plays as Good Evening Summer, Good Evening Love, I'm Thirty Years Old, Szent István Boulevard 14, Beyond the Masat Hill and The Attic. On the afternoon and evening of 25 March, Gábor Presser will perform a concert of his songs from the Víg-Presser-50 with the company's artists.

"I am an old boy in the theatre. For all these decades, only love can keep you in a job", said Gábor Presser, the musical director of the Vígszínház, the creator, dreamer and composer of many memorable performances and legendary successes. His first theatre work was Imaginary Report from an American Pop Festival. Tibor Déry's short novel was adapted for the stage by Sándor Pós, the music by Gábor Presser and the lyrics by Anna Adamis. The cult production not only broke taboos in its themes - exclusion, violence, otherness, the loss of ground for emigrants, young people's search for a way forward - but also brought rock music into the world of theatre, which was then banned rather than tolerated or supported. The company of the Vígszínház, directed by László Marton, staged the production for ten years, and toured to several European cities with great success. After the success of Imaginary Report, the musical I am Thirty Years Old was premiered in 1975, and in 1978 Zoltán Várkonyi appointed Gábor Presser as musical director, who recalled Várkonyi's gesture. Andris started talking, joking, parodying and everyone was sobbing with laughter. Várkonyi was there, and when we finally said goodbye, he said there in the hotel corridor, "I thought that tomorrow, when we get to Pest, I'll appoint you music director... Good night!"

Over the past 50 years, Gábor Presser has written music for countless productions at the Vígszínház, and is currently working on a new musical adaptation of Pinocchio. The Víg-Presser-50 concert will feature songs such as Szent István körút álom, Vinnélek, Hány cédula egy élet, Jó estétét nyár, Kicsi görög, as well as one of the most successful and most performed musical stage works of all time by Hungarian composers, A attic from the attic, the light year's distance, from the 1048th performance of A Fényjahr, which is running at the Vígszínház. In addition to Gábor Presser, the Vígszínház company will include Dorottya Antóci, Edit Balázsovits, Attila Csapó, Judit Halász, Géza Hegedűs D. Hegyi, Barbara Hegyi, Éva Igó, András Kern, Luca Márkus, Balázs Medveczky, Ákos Orosz, Csilla Radnay, Péter Rudolf, Balázs Szántó, Csenge Szilágyi, Sára Varga-Járó e.h. and József Wunderlich. The evening, directed by Péter Valló, will also be attended by audience members seated around the piano on the stage of the Vígszínház.

Tickets for the concerts go on sale on 3 March at 10 am.

Tickets: www.vigszinhaz.hu/Vig_Presser_50