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A REFASHIONED IMAGE OF REVOLUTION AS MUSICAL THEATRE a judge at a show trial, and stated that Latabár made no attempt to approach his character, “just repeated his usual, trite and shameful tricks that made an unworthy, wandering circus from the Operetta Theatre”. Latabar’s acting did include some arbitrary moments,” but it was part of the special "mask""" that the actor (who was defended by Margit Gaspar in a letter to Rakosi because of the attacks on The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein) created for himself as “a direct descendant of great clowns” However, Mâria Mezei and Andor Ajtay, who were deliberately placed at the time of the nationalization in a theatre that was not “suitable” for them,” received no negative criticism at all. According to Margit Gaspar, the two of them “were brought to us out of punishment” and she took them over for “socialist preservation”, but the working community created tasks as worthy and rewarding to them!!! as it did for Teri Fejes and Robert Ratonyi, who also played supporting roles, but funny and witty ones. STAGE DESIGN AND SOUND While the scenery designed specifically for Students of Vienna had the effect of novelty and exclusivity, the orchestral sound had particular richness and consistency. The change in stage scenery is best judged in relation to the 95 y.y.: Bécsi diákok, 6. According to Róbert Rátonyi, "we had a scene together. [...] Iwas aspyand wanted to find out under cover of night why the astronomer, played by Latyi, came to Vienna. He was believed to be in favor of the revolution. But the astronomer was trying to unmask the spy too! The scene was planned for two minutes, and we figured we’d both put on beggars’ clothes, similar to each other’s. The director’s instruction was that we should cross the stage, the audience laughs and that’s it. The effect was incredible. Intoxicated by success, we added half a sentence to the original text every night, and after a few days the two-minute scene lasted half an hour. I also convinced a lighting assistant to give more light to the stage to make our scene more effective. But it resulted in the beautiful scenery depicting Vienna at night, designed by Zoltan Fülöp from the Opera House, being fully illuminated. And the set had lost its effect. We continued this game until Endre Marton, the director saw one of the performances and threatened to give us a fine.” Robert Sugár: Volt egyszer egy Ratonyi, Budapest, ROKA-EX Kft. — Telerädiö Reklämszerkesztöseg, 1993, 86. Cf. Heltai: Az operett metamorfözisai, 79-83. Letter from Margit Gäspär to Mätyäs Räkosi. Typed manuscript, Location: The National Archives of Hungary, 276. f. 65.cs. 335. According to Zsuzsa Korossy, it was Tamäs Major who condemned “Märia Mezei and Andor Ajtay as greedy money-hunters and expelled them out of prosaic theatres.” Korossy: Szinhäziränyitäs, 53. Bános: A színigazgató, 29. Margit Gáspár mentions several times the deep respect she had for the two "displaced" artists. She defended Mária Mezei when, at a meeting in the ministry, Tamás Major said that “Mezei’s case is no longer an artistic one, but a case for the ÁVO", i.e. the infamous State Protection Authority. (Venczel: Viragkor, Part 1, 21.) She also offered Andor Ajtay the opportunity of acting as a director too. He staged The Violet of Montmartre, the second production of the nationalized Operetta Theatre. 96 97 98 99 100 10 +36 +
