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ENDRE MARTON: STUDENTS OF VIENNA, 1949
traditions of bourgeois operetta"," and this opinion was echoed by Róbert
Rátonyis article in Színház és Filmművészet a few years later."" The official
opinion doomed the performance to failure, but later and without self¬
criticism it was described by Rátonyi himself as “highly successful”.
Moreover, Jenő Semsei already assessed Students of Vienna in 1954 as "giving
the theatre recognition in the first few weeks"."§ In view of the score full
of catchy tunes and the libretto written with impressive finesse (even when
incorporating guasi-obligatory elements), it seems unlikely that — except the
critic of Népszava, verbally abusing Kalman Latabar — any spectators “looked
at [their] shoes with a red face in shame”!
15 4 múlt színházi évad vázlatos értékelése, 15.
Hé Cf. “We had not been able to successfully cope with the harmful vestiges of bourgeois
operetta yet. Schematic characters, their portrayal according to stereotypes, exhibitionism
in acting were all difficult obstacles on our path." Róbert Rátonyi: Merre tart a vidám műfaj?,
Színház és Filmművészet 3:2 (1952), 68.
17 Ratonyi: Operett, Vol. 2, 264.
118 Semsei, in Az operett kérdéseiről, 4.
N° y.y.: Bécsi didkok, 6.
¬
+ 39 +