Oldal 91 [91]
ANDRÁS MIKÓ AND GYÖRGY SZÉKELY: THE COUNT OF LUXEMBOURG, 1952
Fleury, whose behavior and actions were rather guestionable, appealing indeed.
Although Honthys acting suggested some mocking, and "her subtle irony and
self-irony” revealed “which wax museum [Fleury] belonged to”, she was more
permissive to the character she played than Feleki to Sir Basil.*°° “She criticizes
her, but also turns a blind eye to her conduct. She finds only weakness in her
sins and forgives her a bit, taking on a certain slight complicity with Madame
Fleury and looking for companions in the audience.”*™ The critic of Szabad Nép
quite rightly observed that Honthy’s acting “created a very close relationship
with spectators, almost involving them in the play”, as if she had turned against
the intentions of the mise-en-scéne and made the audience complicit in, and
even part of, “Madame Fleury’s dealings”.“”
Honthy set an example of “the great style of operetta” once again, but
Feleki stole the show with a performance on which (and only on his, among
the actors) a Brechtian production could have been built, not only in its
orientation, but also in terms of its realization. Feleki’s acting was praised as
“the greatest event of our theatre season”, and compared to Marton Ratkai’s
Mayor in Gogol’s The Government Inspector, directed by Endre Gellért in 1951:
“there we saw last time such an excellent characterization in a comedy”.
This comparison was given particular flair by the fact that Ratkai had played
Basil in the Budapest premiere of The Count of Luxembourg in 1910." Feleki
deepened the archetypal figure of an old lover, showing “how a well-known
and dull character too often seen on stage could get new attributes”, and
how comic stereotypes could be eliminated.*”’ According to an ideologically
blindfolded interpretation of the figure, Feleki “offered the sharp satire of the
aristocracy of money”, instead of old templates.“ His Basil was called “the
Governor of Uganda” (rather than “Ugaranda”) several times in an article of
Szabad Nep, dedicated to Feleki’s acting, as if it was a real country and he was
9403
400 Matrai-Betegh: Luxemburg grofa, 5.
#01 Ibid.
#2 Ibid.
403 Ibid. — Cf. also “The beauty of her voice shines unbroken, and we would like to emphasize
that her diction is exemplary.” Balazs: Luxemburg gröfja, 563.
#04 Ibid.
105 Rátkai was regarded as the best Basil worldwide. When the Theater an der Wien celebrated
the 20" anniversary of the world premiere of Der Graf von Luxemburg with a production for
which the most famous actors were asked — for example, Angéle was sung by Maria Jeritza —,
director Hubert Marischka chose Ratkai as Basil, with Lehar’s consent. Cf. Robert Gal: Oh,
lányka, óh, lánykám... Lehár, az operett fejedelme, Budapest, Rózsavölgyi és Társa, 2006, 64.
Balázs: Luxemburg grófja, 563.
407 Cf. “[...] there is a ‘tradition’ of the external means by which a superficial actor can play
this humorous role. He broke with it and portrayed a man, without fear of exaggerations
appropriate in the genre of operetta. [...] Feleki did not seek to make the task easier for
himself and simplify Sir Basil’s character.” Sebestyén: Egy kiváló színészi alakításról, 3.
408 Ibid. “A ridiculous man who is stumbling helplessly with his obsessions, and only wakes up
when he is about to do some dirty business.” Ibid.
a
406
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