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ANDRÁS MIKÓ AND GYÖRGY SZÉKELY: THE COUNT OF LUXEMBOURG, 1952 in how and why the legendary Csárdás Princess had been staged, since Luxi became its most important antecedent. On the one hand, it paved the way for a Kálmán premiere, which had the longest series of performances in the 1950s and 1960s, with a hugely successful Lehar premiere, proving that SilverAge operettas are by no means as dead-end as some experts had claimed. The Soviet delegation to Budapest with Yuri Milyutin also came in useful, as after visiting a performance of the highly esteemed Count of Luxembourg, the composer asked if he could see a Kalman operetta. According to Margit Gaspar, “in response to my reply that we were playing The Violet of Montmartre three years ago and that we were currently not playing a Kalman operetta, [Milyutin] commented that it was wrong to neglect our own traditions”.””” The Soviet composer could be referred to as an authority to justify the continuation of the previously discredited Kalman-Lehar line. On the other hand, Margit Gaspar, together with Békeffy and Kellér lighted upon a form of adaptation in The Count of Luxembourg that was much more productive than the updating of the politically more direct Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, and its principles could be used in The Csardas Princess as well. (Furthermore, the rewritten version of Offenbach’s operetta did not prove to be viable after some revivals in rural theatres in the 1950s, but the adaptations of The Count of Luxembourg and The Csárdás Princess have had an unprecedented career up to now.””’) According to critics, “Békeffy and Kellér have shown what talent and competence can produce in this field”, so Margit Gaspar certainly entrusted them with the adaptation of Kalman’s most famous operetta. Contrary to the verdict a few years earlier, the authors “also proved that operettas with good old music, by Lehar and others, were lyrically not lost for our time, but could be resurrected, if their text was properly reworked, refreshed and made enjoyable”.*? Luxi ran for 278 performances to full houses until 1954 and it was only The Csardas Princess that could “oust” it from the repertory of the Operetta Theatre because of the huge demand for the sensational new show. However, the mise-en-scéne of György Székely and András Mikó returned for two more series: in February 1957 and in April 1963. In the 1956-1957 season, which was completely shattered by the revolution, after the cancelled premiere of Mágnás Miska, the revival of Ihe Count of Luxembourg became the only 127 Gáspár: Napló Miljutyin elvtárs látogatásáról, 165. 128 "Therefore, evenifitisnotwrong,itiscertainlyexaggeratedthatthe 1954 version of The Csardas Princess “harmonized with the socialist ideology of Mätyäs Räkosi’s communist regime”. (Zoltán Imre: Az operett mint interkulturális jelenség — Kálmán Imre Die Csárdásfürstin (1915) c. operettje különböző színpadokon, http://szinhaz.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ Imre zoltan csardaskiralyno.pdf (accessed 19 July 2018). Békeffy and Kellér made Kálmáns operetta acceptable for the 1950s, but in a version that is still a frequent guest on our stages in Hungary. 129 Balázs: Luxemburg grófja, 563. + 93 +