John Malkovich performs again in Budapest

The two-time Academy Award-nominated American actor will perform a musical stand-up at Erkel Theatre, Budapest.

According to Index, for the world premiere of the symphonic orchestral production of The Music Critic, American actor John Malkovich will return to Budapest, accompanied by Aleksey Igudesman and the Danubia Orchestra Óbuda, to showcase the entertainment side of classical music, performing some of the most iconic pieces. The character he portrays will recite some of the most wicked quotes and opinions from contemporary reviews between each piece of music on the stage of the Erkel Theatre on 2 October.

Schumann, for example, he says, is a “composer”, Brahms is a “talentless bastard” and Claude Debussy is “simply terrible to listen to”. These pithy observations have been made in reviews of the past centuries, collected by Russian-German violinist and composer Aleksey Igudesman. He uses them to show how the opinions of his contemporaries have not stood the test of time. In the final scene, Malkovich is put on the ‘rack’.

The production, based on classical music and reviews of plays and their authors, premiered in 2017 – then with chamber orchestra accompaniment – and ever since has been a great success around the world. The expanded and revised Budapest premiere of The Music Critic features not just a few musicians, but an entire symphony orchestra in a musical debate with John Malkovich. The performance, which lasts almost two hours, features works by famous composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Schumann, Debussy, Prokofiev, Ysaye, Kancheli, Piazzolla and Igudesman. The piece is subtitled in Hungarian.

The Danubia Orchestra is preparing for its second collaboration with John Malkovich, having worked with him in 2018 on Report on the Blind.

John Malkovich is one of the world’s most popular actors, and he is also a regular on stage and has appeared in several theatre productions in Hungary.