Program recommendation: Nutcracker performed by the Hungarian State Opera House

Due to the epidemic situation, a number of interventions took place in Hungary and many other countries of the world. There are curfews, shorter opening hours in the shops; there are no Christmas markets, people do not have the opportunity to go to the cinema, theatre or opera. For many, the best traditional Christmas cultural program is the Nutcracker performance. While this Christmas will be very different in many ways, thanks to the opera house, nobody will miss the Nutcracker.

The most missed performance of the Hungarian State Opera House is probably the fairytale ballet of the Christmas period, The Nutcracker. As a festive surprise, the Opera House will therefore make the recording of the performance available for one day on the 24th of December.

The classical ballet, based on ETA Hoffmann’s tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, has been part of the Christmas repertoire of the Hungarian State Opera House almost every year since 1950. The series has so far only been interrupted after the 1956 revolution and during the previous renovation of the Ybl Palace between 1981-82. The artists of the Hungarian National Ballet, as well as the Orchestra and Children’s Choir of the Hungarian State Opera House, will take part in the recording. The choreography is written by the internationally recognised Nutcracker-specialist Wayne Eagling and Tamás Solymosi.

The recording of the performance can be viewed free of charge on the Opera’s Facebook page and origo.hu from 3 pm on the 24th of December until the next day, on the 25th of December.

As part of OperaLive broadcasts, the institution will present other cross-sectional performances related to the holidays, such as on the 26th of December from Händel’s oratorio The Messiah,  on the 27th of December Puccini’s opera Bohemian Life and on the 30th of December Johann Strauss’s The Bat operetta. Further details on the broadcasts can be found on the Opera website.

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This year is making our lives harder in many ways. Theatres also had to switch so that they were not left without work and so that spectators were not left without culture. What is missing from the classic theatrical experience – ceremonial nature, presence, audience, community experience, atmosphere – is replaced by online theatrical streaming platforms.

“The theatre is in the XXI. century, it may not be the only form that three hundred people are in an auditorium or sixty sitting in a cellar,”

says Márk Radnai, the artistic director of SzínházTV (TheaterTV). According to him, the profession found a long-standing solution to the challenge that the enjoyment of the much-lauded thousand-colour Hungarian theatre culture should not be the privilege of a narrow circle, writes 24.hu.

Source: 24.hu opera.hu funzine