11 years after its Erkel Theatre premiere, the Hungarian National Ballet will present Ronald Hynd's humorous, neoclassical choreography at the Opera House. A member of the legendary generation of English ballet personally supervised the rehearsals of The Merry Widow once again, as a result of which the adaptation of Ferenc Lehár's popular operetta will be performed ten times between 8 and 25 February 2025, with four different casts.
“There are companies that have trouble with steps or expressiong emotions, but here everyone is better than ever! They are truly brilliant dancers, with a very high level of technique,” said choreographer Ronald Hynd about the Hungarian National Ballet after the rehearsals of the past few weeks. The former principal of the Royal Ballet in London, a contemporary of Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, and Kenneth MacMillan, created the adaptation of Ferenc Lehár’s still very successful operetta, at the request of the Australian Ballet, exactly fifty years ago, in 1975. It has now returned to the company repertoire 11 years after the Hungarian premiere held at the Erkel Theatre.
From the first cast of the Hungarian premiere 11 years ago, the widow Hanna Glawari will be reprised by Aliya Tanykpayeva, while the other principals of the company, Tatyjana Melnyik, Maria Yakovleva, and Maria Beck are making their debuts in the role. Her partner, Danilo Danilovich, was also danced by principal Dmitry Timofeev and soloist Mikalai Radziush during the 2017/18 Carpathian Homeland Opera Tour visiting Hungarian-populated settlements in neighboring countries, while principal Gergő Balázsi Ármin and first soloist Louis Scrivener, Étoile of the current season will make their first appearance in the role of the love-struck count. Among the characters in the other love story of the piece, Valencienne is played by a new generation: soloist Takamori Miyu, as well as grand sujets Kosyreva Diana, Sharipova Elena, and Wakabayashi Yuki. As Camille, first soloist András Rónai already made his debut during the 2017 Transylvanian tour, whereas grand sujet Dumitru Taran, and two corps members, Vince Topolánszky and Mattheus Bäckström will now get the chance to prove themselves in this soloist role. A similar opportunity will be given to corps member Léo Lecarpentier in the role of Baron Mirko Zeta, the cuckolded ambassador from Pontevedro alongside soloist Iurii Kekalo.
A brief introduction to The Merry Widow
Tensions are running high at the Paris embassy of the Balkan country of Ponteverdo, which is threatened with bankruptcy: while Baron Mirkó Zéta, the ambassador, tries to save his country's economy by setting up the wealthy widow, Hanna Glawari with her former lover, Count Danilo, the baron's wife, Valencienne, flirts with attaché Camille, with the assistance of the embassy secretary, Njegus.
In the fifty years since its Australian premiere, Ronald Hynd's choreography The Merry Widow has been performed by more than 20 prestigious companies including the American Ballet Theatre in New York, the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, and the ballet companies of La Scala in Milan and the Vienna State Opera, among others. For the 2014 Erkel Theatre premiere, the productions's visuals were reimagined by Peter Docherty in an even more lavish design, in line with the needs of the Budapest audience. After two series in the capital, the Hungarian National Ballet took the piece on a sixteen-stop tour as part of the Carpathian-Homeland Opera Tour in the 2017/18 season, and then made a guest appearance in Zagreb with the choreography in 2018.
Photo by Valter Berecz
