Babylon

Babylon

  • Genre
  • Stage Drama Theatre
  • Premiere20. October 1998
  • Length2:50 hod.
  • Number of reprises85
  • Final performance22. September 2002

Musical Opera

Both authors accent in this musical opera particularly the disability of people to make themselves understood, their desire for power, reluctance against listening to and intolerance against other people. That is why, their Babylon is, rather than about building a tower and a divine anger, about a human anger which is much more “malevolent, non-forgiving and killing”.

The main thing is a desire for love in the widest sense of the word which starts everything else… The fact that the musical opera Babylon is an extraordinary artistic event was substantiated by the warm acceptance the performance won at The Days of European Culture held in Karlsruhe in April 2000 where the City Theatre Brno represented the Czech theatrical art.

Directed by

Libretto

Dramaturgist

Music

Conductor

Choreography

  • Vladimír Kloubek j.h.

Professional collaboration

  • PhDr. Václav Blažek

Šamaš

Nebeská panna

Asiel

Amer

Austrei

Mulu

Mara

Lita

Laše

Kuru

Kartu

Sala

Šibir

Sibia

The World Premiere Received Ovations

vž 1. December -1 zdroj Haló noviny

…Long-time ovations were received by the world premiere of the musical Babylon written by Zdeněk Merta and Stanislav Moša and performed mainly by young graduates from schools of music and dramatic arts on the stage of the Brno Municipal Theatre on Saturday and Sunday. In the applauding audience there were representatives of the Ministry of Culture, members of Parliament, senators…

Brno Babylon Confusion of Thoughts

Radmila Hrdinová 1. December -1 zdroj Právo

…Babylon is performed in a rectangular space closed by the audience from two sides (the scene by Emil Konečný), rather tight to start playing an inventive choreography by Vladimír Kloubek which is the most valued feature of the presentation.

…The ensemble of the Municipal Theatre has proved again that it is endowed sufficiently with dancing and singing abilities so as to run the musical theatre of such type as Merta’s music makes many demands particularly on the singing range of soloists...

Brno Babylon Built on a New Generation

Zdeněk A. Tichý 1. December -1 zdroj Mladá fronta

…The ensemble of the Municipal Theatre introduced itself in a gorgeous condition gathering the fruits of its continuous work with a new musical generation: Roman Vojtek as Shamash (alternating with Stano Slovák) is singing and capering “by the way” suspended high on the ropes. Petra Jungmanová coped with the part of Harra (alternating with Jana Vaculíková) with a go-ahead manner of a musical star and expressed the transformation of love into a killing venom not only by her voice but also by dancing. A part of Mother whose final solo is the most impressive place of the performance was acted in two premieres by Irena Budweiserová and Zora Jandová (alternating with Monika Maláčová). Budweiserová’s priority is sharper singing while Jandová’s expression is richer by theatrical nuances. The performance of the whole ensemble was united by Vladimír Kloubek’s choreography…

Nearer to the Opera than to Babylon

Jiří Černý 1. December -1 zdroj Svět a divadlo

…If you believe that the performance evoking expectation and chill just in the first minute cannot already descend to boredom, then Babylon will justify your views. Lonely strokes of invisible atavistic music are thudding to a little elliptical space filled up with a crowd in the colour of desert sand and with the bodies of actors. The nearest spectators sitting this time on two sides – in the depth of the stage – have free, silk skirts, trousers, backs and faces of main characters and the choir within their grasp. Over them, Shamash, the God of Sun, resembling a varicoloured bird, is swinging on the ropes. Somewhat of a god, somewhat of an amused commentator of shimmering taking place under him, a character with the traces of Komtur and Papagenes, taunting, gorgeous and threatening …

…This Babylon is not about the desire to equal the gods, but about the desire for love. Merta’s music is extremely strong in love hints presented in several ways …

…I think that Babylon is an extraordinary, creative act, even because of its position on the borderline between the musical and the current opera.

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