the return of the popular magical musical comedy
At the beginning of October, twenty years will have passed since the Music Theatre opened. The opinions of the many doomsayers who claimed in 2004 that Brno City Theatre would be left with a useless and unused building on its hands after the first few seasons seem to be merely amusing memories from today’s perspective. Brno’s Music Theatre has already established a permanent place on the theatrical map in the Czech Republic and beyond, and new productions are added to the list of premieres held here every year, no matter whether they are premieres of original titles or performances of classic musicals. In connection with the celebrations of this anniversary, we have decided to return to a musical that many viewers still remember to this day. Thanks to almost 150 performances held since its premiere in 2007, many people connect this production, which brought Petr Štěpán a prestigious Thalia Award for his portrayal of the demonic Daryl Van Horne, rather than the original book or the film with the title The Witches of Eastwick.
The adaptation of John Updike’s novel The Witches of Eastwick first became a hit movie in which three desperate women played by Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon spend their boring days in a small town and decide to bewitch the funny, intelligent, attentive and charming man played by Jack Nicholson. American film stars were, however, replaced as the residents of Eastwick in the eyes of the Czech musical audience by the actors from our theatre. Petr Gazdík and the unforgettable Martin Havelka also shone in the lead role in addition to the aforementioned Petr Štěpán. A number of actresses, many of whom are still members of our company to this day, took turns playing the three female roles.
“Enthralling, dazzling, shining with professionalism, sexy!” That’s how the theatre critics described the first performance of Witches in Brno, and there’s no reason to assume that things will be any different the second time around. The authors John Dempsey (libretto and lyrics) and Dana P. Rowe (music) wrote a successful stage version of the work which had its world premiere at London’s Drury Lane Theatre in the year 2000 and was based on the best traditions of the classic Broadway musical, and this was also borne out on the stage in this country.
So let’s take a journey together back to small-town Eastwick, where the real magic happens, to remind ourselves of everything the magical stage at the Music Theatre can do in a new revival with a large orchestra and an immaculate company that also features a number of familiar faces from the original cast.
