the legendary Czech musical
“Close your eyes, most of you can see better that way...” The famous musical film comedy by director Jan Hřebejk and screenwriter Petr Jarchovský from 1993, based on the short story of the same name by Petr Šabach, does not present a realistic picture of Czechoslovakia in the 1950s. Rather, it builds, with self-confessed hyperbole, a monument “to honour the heroes who once drove people mad,” as the song at the end goes. It attempts to embody the dream of freedom and independence that every generation needs.
Jackal Years is situated in Prague’s Dejvice at the end of the 1950s, living peacefully in its “provincial” manner in the shadow of the Red Star at the top of the International Hotel. One day, the young lad Bejby invades the world of parents living with the mundane worries of early socialism and their offspring whose idea of the “world outside” is ordained by the exotic contents of the aforementioned hotel’s dustbins. The innocent dustbin hooligan causes a stir with his outlandish clothes and his passion for “unknown” rock-and-roll rhythms; the youth are excited and the parents despairing. Bejby’s appearance, underscored in the story by the rock-and-roll hits of Ivan Hlas, which have become popular evergreens (such as Once My Old Man Told Me, On My Knees and Rock’n’roll for Beethoven), represents a key turning point in the lives of a generation of boys.
This popular story of dreaming about a different and better world beyond the boundaries of a desperately grey reality is appearing on the stage of the Music Theatre in an original production and musical adaptation.
