RITAM GRADA / RHYTHM OF THE CITY
TERAZIJE THEATRE’S GOLDEN AGE Iconic spot for killing loneliness with humour
From operettas and musical comedies, via contemporary revue theatre, to a theatre profiled by its repertoire that performs famous musicals, Terazije Theatre has remained the region’s only theatre oriented towards musicals for 75 years
Just a few years after its estab- lishment, serious artistic ambitions emerged for this theatre to be intend- ed not only for humorous produc- tions. And so it was that its name was changed in 1954 to the Belgrade Comedy Theatre, while its repertoire shifted to include world comedy ti- tles. Its 1959 fusion with the Bel- grade Drama Theatre created the Contemporary Theatre with two au- ditoriums – one on Terazije and the other in the Crveni Krst neighbour- hood. In overcoming all the prob- lems born out of this merger, plays were staged that could be consid- ered transitional forms on the road to the great American musical. Okla- homa (1966) represents a defining juncture in the repertoire of Terazije Theatre, and the premieres that fol- lowed - West Side Story (1968) and Kiss Me Kate (1969) - only served to confirm the tendency to shift to- wards musical theatre. The term ‘mu- sical’ had not yet been established in genre classification, but the audi- ence nonetheless accepted each sub- sequent premiere with delight. It was in March 1975 that Terazije Theatre became an independent house un- der its current name. It is today the only specialist mu- sical theatre in the region to have re- ceived a license to perform the world’s most famous titles, such as Chica- go, Gypsies Are Found Near Heav- en, Cabaret, Grease, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera and many more. It has also continued its tradition of staging mu- sicals by local authors (The Marathon Family, Zona Zamfirova, Crazy Head, Mr Dollar, On the Other Side of the Pillow etc.)… “A bitter pill wrapped in candy floss,” as theatre director Ko- kan Mladenović once described the musical Chicago, could be the per- spective of the repertoire through- out all these years.
Fantom iz opere
“I’M SEEKING FOR THE HALL TO BE ON TERAZIJE . A comedy or boulevard theatre, which Belgrade lacks, must be where people kill time, and then we offer them a humorous way to kill loneliness”... It was with these words of Rad- ivoje Lola Đukić, the founder of Ter- azije Theatre, that the history of the region’s only musical theatre began. Founded as the Comedy Theatre on 23 rd December 1949, this theatre’s work began under improvised cir- cumstances as a tenant of the "Be- ograd" cinema, while its first premiere was Branislav Nušić's 1951 comedy Dr. Over the first 20 years of its work, the repertoire comprised mostly com- edies and operettas, which the crit- ics and cultural public of the time didn’t welcome with delight, rather maintaining their ignorant attitude towards what was considered “light” theatre genres. However, the gener- al public adored it all.
74 | Beograd » Belgrade
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