Aristide and Madeleine The origins of one of the most famous areas of theatrical art, known as the Operatta, can be found in ancient times. The light, unobtrusive entertainment genre has always attracted the audience with its melodic musical numbers, emphasized farce, multi-level intrigue and absolute ease of perception of history. Unlike the more heavy and pretentious operas, focusing on very serious questions and problems that make eyebrows invariably frown, operettas have an amazing property to relax and lure their audience into the pool of love, songs and notorious comedy, which will necessarily make even the most avid snob smile. And therefore, it is not surprising that in addition to the Olympic Games, myths and legends, the ancient era of antiquity was able to preserve the life of the operetta, which became especially widespread in the Old World. While states appeared and disappeared, and the form of government of society changed its key features from time to time, the operetta remained an invariable outlet for the public, because long before the invention of cinema, only it could distract a person from sad thoughts and drag him to a fabulous country where nothing is impossible, and any deception, if it is made of pure sincere motives, will certainly be forgiven. The operetta was able to cut through the veil of centuries, millennia and continues to be one of the most popular genres of theatrical art even to this day.
Such a famous and significant genre during its existence gave the world a lot of incomparable creations, which are rightfully considered classics of the world stage. The audience invariably pays respectful odes to the incredible Imre Kalman, the author of “Silva”, “Violets of Montmartre”, “Circus Princesses”. Johann Strauss himself did not stand aside from the fame of the master of the operetta, who had a hand in the factory intrigue known as the “Bat”. And how can one forget about the great Hungarian and Austrian composer Franz Legar, best known for such remarkable works as The Merry Widow and Gypsy Love? Each of the presented operettas has relatively similar introductory data, but the uniqueness of the musical compositions and the unique performance on the stage make them truly magnificent works that managed much better than any political alliances and fruitless negotiations to unite a disparate community from different countries, suffering from an irresistible craving for music and dance, which are timeless. Of course, the names of Kalman, Strauss and Legar became symbols of high-quality operetta, which eclipsed even incorruptible works of ancient times, but in addition to the immortal classics of the theater, it is also worth mentioning Pal (Paul) Abraham, a Hungarian composer of Jewish origin, whose most popular works fell on the first third of the 20th century.
Abraham co-wrote his first operetta, Zenebona, in 1928, and although it did not gain great popularity, its fame was enough for Pal to continue to revel in his favorite art and create as he sees fit. The most famous work of Abraham in his entire career was an operetta called “The Ball at Savoy”, created by him in 1932 and became, along with “The Bat” and “Silva”, perhaps the most popular genre work, repeatedly staged both in America and at home, in Europe. Starting to work on the “Ball in Savoy”, the creator decided to conduct an extraordinary experiment and saturated the action with an abundance of newfangled dance and musical numbers at that time, from which his operetta acquired numerous signs of a full-fledged musical. This has never been performed before, and this circumstance attracted the attention of the most eminent theatergoers to the undertakings of Abraham, and the composer himself finally entered the list of the most famous masters in the history of the operetta genre. The Savoy Ball, despite the somewhat risky moral intrigue underlying the work, nevertheless found its way to the audience in both capitalist and communist lands. And in 1985, in the era of the so-called "warming" in relations between the USSR and the United States, when the country of the Soviets appeared much more freedoms and the right to dissent, "Ball in Savoy" hit the screens in the format of the TV adaptation of the same name, created by Ago-Endrik Kerge.
As Paul Abraham bequeathed to us and reproduced Kerge, the plot of the story revolves around the Marquis Aristide de Fablay (Aarne Juxcula) and his wife Madeleine (Elle Kull). Just returning from a long honeymoon to their native Nice, the characters are forced to face a very unusual situation that can destroy their happy marriage. Being in the distant past a famous womanizer and conqueror of women's hearts, Aristide had the indiscretion to twist intrigue with the charming dancer Tangolita (Jule Caljusta), to whom he promised one night of love at any suitable time before farewell. And now a year has passed, and after him another one, Aristide has found his only constricted one and was already settled, when suddenly Tangolita again ascended the arena and she is eager to receive her debt, and immediately. The long-awaited meeting of former lovers should take place at a ball in the luxurious Savoy Hotel, and Aristide must do everything possible to prevent the precious wife from learning about the upcoming incident. But as is often the case, the truth is revealed prematurely, though not on a full scale. Feeling insulted and betrayed, Madeleine decides to take revenge on her husband and, in turn, retires in a quiet cozy place with the first pious gentleman. And this is only a small part of the intrigue and adventure that will unfold this evening in the Savoy.
The obsessive desire of Soviet cinematographers to transfer the most famous and best operettas to film cannot be called unequivocally winning, since musical plays were originally created for demonstration live on the theater stage, from which the film adaptations seem simply unnecessary and artificial. Neither the Bat, nor even the Silva, which received another life in front of the camera lens, were distinguished by special grace of execution, seemed heavy and too bombastic. In addition, the performers of the main roles were invited by the creators solely because of their dramatic qualities, while their singing talents left much to be desired and at the stage of sound processing, the voices of the actors had to be replaced by the developments of real operettas. And all these shortcomings were fully collected by the “Ball in Savoy” by Ago-Andric Kerge. Having before him the task at all costs to double the original timing of the play in order to fill the empty airtime on television, the director repeatedly resorted to the use of musical numbers alien to Palo Abraham, introduced several secondary characters, joking inappropriately and saturated the dialogue with spatial themes, from which the continuous viewing of the film resembled serious agony. The initial intrigue and ease of creation of Abraham acquired a factory character, from which the operetta completely spent its attractiveness and freshness, turning into a mediocre given, exclusively by necessity hit the screens.
In conclusion, I want to say that the operetta is best to stay where it feels best, namely on the stage. “Ball at Savoy” of the television sample is hardly a worthy adaptation of Pal Abraham for many reasons. It can be recommended only to the most loyal fans of the original operetta.
4 out of 10