Come to the revue

1970

Original Polish theatrical poster ‘We invite you to a revue’ for a performance directed and choreographed by Stanisława Stanislawska and music arrangement by Leszek Bogdanowicz. Designed by ANDRZEJ MOŻEJKO , 1975.

This is an original 1975 vintage poster from the golden age of the “Polish School of Posters”. We confirm its authenticity with a certificate

The poster was published in an edition of: 3500 pcs.

The premiere of the performance took place on 5 May 1975 at the Warsaw Operetta in Warsaw (since 1995 the Warsaw Operetta has been operating as the Roma Music Theatre).

A review of the performance by Paweł Chynowski from May 1975 is available at www.encyklopediateatru.pl:

“(…) The first part of the performance – ‘A Lesson at Offenbach’s’ – is a neatly and wittily conceived one-act play whose authors (W. Filier and J. Kofta) satirically address the themes of operetta librettos and the atmosphere of 19th-century garden theatres. There are many amusing characters and situations already sketched in the script, which are generally handled by the experienced Operetta soloists Beata Artemska, Wanda Polańska, Elżbieta Ryl-Górska and Stefan Witas. The youngsters feel comfortable in them: Hanna Zdunek, Barbara Bela-Wysocka, Alina Krzemińska, Henryk Derewenda and Mariusz Cellari. Too often, however, authentic operetta stiffness creeps onto the stage. A chaotic performance of dances, with an embarrassing old-Roman cancan, spices up the whole. This is a pity, as it is a missed opportunity for sophisticated entertainment. After the interval, “From charleston to tango”. A rather loose, typically stage set of songs and dance numbers, revealing alternately the singers’ inability to sing, the actors’ lack of voice, the awkwardness of some of the singers’ movements, up to a dance group devoid of soloistic individuality and undisciplined in revue. A few successful numbers (“Never alone” performed by Elżbieta Ryl-Górska, “You have to love me” performed by Elżbieta Ryl-Górska and Andrzej Rosolak, “Kiss” performed by Barbara Beli-Wysocka and Janusz Dąbrowski, “I won’t go away” performed by Wanda Polańska and Stefan Stefano. Wanda Polańska and Stefan Witas, “Zapowiedzi” (“Announcements”) performed by A. Bielakowska and J. Jankowska) drowned in a flood of songs, skits and dances received without any special echo – almost like a revue… The whole show thus becomes as long as it is tedious. The concept is incoherent, the staging is peppered with cheap ideas, the direction leaves too much room for the operetta performers’ invention, and the choreography is under-rehearsed. The clumsy co-ordination of acting and vocal performances with the recorded music and choral parts is irritating. In fact, the very idea of using a playback machine in a professional musical theatre is tantamount to disrespecting the audience, which is fed with television tricks of this kind every day. However, it is precisely thanks to this playback that the whole show seems to have managed to provide a decent musical setting, developed by L. Bogdanowicz and J. Kępski, which is the most serious value of the performance in its current form. The attempt to stage the revue with the forces of the Warsaw Operetta was therefore somewhat premature. But let us not lose hope! Mistakes teach, and a return to good but distant traditions is by no means easy at a time when every entertainment offered with the least effort is still received with mass applause in our country.”

Condition: good (on the back: edges sealed with linen tape, inscription in 133K pen slightly visible on the obverse, pin marks on the edges)