Rudolf
COMPOSER - Frank Wildhorn
LYRICIST - Jack Murphy &Nan Knighton
LIBRETTO - Jack Murphy & Phoebe Hwang
SYNOPSIS:
The musical Rudolf tells the tragic story of Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera, who were found dead in a hunting lodge in Mayerling, near Vienna.
PREMIER:
Operett Theater in Budapest, Hungary on May 26th, 2006
Director - Miklós Gábor Kerényi
Choreographer - Michael Reardon, Éva Duda, Jenõ Lõcsei, and László Rogács
Music Director - Koen Schoots
Translation - Gergely Zöldi
Hungarian lyrics - Zöldi, MG Kerényi, and Szilárd Somogyi.
The original cast included Attila Dolhai as Rudolf, Bernadett Vágó as Mary, Tamás Földes as Taaffe, and Attila Németh as Franz Joseph.
PRODUCTIONS:
2006 Szeged, Hungary
2006 Budapest, Hungary
2008 Tokyo
2009 Vienna, Austria
2010 Pécs, Hungary
2012 Tokyo
2012 Seoul
2014 Seoul
2017 Seoul
PRODUCTION HISTORY:
Rudolf was given a reading in New York City on December 16, 2005 with Rob Evan as Rudolf, Brandi Burkhardt as Mary, and Michael Shawn Lewis as Taafe.[1][2] As a co-production of Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, the Budapest Operetta Theater, and the Szeged Open-Air Festival, it had its world premiere in a Hungarian translation at the Operett Színház in Budapest on May 26, 2006,[3] followed by an outdoor staging that opened in Szeged on July 28. Since then, the production has alternated between the two venues, playing in Budapest during the winter months and in Szeged for the summer season.
Rudolf was directed by Miklós Gábor Kerényi and choreographed by Michael Reardon, Éva Duda, Jenõ Lõcsei, and László Rogács. Musical Direction by Koen Schoots. Gergely Zöldi translated the book, and the Hungarian lyrics are by Zöldi, MG Kerényi, and Szilárd Somogyi. The original cast included Attila Dolhai as Rudolf, Bernadett Vágó as Mary, Tamás Földes as Taaffe, and Attila Németh as Franz Joseph.
A Vienna production opened at the Raimund Theater on February 26, 2009[4] directed by David Leveaux and starring Drew Sarich as Rudolf, Lisa Antoni as Mary, and Uwe Kröger as Taaffe.[5] The cast album for this production was released at the beginning of April 2009. A complete professionally shot version of the Vienna production was released on DVD in October 2009. (Formally September 11, 2009). A complete cast album was released in December 2009. The complete cast album contained the changes to the score and the music left unrecorded on the first cast album. The production closed on January 24, 2010.
A second Hungarian production opened on December 10, 2010 in Pécs. The show was directed by Szilárd Somogyi (assistant director of the original Hungarian production), with Zoltán Bókai as musical director and conductor. In the leading roles: Dénes Kocsis/Árpád Zsolt Mészáros as Rudolf, Anna Györfi/Bernadett Vágó as Mary, Ádám Ottlik/Attila Götz as Taaffe, Dávid Pirgel/ András P. Petőcz as Pfeiffer, Veronika Nádasi/Éva Várhelyi as Stephanie and Katalin Stubendek as Larisch. ((As known, the Hungarian musical theatre doesn't work like lead artist/understudy/standby, but both (or all three) casts are equal.)) Major changes showed up in the interpretation of the songs, and in some places the order of the scenes changed drastically. The opening night was a success, and since then the show is on the repertoire of the National Theatre of Pécs.
