Brno City Theatre's latest production is Big Beat, originally a film musical from the 1950s, based on short stories by writer Petr Šabach. The film Big Beat was directed by Jan Hřebejk and accompanied by the songs of Ivan Hlas. In 1993, it was the first film to win the newly established Czech Lion award in four categories. It was only a matter of time before the theatre would pick it up, in 2001 in Plzeň. And the musical Big Beat has been touring the country ever since.
The Brno production is now the twelfth in a row. The production team, headed by director Stano Slovák, opted for the theatrical adaptation by Miroslav Hanuš, created especially for his production at the Central Bohemian Theatre in Kladno in 2003. He subsequently used it in Ostrava, Jihlava, Český Těšín, Zlín and the Municipal Theatres of Prague.
From this dramaturgical perspective, the choice of title is in no way revolutionary or innovative. The producers are counting on the fact that Hlas's rock 'n' roll hits (the man himself personally attended the Brno première) have won the hearts of fans of the genre since the 1990s. Numbers such as Jednou mi fotr povídá, Rock'n'roll pro Beethovena or Na kolena have long since become legendary.
However, the dramaturges in Brno have correctly understood that it is no longer possible to rely only on the ever-forgiving retro touch, which is so fond of embracing audiences, especially those who were there at the time, while theatrically selling off our socialist past. The young and adolescent generation is not so impressed or attracted by the odour of those crazy, grey fifties. To be honest: even the central story of Big Beat is nothing extraordinary, with no particular depth or architecture to the plot, and its strong points are now Brno's youthful cast and Ivan Hlas's well-worn yet appealing score. Slovák also mostly based his productions on these facts. The result is a well-crafted yet less than iconoclastic spectacle that will strike a chord with younger audiences, especially the central teenage love story. After all, this is not about some politicizing look back at those civically grey and politically red years, but about pure fun and demonstrating that life can be joyful even in bleak times. Politics intrudes from the outside only through the figure of the Potentate, i.e. the husband of bar singer Milada. The colours of the past are now blurring, which is probably why the two young pioneer girls here are wearing green and blue scarves around their necks and pleated skirts in the same tone.
In the two-and-a-half-hour performance, the audience finds itself in Prague's Dejvice district in the late 1950s, watching the story of a group of boys living under a red star at the top of the International Hotel unfold. And it is into this socialist world that one day like a bolt from the blue, Baby, a sleek hooligan, bursts onto the scene, causing a stir and a small revolution with his colourful clothes and his passion for rock and roll rhythms unknown or forbidden to his comrades.
As I hinted, Big Beat is such a standard musical in Brno that it won't make such a big splash in the local cultural waters. It's professionally performed entertainment, whose main appeal stems from the unique energy of the youngsters in the ensemble. And this is where the evening has its big little stars. These include guest Šimon Fikar in the lead role of the waiter's apprentice Eda Drábek and his sweetheart Alena Prokopová, played by guest Elena Juráčková. There's little to fault in the acting and singing of this loving couple. Similarly, the narrator of the story, i.e. Kšanda, Alena's brother, is a truly authentic and disarming figure portrayed by Kryštof Helbich. But even the rest of the youthful company is a disarming demonstration of the joy of movement and frivolity...
Kristian Pekar's Baby is at most an appropriately casting choice, but he doesn't push the memory of Dejdar's original film. Very lively characters were portrayed by Aleš Slanina in the role of the somewhat unhappy officer and father of the two children, Jindřich Prokop, and especially Erika Kubálková as the ghost-chasing, confused aunt Juřičková.
Jaroslav Milfajt's pastel set design was seen more in the colourful dreams of freedom and independence than in the grey of the reality of the time. Here, he uses graphic and advertising design back from the time when the World Exhibition in Brussels was still in full swing. Andrea Kučerová, the costume designer, therefore uses a stylized colour scheme in a similar spirit. Very colourful as far as sound goes, however, is the musical staging by Tony Marko, conducting a dozen musicians right at the top of the stage, where they can be seen whenever they appear as the hotel band. František Šterbák and Daniel Kyzlink made with an interesting contribution, having created new, successful song arrangements for the production.
Brno's Big Beat remains a standard musical that captivates audiences with the performances put on by its young protagonists and their rock and roll hits.
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