2017. február 17., péntek

Victoria, Victoria - A story by Annis


"És hogyha száz szívem volna, száz szívem vérével írnám a mennyboltra: Viktória, Viktória"
Literally:And if I had a thousand hearts, I would write with the blood of my thousand hearts on the sky: Victoria, Victoria
from the operetta Victoria and her hussar by Pál Ábrahám

It happened sometime in February or March of the year 2015. Meritre was once again overexcited, we all knew the signs, she is going to the theater again. She has a soft spot for musicals. ’Is it going to be Elisabeth again’ I asked, thinking that I was very well informed. ’No’ she replied ’This time it’s not a musical but an operetta. Care to come along?’ ’ Arabella made a face. ’What a cruel thing to say! Of course we would love to come along but we are not allowed to come you never take us with you!’ This wasn’t exactly true but poor Arie was the only one who has never been to the theater. ’It’s a really unconfortable journey, that’s why I tend to leave you at home. Now, whoever wants to come should be right there next to that black bag in ten minutes!’ She hurried away and left us alone to discuss the event. ’I’ll go’ Arie said in a determined voice. ’Me too.’ ’I want to go as well.’ ’Seems like all of us will take part of this trip.’ Ten minutes later Meritre was back and carefully packed us all in a separate bag. ’It’s so cramped’ Miss Jasmine complained ’and dark as well’ ’It is always like that’ Rosemary replied.
After a while we were released but Arabella expected daylight and had to discover that in the theater it was as dark as in the bag. ’Be careful and remember that you are not here to be seen’ Meritre warned us but it was too late. BAMM! Arabella walked against something hard. ’What on earth is this?!’ she asked. ’It’s there to prevent people from falling down’ ’And dolls.’ ’Yes, dolls, too. Now sit down and be quiet, the performance starts.’ The beginning was quite sad and tragic, it shoved a compound from the end of the first world war. But the main character was freed and it became much happier. The scene changed. ’Look, lots of Mulans!’ Rosemary cried. ’No, no no, Mulan is from China and those are japanese people since this scene takes place in Japan.’ Meritre didn’t mention that excited shout but gave Miss Rapunzel a silent warning by pressing her hand. Dolls are not supposed to move or talk like humans. We followed the love story of Victoria and Stefan Koltay, Hussar Cavalry Master with much excitement. Those two were complicated people. Victoria thought he had died in the compound and so shemarried another man an ambassador from the USA called John Cunlight. The hussar found her by chance in Japan as the wife of the ambassador. They were giving a Goodbye party since they were about to be moved to Russia. The ambassador had asked Victoria to marry him severel times before she finally said yes. He was a kind man and maybe she felt a little sorry for him so she agreed to marry him. She received just before saying yes the news that her lover, the hussar was killed. So no wonder she is surprised when she sees him in Japan. Now she doesn’t know, what to do. First, she declied that she knew the hussar to save her marriage. The hussar is of course shocked and angered by her behaviour. This song is about his disappointment:
(this video is from a concert, not a performance)
He lets himself to be captured by a russian officer whom he wounded when he escaped from the compound. It looked like she would stay with John Cunlight and the hussar would die as a captive. But in the end she couldn’t betray her heart. The ambassador understood this and let her go and they divorced. Victoria went back to her hometown in Hungary. Once again she thought her lover was dead. But she receives a letter from her former husband that said she forgot something very important back in Japan and he’ll bring it to her. It turned out that this something very importand was the hussar. The ambassador made an agreement with the Russians and they exchanged the Hussar for a russian captive. The end was a bit bittersweet, Victoria and the captain found their happy ending, but we all felt sorry for John Cunlight, though he knew Victorias background story from the start and told Victoria that if she is unhappy they’ll divorce without any bitterness and everything would be fine.
The hussars batman and Victorias chambermaid got interested in each other as well and planned to get married in the end. They were really funny. And great dancers, too.
During the break Meritre took us with her so we could look around a bit. Arabella of course looked at the outfits of the people. ’Look at that dress! If it would be blue insted of pink…’ She was a fashion girl through and through. She loved the costumes most in almost all pieces we got to see pictures of. 

Arabella on the lookout for new fashions
Some photos, not made or owned by me, they are from the theatres website:


Oh, yes, I forgot, the piece is called "Victoria and Her Hussar" in english but in hungarian it is simply called Viktória. (that’s how the name is spelled in hungarian)
Snow Queen Elsa classic doll was named after the heroine of this piece.
Here is a little trailerlike video, it is not the same theatre but it was diracted by the same person and the Hussar is played by an actor (Attila Dolhai)who played the role when we were at the theatre.
And here is my favourite part, Victoria trying to refuse talking to the hussar:
That night I thought about this love triangle for a long long time. They all deserved to be happy but that’s not how it works in this world.

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