MUSICAL THEATER APOLLO

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Divadlo The Apollo Theatre was founded by 1965 lyricist and screenwriter J. Štaidl. It was dramaturgically linked to Štaidl's show Ondráš observes (Semafor, 1963) by exploiting the fashion trends of beat music. And it launched the Pilgrimage for Two as part of the SDS. It played alternately in Reduta, the City People's Library, the S+H Theatre and numerous out-of-Prague tours that form its own backbone of activity (Apollo Parade and Apollo shows present). The ensemble members were singers K.Gott, K.Hála, P.Filipovská and Y.Přenosilová, later P.Spálený, J.Štědroň, H.Blehárová, V.Kahovcová, S.Seling and D.Vlach. And from the outset, it benefited from the popularity of popular music stars, but it crashed in its attempts at theatrical shape both dramaturgically and overhead. The first show was directed by J.Herz, another K.Mareš (corepetitor, composer and artistic director A since 1967). At first, Štaidl's promising lyrics turned out at length to be little inspirational, with the acting speech giving pop-music stars no small trouble. Engaging comedians (L.Kostelka, V.Štekl), who were supposed to unify song blocks with theatrical-clown performances, did not produce the desired result (e.g. an ill-managed attempt to engage the pantomime-clown pair J.Sýkora and I.Kraus to Štaidl's show Nešpory, 1966 etc.). The question of the recipient of the productions was also problematic: fans of K.Gott, K. Hála or P.Spálený, they accepted the stage and dramatic elements as something surplus, the audience of small scenes finding the A shows theatrically inconceivable. A set full of stars soon had attendance problems, which was one of the main reasons for his demise. And it was canceled as of 31. 7. 1968.

 

WEBSITE  www.divadloapollo.com

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