Czech Theater

Czech theater is very strange.... I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the National Theater yesterday (or národni divadlo) and was pleasantly surprised.
Well, maybe I shouldn’t say that I was fortunate, because the theater was only 30 Krona. That’s right. One dollar and fifty cents to see a matinee at the national theater. It was displayed as A Walk Worthwhile, an opera. We were expecting true opera, but it was not an opera. It was very similar to a musical, but with lines of music that were very unmelodic (think Wagner, but a little more musical) but the plot was completely different. It involved a couple who were getting a divorce, but their kid could inherit a million dollars, so they were thinking of getting back together but there were two guys who also wanted to get married to the woman so they could be part of the inheritance. It was magical and fantastical, and a really artsy show. I know some people didn’t like it, but I enjoyed it a lot. Also, it was amazing to see the inside of the national theater. The outside looks like a Louis Vuitton purse, and I was curious to see if the inside was interesting as well. It didn’t disappoint. It was gigantic, and very European if you know what I mean.
The applause after the show was a little ridiculous. I swear the curtain closed and reopened a good 20 times after the end of the show. People would not stop. It got annoying after a while. But they deserved the applause. I was expecting a low budget show, since we payed so little, but the show was fantastic. The voices were great, and the scenery was truly impressive. I could have gotten a seat in the front center for only 200 kronas. I kind of wish I would have done that.... I was near the back of the second Mezzanine, and there was a pillar in my line of sight, but it helped that I was so high up and could read the superscript. I wish I would have had my videotape and could have taped this crazy show...
The writers of the show, which wikipedia does not have any information on surprisingly, Jiri Suchy and Jiri Slitr, wrote the play in the sixties, but it seems to still be very popular in Prague. (Ps, Jiri has the hard r in it... fun name) I kind of want to go again, but I’m not sure how much other people liked it. Milos Forman was the director of the show. If the name sounds familiar, he is the Czech director who moved to the states and directed both Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I’ve never seen these movies, but I really want to now that I have seen how he put A Walk Worthwhile together. Oh, there is one more theater device that I loved! When we went through the door, there was an accordion player outside of the theater with his case open for money. I thought it seemed rather odd at such a popular theater (and boy do people dress up) but I forgot about it as soon as I entered the theater. However, he made a presence again on the stage! There was a homeless accordion player who was on and off the stage throughout the stage, and I think that said device was amazing.
Na shle!