Budapest Operetta Theatre
Operetta and musical house of 1894 on Nagymezo Street, Budapest's so-called Broadway.
The building opened in 1894 as the Somossy Orpheum, a variety house designed by the Viennese partnership of Fellner and Helmer on Nagymező Street, the theatre-lined run often called the Broadway of Budapest. It was remodelled in 1922 and reopened the following year as the Municipal Operetta Theatre, becoming the principal Hungarian stage for the Viennese and Hungarian operetta repertoire. The auditorium seats about 900 and retains gilded plasterwork and box fronts from the original scheme.
The theatre is closely linked with the works of Imre Kálmán, Ferenc Lehár and Pál Ábrahám, several of which had their first performances in Budapest, and it has also staged large-scale musicals since the 1980s. A reconstruction completed in 2001 restored the historic interiors and added a cylindrical glazed entrance and modern stage machinery. The company performs a mixed repertoire of operetta and musical theatre, uses a studio stage nearby, and tours regularly in Europe and Asia.
Highlights
- Fellner and Helmer variety house of 1894, later rebuilt for operetta
- Gilded auditorium of about 900 seats
- Home repertoire of Kalman, Lehar and Abraham operettas
- Cylindrical glass entrance added in the 2001 reconstruction
