The first Soviet musical on a Czechoslovak stage
What is it about?
This article explores the first Soviet musical production in Czechoslovakia. This took place in 1971's Prague, only three years after the 1968 Warsaw pact invasion which stopped the previous liberalisation reforms and strengthened Czechoslovakia's cultural and political dependency on the USSR. The musical Seventh Heaven by a Soviet composer, staged in Prague by a Soviet director, was one of the strong manifestations of the new direction of cultural politics in Czechoslovakia. The article looks at why the production flopped and how the theatre tried to avoid its failure.
Why is it important?
Few studies have investigated Soviet musical theatre and even fewer have focused on the topic in the context of intercultural theatre relations within the Eastern bloc. The research in this field can shed light on more extensive phenomena such as Soviet-Russian hegemony, propaganda, and cultural expansiveness towards neighbouring states: questions that are nowadays more topical than ever.