Stephan, der König

A marvelous representation of the duality of Hungarian spirit: respecting traditions and making innovations. The fight between the love of freedom and the need of adaptation to a new environment for security are expressed with music and dance. Koppány hangs on to the ancient roots, and freedom, István wants freedom by reforms and integration to the early Medieval Europe of Christian values. Their fight is not about lust for power but the responsibility for the future of the nation. All this with the rock music of Koppány and the more melodic tunes of István give an experience I still can recall, though I have seen the movie premiere 20 years ago.

I saw this rock opera more than twenty years ago and I still love it. I can listening over and over again. I still know the songs.I always loved history and this rock opera just tells me how rich the Hungarian history.I have not see or heard this rock opera but recently I visited my sister house in Hungary and her boyfriend has the CD.He gave me a copy of it. Now I can listen to it when I will go back to United State. Every time I listen to it I can see every movement from the start to the end. All the songs are very likable and very easy to learn. You hear the songs once and the next time you almost know them ( of course you have to speak Hungarian). I know this because when I heard the first time I still knew the songs.

People don't associate Hungary with rock music, less with rock musicals but this is great. Who'll have trouble finding it though as music promotion is confined to Anglophile and the MTV generation. An impressive musical score by a talented rock composer. There was a Canadian program which was hated by the critics but exposed this kind of obscure European music. The passion comes from the peoples' desire to overthrow the restrictions of communist dictatorship. But with this freedom comes the need to adapt to the unfamiliar and new demands and responsibilities. This musical examines that problem. The central characters are Koppány, who hangs on to the traditions and István who wants freedom through reforms and combination to an earlier Christian values and morality. Unlike some clumsy commercial musical which would present the conflict as a fight for power, here the enemies have a conscientious intention to ensure the future. You will also get a course in Hungarian history whilst singing along to all th every memorable songs

This is probably the best Hungarian rock musical ever made. Largely unknown outside Hungary, it boasts impressive music score and builds on strong Hungarian rock traditions. It does borrow some elements from Jewison's JCS, though.