István, a király

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.

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

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.

The significance of this rock opera is ironically not only hidden from the Western world due to its international obscurity, but just as well to native Hungarians, who were used to being censored by the communist party dictatorship in every aspect of cultural expression, be it music, theatre, cinema, performative arts or any other means of cultural expression. Every single record sleeve, every single movie poster, every single lyric in a song were subject to party censorship first, before they were allowed to hit the (state controlled) stores. Anything with a tricolor red/white/green of the Hungarian national flag was a faux-pas in any cultural context, the erosion of national pride was a clear soviet directive to avoid any kind of resurgence and revolt, especially after the 1956 revolution that was broken down fast by soviet tanks, making sure Hungarians stuck to the central directives from Moscow.

When people wonder how this gem could then have been allowed to be premiered live on a central square in Budapest in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers in 1983, boasting the 900 year anniversary of the crowning of King St. Stephen, in a strongly anti-Christian ideology, touting lyrics in a declining cold war like "Someone will have to conquer the Darkness tomorrow" or "Someone will have to step down from office tomorrow", they might find an answer in the multi-faceted contents of this work.

Rock was a danger in the eyes of the party, so Western records were not allowed to enter the country, they were only found illegally. Most of Hungarians had no idea about all the jazz classics from the US, the rock&roll era was replaced by dumbed-down local copycats to avoid youth rebellion, none of the local famous rockstars had anything to do with drugs or excesses in the likes of the Rolling Stones (even having a beer was frowned upon in these circles and the police was all too enthousiastic to swing their rubber batons whenever they saw a chance to do their duty on totally harmless youngsters) and there was a noticeable difference in freedom of expression compared to Western neighbours, including at a concert.

The real power of this rock opera is the fact that it hit so many of the strata of layers of society, rich, poor, worker, intellectuals, young, old, that they simply couldn't do anything about it. Nobody knows in the end what discussions must have taken place behind the scenes to not censor it outright, whether there was any internal struggle or whether someone high up simply liked the music, but they did not manage to take this away from their audience. Perhaps the very effect of censorship resulted in such a bleak musical landscape that when something came along that they no longer could call "Western imperialist decadence" and thus "anti-regime", that they had to allow the people at least their own unique creation of rock & roll that they were forbidden to import from the West for their enjoyment. Perhaps not a "let them eat cake" Marie Antoinette moment, but probably a "comrades, let them have their sour grape" moment behind the party doors.

The result was not just the great following of this epos within the country's borders (less relevant as a rebellious act of cultural pride since the fall of the Iron Curtain of course, but popular to this day), but mainly by the then diaspora bound Hungarians abroad that had fled the communist regime through the decades, especially the hundreds of thousands after the 1956 revolt, fearing for retribution, which came swift and often by hanging. Most of them were deprived from news from the homeland for fear of imprisonment when trying to re-enter, in 1983 this was still very much a reality. The rock opera of King Stephen was like this motherly embrace, both a cultural re-unification in spirit, as well as the hope that if something of this quality can come out from behind the Iron Curtain, then hope is not lost on change. Which came soon enough all right, when rules started relaxing from the mid eighties and the curtain finally fell foregood in 1989.

It is this almost sacred connection of the homeland and the diaspora that none but the Hungarians themselves can truly appreciate, mostly those that fled the country and were homesick, a very Hungarian trait. It is a tale of historic and cultural pride, of cultural unity and foremost of Hope. The fact that the excellent narration of the story, the awesome singers and the emotional load of the whole is well on the level of any international performance, is just a cherry on the cake. The US had their Hair as a clash of internal ideologies, Hungary had its King Stephen as an expression of freedom towards oppression from abroad. Something that unfortunately few foreigners will ever be able to appreciate, due to the language barrier to a tongue that nobody really understands but the Hungarians. Though they are not looking for praise from outside either and that's a good thing.

Anyone wanting to appreciate this work of art to the fullest should read up on Hungarian history to understand the gravity of the subject from a millennium ago, a country torn between their pagan past and their Christian future and the decisions of those that know this is not a change for centuries, but millennia. For full effect, put that in the cultural context of an oppressed nation during the cold war when this was written and I'm sure the listening experience will magnify the emotional effect manyfold.

Enjoy the saga!

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.