A padlás (The Attic)
félig mese – félig musical (half tale – half musical)
Cast album
Music	Gábor Presser
Lyrics	Dusán Sztevanovity
Book	Dusán Sztevanovity Péter Horváth
Setting	an attic in Budapest in the late 1980s
Premiere	29 January 1988 (1988-01-29): Comedy Theatre of Budapest

A padlás (Hungarian: [ɒ ˈpɒdlaːʃ]; English: The Attic) is a Hungarian musical with music by Gábor Presser and lyrics by Dusán Sztevanovity. The musical also contains additional text by Péter Horváth. It premiered in the Comedy Theatre, Budapest on 29 January 1988, directed by László Marton. In addition to its continuing successful performance there, it has also been performed in several other Hungarian theatres, as well as in other countries. The musical tells the story of a burglary, of two young people in love, and of four ghosts looking for the other world.

History

Gábor Presser and Dusán Stevanovity wrote A padlás during the summer of 1986 in their retreat house in Zsennye. They had gone there to write new songs for a children's television program and for a new album of Sztevanovity's brother, Zorán Sztevanovity, which were not finished at that time. Presser later claimed that the role of Rádiós was written originally for Attila Kaszás.^[1] While they were working on the musical, the mother of Zsuzsa Radnóti (who also helped them) often cooked Hungarian Plum Dumplings (Hung: szilvás gombóc) for them, which served as the basis for writing one of the most popular songs of the musical, Szilvásgombóc.^[2] The reading was on 30 November 1987.^[1] The director was László Marton who had worked with both of the writers. Péter Horváth, included in the production on Marton's suggestion, helped with the prosaic parts.^[2]

Due to the financial problems of the Comedy Theatre, the set was made by Miklós Fehér out of the sets of previous shows. The only original part was the supercomputer Robinson. The music also had to be recorded.^[1] The model room for the set was Sztevanovity's study. The magic book used in the musical was designed by Ernő Rubik.^[2] The director's concept focused not on spectacle (which is common in this genre), but instead on poetic intimacy, human portrayals and the mixture of the fairy world and the reality.^[3] The choreographer was György Gesler and the costume designer was Márta Jánoskúti.^[2]

At the very beginning Péter Müller also worked with the other authors, but later he seceded and started his own fairy musical at Madách Theatre. This is musical Doctor Herz by composer László Tolcsvay and lyricist János Bródy. Sztevanovity sued Müller for "unauthorised reuse of his ideas and synopsis", which ended in an agreement out of court. The premiere of Doctor Herz was held one week after the one of A padlás.^[3]

A padlás became the most popular and most successful musical in the history of the Comedy Theatre with the greatest performance number.^[3] The play was also shown in other Hungarian cities, such as Eger, Kecskemét, Nyíregyháza, Szeged, Székesfehérvár, Veszprém, Esztergom, Szigetszentmiklós, Miskolc, Zalaegerszeg and Kassa.^[4] The musical also debuted in other countries.^[1]

In 2008, when the musical was 20 years old, a jubilee performance was held with a new cast and a new booklet was published, in which Sztevonivity writes about the message of the musical:^[2]

Twenty years later I confess: with A padlás I just wanted to say, that T. Müllers – some of whom are always in our world – can destroy, lie and cheat as much as possible, but can never win. Never until there are Mamókas either in reality or in our memories. Although it was painful to say goodbye my grandma, my father, their heritage – the feeling of togetherness is the source of everything good in my life.

The musical and several of its songs became hits in Hungary, namely Szilvásgombóc [Plum Dumplings], Kell egy hely [There Must Be a Place]^[5] or Fényév távolság [Light Year Distance].^[3]

Synopsis

Characters

Rádiós ([ˈraːdioːʃ]; Sparks), who is simply fantastic: cyberneticist, fired from the state office in 1986, because he tried to get in touch with alien planets and extraterrestrial beings without permission. Currently he is a freelancer, i.e. he is developing his supercomputer, Robinson. He hardly recognises that he loves someone other than Mamóka and the attic, as well – Süni.

Süni ([ˈʃyni]; Hedgehog), young girl, who studies playing the violin: she was born on 20 May 1970, studies at the Academy of Music, and lives next to Rádiós. She has fallen in love with him, but he seems not to recognise her. Eventually she works wonders, and Rádiós comes to know his actual surroundings on Earth. She saves the attic with her heroism, and attracts Rádiós's attention.

Mamóka ([ˈmɒmoːkɒ]; Grandma), old lady, who knows everything about people: the mother of Rádiós, but she doesn't have any grandchildren, although she would like to have. She can cook especially delicious Hungarian Plum Dumplings. Eventually everybody becomes like grandchildren to her.

Barrabás B. Barrabás ([ˈbɒrrɒbaːʃ ˈbeː]), the gangster: he was born on March 26, 1963, and is a bomb expert. He breaks into the attic, and starts the conflict of the play. After his death the personality of his ghost amends.

Révész ([ˈreːveːs]; Ferryman), whose guise is identical to the one of Barrabás only: beginner ferryman, who (against the rules) would like to try what being a human is like. His job is to bring the ghosts from the Earth to the planet of "eternal beauty". He learns several aspects of being human before the time comes, and starts his journey with the four ghosts back to "eternal beauty".

Herceg ([ˈhɛrt͡sɛɡ]; Prince), gentle ghost, 500-year-old: collateral prince of Lombardy, born in 1488. He had a wager with another prince on which of them will manage to wake up the Sleeping Beauty. He sang all of his magical songs, but the other woke her up with a kiss. According to the wager he had to die.

Kölyök ([ˈkøjøk]; Boy), naïve ghost, 530-year-old: when the king marched nude before his people, he was the one who had the bravery to mention it first. Because of this he was sentenced to death. His name is no longer remembered. (This character is usually played by women).

Lámpás ([ˈlaːmpaːʃ]; Illuminator), often Törpe ([ˈtørpɛ]; Dwarf), the dwarf, crabby ghost, 670-year-old: miner, born on 7 April 1318. He was on guard to protect his seven mates, but when Snow White arrived they forgot him.

Meglökő ([ˈmɛɡløkøː]; Executioner), giant ghost, 560-year-old, deaf-mute: good-hearted executioner, who tried to protect the wrongly sentenced Kölyök with his body, but both of them died instead.

Témüller ([ˈteːmyllɛr]), previously janitor, currently volunteer: he swore to prove that Rádiós and his company are hiding the criminal Barrabás and tries to use his connections to do so. His idea is equality, he is the symbol of the communism. At the end he is arrested for imputation of innocents and insulting older women.

Detektív ([ˈdɛtɛktiːv]; Detective), who can even detect himself: he is responsible for catching Barrabás B. Barrabás. This is temporarily impeded by that "he stood over Barrabás's dead body with his police car."

Üteg ([ˈytɛɡ]; Battery), the second left hand of Detektív: bomb expert (that is why he is afraid of them). He won 14 police championships in target shooting. He shot Barrabás. At the end he is promoted.

Robinson ([ˈrobinzon]), the machine: the supercomputer built by Rádiós, and which also has feelings. According to the definition of its maker it is a tentative communication device, because it can set up connection with extraterrestrial beings, and it can also be used for weather regulation. It helps to save the attic with its logic, it can recognise everybody immediately and provide detailed information about them from its database. It can dance and even cry. Moreover, it can talk about miracles (which is quite rare with computers).

List of musical numbers

Time and space

The musical is entirely set in the attic and on its roof. The attic is located in Budapest. It stands ″between land and sky", there is "terrible mess" thanks to Rádiós, who lives there. Its other permanent inhabitant is Robinson. There are three ways to get into the attic: from downstairs, from the attic of the neighbour's house (Süni's house) and from the dormer door on the roof. The attic also contains a cubbyhole usually used for hiding. The importance of the attic is that the Révész arrives there to bring the ghosts to the past-planet of "eternal beauty", it is a port. The planet of memories has a great significance in the play. The ghosts are searching for the attic since centuries because they want to leave with the Révész. The planet of "eternal beauty" means the afterlife, and not complete death. Here the late mortal enters the world of their most beautiful memories beyond the sunset, the lights and their dreams, the past comes to life, they meet with their late beloved, the lost objects get animated, the burnt candles burst into flames one more time and they dive into the timeless happiness. However, only those can travel to the past-planet who or what are remembered on Earth by some. From this place there's no return, no message. Even the light cannot leave it.

The plot – although the ages of the ghosts were changed to fit to the passing years, and the dates heard onstage were geared to the actual date – is set in 1988 in the last years of the Communist Era. Lampás refers to the month in one of his lines: "snow storm in August?!" The musical takes place overnight. The plots of the acts are continuous, the actions are real time, but during the intermission some time is skipped.

Recordings

The financial state of the Comedy Theatre forced Presser to record the musical parts playing on all of the instruments himself – the theatre couldn't pay an orchestra, neither for the performances nor for the recordings. Presser made also the orchestration, and István Kiss made the recording and the electronic programs. It was released in the same year the musical premiered on LP. It was re-released in 1993 on CD and MC. The B side of the MC contained the instrumental version of all of the songs. Both the CD and the MC contained a booklet with the lyrics of the musical based on the original manuscript. It differs a bit from the ones heard on the recordings and in the theatre.^[1][6]

References