European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 03, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Theater Budapest s Boyjan Perlez the new York times i. Budapest s famed pigs Minhaz theater where playwright Ferenc moln5r Rose to Fame re opened oct 21 after a yearlong $20 million renovation that restored it to its original Neo baroque glory. Gold Bas Relief Plush boxes and glistening chandeliers greeted the opening night audience which came to see a rousing performance of a new work called let s dance together. \ during  Era the Hall fell \ upon hard times. Officially called the hungarian popular army theater it was for decades a Beacon of stalinist social realism with boxes that were far from Plush military motifs on the Walls and lighting that consisted of Bare bulbs not chandeliers. The opening of the restored pigs Minhaz pronounced veg sen Hahn popularly known As the Vig which can be roughly translated As comedy marked another step in the rebirth of Budapest. Elegant buildings dating from the last decades of the Austro hungarian Empire but pockmarked by world War ii bullets and covered with grime from communist neglect Are being gutted and cleaned. The Catalon of renovated structures says something about the Bourgeois society of Budapest in the 1880s and 1890s, when building boomed and the arts flourished. It was a very important Era for the City the Golden age said mayor Gabor Bem sky a dissident publisher in the 1980s and recently in the Vanguard of much of Budapest s renovation. The present shape of the City the ring roads the avenues were built at that time and this theater As Well. It was the period where the civil society of Budapest  among the recently unveiled buildings is the Central marketplace renovated with porcelain roof tiles copied from those of the 1890s. On Liberty Square the exterior of the Stock Exchange formerly the largest in Central Europe and now housing the National television stations has been refurbished. Arid on the other Side of the Square the Aronou eau National Bank its facade decorated with an intricate Bas Relie has been cleaned to its natural Sandy color. Aus the renovation and reopening of the pigs Minhaz in its original form Are particularly symbolic for the City As it tries to escape its communist past and pushes toward a More prosperous future. The theater designed by two popular German architects Ferdinand feline Rand Herman Helmer and opened in 1896 was bombed in 1944, and the auditorium was almost entirely ruined. Quickly rebuilt by the communists for Stalin s birthday in 1951, the new version was a Bare Bones affair. \   when it opened in 1896 it was l celebrated As one of the most Beautiful. Heaters in Europe said Laszlo Marton the director of the pigs Minhaz. My idea was to get it Back to the original plans but the architects in charge of the renovation were hampered by a dearth of upcoming Berlin events 42ndstmef the Broadway musical about music Dis or Leonar Bernstein s musical hair 70 $ musical remember mtg music awards nov. 24 Public enemy let spin doctors where can you stay at a 3-Star hotel grab a great meal take in a concert or show and enjoy the big City life for As Little As $70? Berlin of course through Uso Berlin. Uso Berlin is still serving americans overseas. Let us help you get More bang for your budget Uso Berlin Burggraf Fenstra. 2a 10787 Berlin Tel 030-2696-780 or 781 open Mon Fri 0900-1700 sat. 0900-1200 original drawings. Maria Siklos one of two hungarian architects on the project said that Only one1 photograph of the Early Interior had been found. Ground plans forthe building were destroyed during world War ii. With the driving Energy of Marton who was determined to be As True to the original As possible guidance from some of Fellner and Helmer s other Heaters in Europe including the Volk theater in Vienna and a Little imagination the past was re created Siklos said. It can t be absolutely the original but we wanted to give Back the Moo she   said he had gone to the theater at 6 . Every Day and driven the work Force As hard As he would have if it had been renovating his own Home. He insisted on a copy of the original chandelier designed by an austrian firm for the auditorium ceiling and used two badly broken chandeliers in the Maria Theresa style from the original theater for the restoration. In a Southern hungarian town he found a pair of smoked Glass panes with the word for exit etched in old hungarian Kiment and had the panes copied for All the auditorium doors. It was typical of the Era to have an Oval lobby with Black and Gray and White Marble on the floor and Gold filigree on the ceiling he said As he showed off the intimate and almost identical Entrance and upper floor lobbies v Marton the head of the theater since 1985, is proud that the pigs Minhaz has always been progressive in its Choice of productions standing As a counter to the More traditional National theater. Thus Chekhov was first presented in Hungary at the Vig Sinha and by 1902 Molnar a Well known journalist but Little known playwright made his theatrical debut with the doctor. In 1909, Mol nays liliom the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel opened to lukewarm reviews. The pigs Minhaz audiences had become accustomed to Mona As a comedy writer and were unenthusiastic about his serious drama. After liliom Molnar reverted to what the hungarians liked and his subsequent. Productions As playwright in residence were comedies including the guardsman which became a tremendous Success for the lungs in America in the 1930s, and the tale of the Wolf. With the Rise of anti semitism in Hungary  1930s, Molnar left for the United states never to return. But by then he had worked his magic for the pigs Minhaz. His Fame made the theater famous Marton said. The Early Post world War ii years for the  were difficult but by the 1960s the cultural freeze had thawed enough to allow productions of Arthur Miller Bertolt Brecht and even the return of Molnar. Marton has encouraged productions of work by contemporary hungarian playwrights As Well As by Harold Pinter . Eliot and Ingmar Bergman. Musical productions have included West Side Story. Arc armed forces recreation centers Europe Yfe the military retirees includes Active duty sponsored senior citizens 60 yrs & above 1/2 Price on at Tours 25% off on Al meals 25 october 1994 unto 23 november 1994 offer Good for arc hotel guests Only to make reservations or for More information Berchtesgaden Dan 441-5623 Civ 08652-61057. Fax 08652-62768 " Garmisch Dan 440-2575 Civ 08821-79081 fax 08821-3942 hours of operation Mon Fri 08 00-19 00 sat 09 00-17 00 Sun 09 00-17 00 26 stripes Magazine november 3, 1994