Rebecca

Lévay - Kunze

9 PM 26th, 27th, 28th June, 2nd, 3rd August, 2024

based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier

As the original production of the newest season, Szeged Open-air Theatre Festival is going to stage another grand musical by the authors of Elisabeth: Rebecca by Sylvester Lévay and Michael Kunze!

This romantic and chilling story had garnered international fame for the author, Daphne du Maurier, making her one of the most popular novelists of her era. Rebecca, one of the most well-loved pieces by the authoress of many best-selling novels was introduced to Hungarian viewers first through the Academy Award-winning film by Alfred Hitchcock.

The musical begins as the initially naïve heroine – “I” – meets Lord Maxim de Winter in a Côte d'Azur hotel: a charming man whose late wife, Rebecca had deceased under mysterious circumstances. Following a speedy courtship, the protagonist becomes the new Mrs. De Winter then moves with her husband to Manderley: his country estate, which she ends up finding rather gloomy and unwelcoming. In the sombre atmosphere she feels smothered by the memory of the late first Mrs. de Winter, apparently hiding in every corner and crevice of the manor but mostly in the thoughts of the iron-fisted housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, who seems to be scrutinizing every step her new lady takes with thinly-veiled malice. Even her husband, Maxim appears to grow ever colder to her back in his home, haunted by grim memories. To make matters worse, Rebecca’s drowned corpse is found suddenly, and as the case of her death is being re-investigated, more and more secrets start to resurface alongside her body…

Only the second time during its history in Hungary, the unique hit musical is being produced with all-new concept and direction – in an open-air setting for the very first time, having found a grandiose venue to match: the grand Dóm Square stage of the Szeged Open-air Theare Festival!