''Viki'' is a 1935 Hungarian

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

by Pál Ábrahám to a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Imre Harmath and Adorján Bónyi.Pivárcsi István ''Magyar zeneszerzők kalandjai'' 9633762189 -2013 ".. valamint több (Viki, 1935; Mese a Grand Hotelben, 1936; Júlia, 1937" It premiered on 26 January 1935 at the

National Theatre (Budapest) The National Theatre, located in Budapest originally opened in 1837. Since then, it has occupied several locations, including the original building at Kerepesi Street, the ''People's Theatre'' at Blaha Lujza Square, as well as Hevesi Sándor Squ ...

(or Magyar Színház).

Synopsis

Viki is a headstrong, boisterous young woman who prefers to dress and act like a man. When she gets into an argument with the equally quarrelsome Feri, he fails to see through her disguise and challenges her to a duel, "man to man." During the duel Feri discovers Viki's true gender and instantly falls in love with her.

Film

Two years after its premiere in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, the operetta was made into a film in 1937 by the Hungarian director

Márton Keleti Márton Keleti (27 April 1905 – 20 June 1973) was a Hungarian film director. He directed 50 films between 1937 and 1973. His 1959 film ''Yesterday (1959 film), Yesterday'' was entered into the 1st Moscow International Film Festival. Sele ...

, with Rosy Barsony as Viki, Paul Javor as Feri,

Gyula Csortos Gyula József Csortos (3 March 1883 – 1 August 1945) was a Hungarian film and stage actor. He appeared in 80 films between 1912 and 1944. He was born in Munkács and died in Budapest. Selected filmography * '' A Vörös Sámson'' (1917) ...

as Hadhazy, and Lili Berky as Mme. Hadhazy.

References

* Operas by Paul Abraham 1935 operas Hungarian-language operettas Operas {{opera-stub