Teatr Muzyczny Roma

Premiere: 12 January 2019
Running time: 1h 30 min (without interval)

New York. Prohibition is a musical story about the birth of the modern world, set in the 1920s, in the great American metropolis governed by jazz, the mafia and prohibition.

Prohibition dramatically divided the society of the day, turning the American Dream into an American nightmare.

New York. Prohibition has been prepared by the same production team (Katarzyna Zielińska – production, Łukasz Czuj – screenplay and direction, Marcin Partyka – musical director, Michał Chludziński – song lyrics, Paulina Andrzejewska – choreography) as Berlin, 4 a.m. and Sofia de Magico, two musical productions that were hailed by critics and loved by our audiences.

The script makes use of authentic hits of the day and original songs in the style of the era, composed specially for our production.

Nevertheless, this is not just a retro journey to the past. New York. Prohibition plays with conventions, offering a contemporary look at that time. In the course of 20 songs, we are transported to the most important moments of prohibition-era New York, discovering the world of blooming illegal business, driven by the mafia and gangsters, and diving deep into the heart of sin city. The story turns into a subversive, pop cultural morality play, posing questions about our chances to escape annihilation. Does the city and its inhabitants – tangled up in a dense network of murky businesses, enslaved in their quest for the dark objects of desire: alcohol, money and power – stand a chance of being saved? Will the city die – or will it be changed and reborn? Will sin transform into a recuperative illness? These questions hold the key to many of our contemporary fears and doubts.

PRODUCTION:

Łukasz Czuj – script and direction
Michał Chludziński – Polish lyrics and translations
Maciej Chojnacki – set design and costumes
Marcin Partyka – musical direction, arrangements
Paulina Andrzejewska-Damięcka – choreography
Wiktoria Monika Gołębiewska – production manager

MUSIC:

Marcin Partyka – piano
Sebastian Feliciak – saxophone / clarinet
Daniel Orlikowski – trumpet
Piotr Filipowicz – double bass
Kuba Szydło – drums

* Performance for audiences aged 16+.
** Running time – 1h 30 min (without an interval)