The sound of world music
The musical theater Studio Buffo is probably the only place in Warsaw where you can listen to the evergreen hits of the 1960s and 1970s, French chansons or Jewish music performed live by talented young artists in interesting and original arrangements.
For three seasons now the theater has been organizing thematic evenings with songs from different cultural circles. American, French, Italian, Russian, Romani and Jewish evenings are organized on a regular basis, along with a Hity Buffo Evening, where the centerpieces from the thematic sessions are performed. To ensure that the audience is in a party mood, wine is offered during the show. The performances are prepared and arranged by the dynamic duo of Janusz Józefowicz, the theater's artistic director, and Janusz Stokłosa, its composer. The pair are most famous for the hit musical Metro, which was exported for a run on Broadway.
This month, the American Evening, with songs by Elvis Presley, James Brown and Aretha Franklin, to name but a few, will take place on January 21. The Italian Evening will be held on January 24, the French on the 28th and Hity Buffo on the 30th. Tickets cost from zł.55 to 150.
The theater itself has a rich history. It is located in the former Polish YMCA building, built in 1934. During the Second World War, the building housed the Nazi Gestapo. After the war, the YMCA was a beacon of Western culture in Stalinist Poland, organizing jazz concerts and jazz evenings. This wasn't tolerated for long, however, and the YMCA was closed and most of its record collection destroyed.
In 1956 Teatr Buffo was established on the premises. In 1992 Studio Buffo was established, mainly to protect the group of artists performing in the highly successful Metro, which was in danger of being dissolved. Today Studio Buffo is a commercial theater, living by the rules of the market and not relying on subventions from the state. The theater also has its eye on the future - Studio Artystyczne Metro, where talented children and teenagers are educated in musical theater, operates on the premises.
