"Beautiful City - 100 years of Mikis Theodorakis"

"Beautiful City - 100 years of Mikis Theodorakis"
Composition - Directed by Giorgos Valaris
Tour all over Greece!

Η music-theatrical performance - an ode to the legend of Greek music which has so far been attended by 120.000 spectators, with countless sold out performances in Athens, Thessaloniki and at the Herodeion, travels for the first time all over Greece.

They interpret: Grigoris Bithikotsis and Lena Alkaiou.

Directed by the acclaimed filmmaker George Valaris with the sensitivity and theatrical quality that befits the emblematic work of Mikis Theodorakis, the legendary music and theatre performance "Beautiful City", which moved audiences and critics in Athens from 2020 until today, returns for a few performances and is presented for the first time in major cities and islands throughout Greece in the winter season 2025-26. The performance is a profound and moving tribute to the late composer, as part of the "Tribute Year of Mikis Theodorakis", as officially proclaimed by the Ministry of Culture, on the occasion of the 100 years since his birth. As a folk tragedy flooded with primal emotions, "Omorfi Polis" unites myth, poetry and melodies, creating a contemporary ode to the timeless and multidimensional work of Miki, through a new artistic composition with the leading performers: Lena Alkaiou and Gregory Bithikotsis.
A Last Bow to the Work of Miki.
The performance "Beautiful City - 100 Years of Mikis Theodorakis" is a redefinition of our collective memory through the music and poetry of our great composer.

THE PERFORMANCE
A journey from 1962 to the present day
The now historic "Omorfi Polis" was presented for the first time in 1962, marking a breakthrough in the Greek music-theatre scene. In 2020, the revamped version by George Valaris with top performers and the blessing of Mikis Theodorakis -which was his last performance- was warmly received by audiences and critics in Athens and Thessaloniki (Megaron, Herodesion, 2020-21), while it triumphed again with a different cast of performers in this winter season 2025 with repeated sell-outs at the Pallas Theatre, in Thessaloniki, Cyprus and the Herodesion. In the winter season 2025-26, it returns touring in major urban centres throughout Greece, with the pleasure of presenting a new line-up of great artists: the important performer Grigoris Bithikotsis, a voice inextricably linked to the life and work of Mikis Theodorakis, and the acclaimed performer Lena Alkaiou. For the first time, along with the great poetic texts of Miki Theodorakis, original prose texts by Giorgos Valaris and Stelios Papadopoulos are presented, which focus on fundamental issues of existence: love, exile, death, romance, solidarity and joy. Through them, the performance takes the form of a contemporary popular tragedy, where the personal becomes a collective demand. Some of Theodorakis' timeless and most important songs, such as: "Omorfi Polli", "Moon you made me a magic moon", "Of Justice", "One the Swallow", "Lay your mattress", "The Blood of Love", etc. are presented with new stage power, accompanied by a modern audiovisual spectacle of high aesthetics.

Director's note:
The confrontation with a legend of Greek musical theatre history, such as the "Omorfi Polis" of 1962, is always a risky but necessary journey. Wanting to give it new life and voice, through a contemporary reading, I devoted many months to the study of the life and work of Mikis Theodorakis. Seeking not just a representation, but a deeper form that could convey the timeless essence of his overall work, I was led - almost inevitably - down the same paths he trod. To poetry. To speech. And, above all, to ancient tragedy.
The ancient tragedy is still alive. Like a beat that has never been extinguished. And today, perhaps more than ever, it concerns us. We live in a time when the nation seems to be turning into a collective dance - a dance expressed through its songs. Those songs that have marked our every moment: the joy, the pain, the rebellion, the hope. Songs that become here the choruses of a popular tragedy.
Through the work of Mikis Theodorakis, a whole world emerges: a nation that is in pain and endures, a generation that lived tragedy and transformed it into sounds, and with it, universal emotions that cross borders and time. And so, little by little, I began to unravel the little narratives of his songs - personal stories that, when brought together, create a great, shared history.
I was led to this thread by his -not so well known to the general public- deep poetic language - a poetry inextricably linked to his music, to his own people. And out of this path the new "Beautiful City" was born: a stage narrative with its own dance and its own characters.
Here, as Mikis himself said, "songs are no longer like trees that measure the loneliness of the plain... but spread out leaves and branches... forming a small forest where birds, myths and people can live and die. And I call this forest the TREE - with capital letters."
This is the heart of the show. A performance that could be described as a modern folk tragedy. Because song - let's not forget - is the very root of the word tragedy. And on this foundation everything was built: the myth, the poetry, the heroes and the dance.

George Valaris
(Director - dramatic composition)

We are honoured to quote the letter of Mikis Theodorakis to the director of the performance, George Valaris:

"My dear George,
I left after the show happy and troubled. Not for you and your excellent collaborators, but for me and my work. The direction and performance had a profound effect on me. In the end, what I saw and what I heard was a Dream! And I think that's how the audience receives it.
The data, the materials were there. What was missing? A man like you had to come, with two basic qualities beyond his worth: love and faith. So you managed to bring out the spirituality and the hidden symbolism of my work, finally moulding a new person who is firmly grounded in contemporary reality and at the same time aiming for the Future. To the Tomorrow of Greece and the World.
And this is a victory for me, because the trials I chose to live through helped me to give birth to ideas and projects like that of the Beautiful City. Your presence in my life is no accident. You came at the most critical moments of a man for whom vindication is the last but greatest desire.
Thank you very much and please pass on my sincere thanks to all those involved in the show."
Athens, 21.1.2020
Mikis Theodorakis

DURATION OF PERFORMANCE
1.45 hours without a break

Production
BroadwayShow Productions (George Lykiardopoulos - George Valaris)
BOULE 38 - ATHENS 10557
Tel: +30 210- 3314088/9 Fax:+30 211 0183712
e-mail: [email protected]