Cacoyannis true to Aristophanes’ spirit in his ‘Lysistrata’
From Broadway in 1972 to the Athens Concert Hall in spring 2005 comes Michael Cacoyiannis’s English-language version of Aristophanes «Lysistrata.» This cabaret version was performed in New York by Melina Mercouri, then in exile from the dictatorship with her mind more on politics than on the struggle between war and peace or men and women. Cacoyannis directs and wrote the lines, Peter Link composed the music and Yannis Metsikoff designed the costumes. The young Romanian actors Maia Morgenstern and Vladimir Ivanov play all the parts with zest, bringing out the humor and the essence of the original. Helbi spoke to Cacoyiannis at yesterday’s premiere and he was delighted at the audience’s response. When the audience comes out singing, you can be sure it was a hit for Cacoyiannis, who married theater, musical, cinema and cabaret while remaining true to the spirit of Aristophanes.
