A new production of Witold Gombrowicz’s Operetta will premiere at the Dramatyczny Theater in Warsaw Oct. 12, promising to add a new dimension to musical theater.

Operetta is the last play by Gombrowicz (1904-1969), a Polish novelist and dramatist who lived and worked abroad for much of his life after he left Poland for Argentina before World War II. The play uses an operetta form and grotesque to show how the world succumbed to totalitarianism in the 20th century.

The Dramatyczny Theater production is by Wojciech Kościelniak, a Polish director who regularly wins applause from critics for each new work.Critics agree that Kościelniak has managed to create his own style in musical theater and restored the genre to its former and long-lost artistic splendor.

“In the case of this production, the musical layer will be an important driving force, with the emphasis placed on an interplay of two forces: classical music involving opera singing and folk music with its distinctive white voice singing,” Kościelniak said.

The music for the Dramatyczny Theater production is by Piotr Dziubek and the stage design by Damian Styrna. The cast includes Anna Czartoryska (Fior) Paweł Tucholski (Prince), Modest Ruciński/Paweł Paprocki (Charmant), Marcin Przybylski (Firulet), Piotr Kamiński (First Pickpocket), and Paweł Kamiński (Second Pickpocket).