Ninotchka

Ninotchka is a stage version of the film script by the Hungarian playwright and screenwriter Melchior Lengyel (Menyhért Lengyel) [1] (1880-1974).

The original text

The original idea for a romantic comedy about a Russian spymaster who falls in love on a visit to Paris, was proposed by Melchior Lengyel in 1937, then converted to a screen play for the Garbo film Ninotchka (1939) by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch. Melchior was nominated for an Oscar for his original story.

Translations and adaptations

Adapted for the stage and first performed in French as Ninotchka in Paris on April 4, 1950 with Sophie Desmarets and Henri Guisal.

Adapted into an Afrikaans stage play by ** under the title Nina, Verlief in Parys ("Nina in love in Paris").

Adapted to the stage musical 1955 Broadway musical Silk Stockings, and filmed under this title in 1957.

In 1960 an ABC Special television production of Ninotchka, was aired.

In 1961 the Dramatists Play Service published Ninotchka: a stage comedy by Menyhért (Melchior) Lengyel.

South African performances

1953: Produced by NTO in Afrikaans as a stage play entitled Nina, Verlief in Parys, playing for 63 performances. Directed by **, with Petro van der Walt, Gerrit Wessels, **.