High-profile premieres of the 2014-2015 season in Russian musical theaters

The 2014-2015 theater season was very rich in new productions. Musical theaters presented their audience with many worthy performances. The four productions that most attracted the attention of the public were: “The Story of Kai and Gerda” by the Bolshoi Theatre, “Up&Down” by the St. Petersburg State Academic Ballet Theater of Boris Eifman, “Jekyll and Hyde” by the St. Petersburg Musical Comedy Theater and “The Golden Cockerel” by the Mariinsky Theater .

“The Story of Kai and Gerda”

The premiere of this opera for children took place in November 2014. The author of the music is the modern composer Sergei Banevich, who began his creative career in the 60s of the 20th century.

The opera, which tells the touching story of Gerda and Kai, was written in 1979 and was performed on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater for many years. The play was staged for the first time at the Bolshoi Theater in 2014. The director of the play was Dmitry Belyanushkin, who graduated from GITIS only 2 years ago, but had already won an international competition among directors.

«Up & Down»

Premiere 2015. This is a ballet composed by Boris Eifman based on the novel “Tender is the Night” by F.S. Fitzgerald, set to the music of Franz Schubert, George Gershwin and Alban Berg.

The plot centers on a young talented doctor who is trying to realize his gift and make a career, but this turns out to be a difficult task in a world dominated by money and dark instincts. A disastrous quagmire consumes him, he forgets about his important mission, destroys his talent, loses everything he had and becomes an outcast.

The disintegration of the hero’s consciousness is depicted in the play using original plastic arts; all the nightmares and manias of this person and those around him are brought to the surface. The choreographer himself calls his performance a ballet-psychological epic, which is designed to show what the consequences are when a person betrays himself.

“Jekyll and Hyde”

Premiere 2014. The performance was created based on the story by R. Stevenson. The musical “Jekyll and Hyde” is recognized as one of the best in its genre. The director of the production is Miklos Gabor Kerenyi, who is known to the world under the pseudonym Kero. The musical features actors who became laureates of the National Theater Award “Golden Mask” – Ivan Ozhogin (the role of Jekyll/Hyde), Manana Gogitidze (the role of Lady Baconsfield).

The main character of the play, Dr. Jekyll, fights for his idea; he believes that negative and positive traits in a person can be divided scientifically in order to put an end to evil. To test the theory, he needs an experimental subject, but the board of trustees of the mental health clinic refuses to provide him with a patient for experiments, and then he uses himself as an experimental subject. As a result of the experiment, he develops a split personality. By day he is a brilliant doctor, and by night he is a ruthless killer, Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll’s experiment ends in failure; he is convinced from his own experience that evil is invincible. The musical was written by Steve Kaden and Frank Wildhorn in 1989.

“The Golden Cockerel”

Premiere in 2015 on the new stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. This is a three-act fable opera based on the fairy tale by A.S. Pushkin, to music by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. The director of the play, as well as the production designer and costume designer all rolled into one, is Anna Matison, who has directed a number of performances at the Mariinsky Theater in the form of an opera film.

The opera The Golden Cockerel was first staged at the Mariinsky Theater in 1919, and its triumphant return took place this theater season. Valery Gergiev explains his decision to return this particular opera to the stage of the theater he directs by saying that it is in tune with our time.

The Shemakhan Queen personifies a destructive temptation, which is very difficult and sometimes impossible to resist, which leads to life problems. The new production of the opera “The Golden Cockerel” has a lot of animation and feature films, for example, the Shemakhan kingdom is shown using elements of a neon show.