Lulu
Expressionistic drama
Alban Berg
Libretto by composer
Stage Director – Dmitry Bertman
Music Director – Vladimir Ponkin
Set and Costume Designers – Igor Nezhny and Tatiana Tulubieva
Playing time – 2 hours 45 minutes
Premiere – July 26, 2002
Language – German, Russian subtitles
Dmitry Bertman: "In the personality of our main heroine an inconceivable, mystical oddity and childish frankness get along together with the features of classical great female characters of the last epoch: Carmen, Traviata, Lady Macbeth... Music looses its natural functions. It literally attacks you with energetics, influencing not only your feelings, emotions and memory, but affecting your subconsciousness. It's a kind of extrasensoric".
SYNOPSIS
PROLOGUE. EARTH SPIRIT ORINCANTATION
A tamer greets the audience and invites to see a show in which every character has its "double" in the wild animal world. He gallantly compares Lulu with a serpent.
ACT I
First scene.
The birth of a masterpiece.
Lulu is married to Dr. Goll, a Medical Professor; she is the mistress of Dr. Schon, the editor in chief of one of the biggest and influential newspapers. Dr. Schon and his son,the composer Alwa, meet at Lulu's place while she is posing for her portrait. When they leave, alone with Lulu the Painter tries to make love to her. Lulu's husband finds two alone together; he collapses realizing the piquancy of the situation.
Second scene.
Great masterpiece or the art of enthrallment.
Lulu now married to the Painter. One by one she is visited by Schigolch, an old derelict who blackmails the girl being the part of Lulu's past and by Dr. Schon, who desires to improve his social position. He intends to make a good match and to remove Lulu from his life. Until this moment the Painter has known nothing that Lulu has been under Dr. Schon's "protection". Haying learnt a tiny part of Lulu’s real past he kills himself. Lulu is free again.
Third scene.
Solomea’s last dance or King's long life.
Theatre dancer, Lulu is in her dressing room. She is coming to after fainting fit on stage. The delicate sole of the girl couldn't stand the news that Dr.Schon and his fiancee are in the audience. Dr. Schon, Alwa and other fans are in the dressing room. She sends everybody away, leaving Dr. Schon. Lulu makes him write the letter to his fiancee, renouncing the engagement. Dr.Schon follows her will obediently.
Forth scene.
Venus in furs or Cuckold's nightmare.
Doctor Schon now is married to Lulu, but the lesbian Countess Geschwitz, who secretly admires his wife, irritates him. After a while Dr. Schon returns home and finds the wife in the company of three new hanger-ons, males this time. They are - his son Alwa, an Athlete and a Schoolboy. Dr. Schon in a rage turns the pistol to Lulu, telling her to use it on her. Lulu kills him.
АСТ II
FILM. The Journey to the other side of the Moon or Total Eclipse.
First scene.
Waiting room or Resurrection.
The same room a few months later. Lulu is exhausted; she has escaped from the prison. She was jailed for her husband's murder. Countess Geshwitz rescues Lulu from prison, risking her own life. The Athlete, planning to make Lulu his showpartner, is angry finding her in a miserable state. Alwa is full of emotions and poetic dreams; he reveals his love to the woman, who had killed his father. They are going to escape from the country together.
Second scene.
Earth Joy Garden or Descending into Hell.
Lulu and Alwa are in Paris they are receiving guests in a fashionable salon. It is a gambling party. However German police wants Lulu; even in Paris she is under the "cross fire" of various blackmailers. A Marquis, pretending a noble person in fact he is a souteneur, blackmails Lulu, intending to sell her to a brothel in Cairo. Thanks to Schigolch help, Lulu gets rid of another blackmailer - the Athlete. The news that the market in Jungfray shares has crashed brings panics to the guests as most of them were shareholders, Lulu and Alwa manage to escape from the police and Marquis.
Third scene.
Lulu Last Temptation or Death Walk.
Lulu, Alwa and Schigolch have taken refuge in a garret in London, where Lulu has been forced into prostitution. Next to arrive is Countess Geschwtrz. She has brought Lulu's portrait in Piero costume. The Black Man, one of Lulu's clients kills Alwa. Countess Geschwitz dreams about a new life, but Lulu's new client - Jack the Ripper makes short work of both dreamers.