It happened!
07.10.2008
It happened!
The premiere of Jay Reise’s “Rasputin” took place in “Helikon-Opera”. The thing that American composer had been waiting for 12 years and Dmitry Bertman had shelved for 12 years had finally happened. On the 29th of September the performance was shown to journalists and on the 1st of October the performance was shown to public.
“Rasputinschina”, as many were afraid of, didn’t occur. The turntable, weighing several tons, was moving smoothly. The pistols never misfired.
The Faberge eggs, brooded to the giant sizes by designers Igor Nezhny and Tatiana Tulubieva, impressed the public as expected.
The orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ponkin was giving creeps with ominous diminuendo and was making the audience tremble with powerful crescendo.
It seemed like the characters from the old pictures returned to life and spectators saw the real historical figures – Nikolas II, elegant Alexandra Fedorovna, handsome Felix Youssopov, demonic Grigory Rasputin…
During the premiere series the part of Rasputin was performed by Nikolay Galin and Mikhail Nikanorov. Part of Tsar Nikolas II was played by Nikolay Dorozhkin, Sergey Kostiuk and Andrey Palamarchuk. Natalia Zagorinskaya, Tatiana Kuindji, Svetlana Sozdateleva, Anna Pegova and Ekaterina Trebeleva shone as Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna. Felix Youssopov, performed by Vasily Efimov, Ivan Ozhogin and Dmitry Khromov, became one of the main characters.
The role of Irina Youssopova was played by Maria Liepa-Shults, Elena Ionova and Svetlana Rossiyskaya. The role of Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich was performed by Mikhail Davydov and Pavel Bykov; Dr. Sokolsky – Dmitry Ponomarev and Mikhail Verbitsky; General Zhevadov – Alexey Tikhomirov and Dmitry Skorikov, Smerdsky – Anatoly Ponomarev and Mikhail Verbitsky. Mikhail Seryshev performed Iliodor, a monk. And Mikhail Laverov and Ilia Ilin had to get the feel of the role of Lenin!
In the first interview, given to journalists right after the performance, Jay Reise confessed that he could see such a production only in his dreams and only after the premiere he understood what a wonderful music he wrote!
All premiere performances were played with full house. People asked for an “extra ticket” near Arbatskaya metro station. Many friends and permanent spectators of the theatre came to see the premiere. Among them Eldar Ryazanov, Irina Maslenikova, Lev Leschenko, Angelina Vovk, Mikhail Zurabov, Sergey Khudiakov and many others.
The performance had a great success! The tickets for January 2009 series of “Rasputin” are already sold in the box-offices.
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Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna (People's Artist of Russia Natalia Zagorinskaya) and Rasputin (Nikolay Galin)
Rasputin (Nikolay Galin) |
Scene from the performance | |
From left to right: General Zhevadov (Alexey Tikhomirov), Smerdsky (Mikhail Verbitsky), Prince Felix Youssopov (Vasily Efimov), Tsar Nikolay (The Honoured Artist of Russia Nikolay Dorozhkin) |
Rasputin (Nikolay Galin) |
Prince Felix Youssopov (Vasily Efimov), Rasputin (Nikolay Galin) |
Lenin (Mikhail Laverov), artists of the choir |
Bows after the performance | |
Eldar Ryazanov and Dmitry Bertman | Nikolay Galin, Jay Reise and Nikolay Dorozhkin |
Dmitry Bertman, Jay Reise and Director General of TNT company Harro van Graafeiland |
Dmitry Bertman and Harro van Graafeiland: a foreword before the performance of "Rasputin" for TNT company |
Dmitry Bertman, Lev Leschenko and the Chairman of the Department of Culture of Moscow Sergey Khudiakov |
The First Secretary of the Embassy of Israel in Moscow Jossi Tavor, Dmitry Bertman and the Counsellor of the President of Russian Federation Mikhail Zurabov |
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Photos by Emil Matveyev (1), Sergey Lutenko (2) and Sergey Tsaregorodtsev (3)