One of the most beloved and popular operettas by Imre Kalman, better known in Russia as "Mr. X", will be presented for the first time as close as possible to the original author's version in music, libretto and title. This is the Circus Princess.
A melodramatic story with forgeries, deceptions, a duel of characters and a happy ending, in which the lovers are united, and evil remains "with a nose", was born from the pen of Kalman's constant co-authors - librettists Alfred Grunwald and Julius Brammer. The composer himself determined the main scene of the new work: the circus.
The plot of intrigue twists in 1912 in Russia, or rather, in St. Petersburg. A rich widow, Theodora Palinskaya, appears at the performance of a mysterious masked artist performing a deadly act in the arena of the St. Petersburg circus. According to the will, in order to preserve the inheritance, she must marry a compatriot within six weeks after the death of her husband. Otherwise, her fortune will pass to her ex-husband's relatives abroad. Among the many contenders for the hand and fortune of the beauty is Grand Duke Sergei Nikolayevich, whom Theodora has repeatedly refused. In revenge, the prince decides to shame the princess by arranging her marriage to a circus performer, whom he passes off as a Russian prince. But the prince does not know that a hereditary nobleman and a Russian officer is hiding under the mask of Mister X...
The premiere of the operetta "Princess of the Circus" took place in 1926 in Vienna, at the theater "An der Wien". A year later, it was seen in Russia in a significantly altered form. The changes concerned both the geographical context - in the Russian versions the action was completely transferred to Paris or Vienna, and the heroes became French or Austrian aristocrats, and the ideological one. There was no question of any noble Russian officer on stage ...
The novelty of the repertoire was a success with the viewer, also due to the bright and spectacular characters of a secondary comedy storyline - the colorful restaurant owner, Mrs. Carolina and her head waiter Pelikan, as well as a young couple of lovers: the son of the formidable restaurateur Tony and the circus performer Mabel.
The film version of 1958, filmed by Y. Khmelnitsky with the participation of Georg Ots, Marina Yurasova, Anatoly Korolkevich, Glikeriya Bogdanova-Chesnokova, Zoya Vinogradova, Grigory Yaron, received the greatest popularity among fans of the operetta genre in Russia in the 20th century. The film was born after two years earlier Khmelnitsky staged a performance of the same name on the stage of the Leningrad musical comedy.
Today, in a new performance, the creative team decided to restore the rights of the author's edition of "Princess of the Circus", returning the action to pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 20th century.
The director of the new version will be Olga Subbotina, a sought-after theater and film director. The production designer is Yoko Seama, a master from Japan already familiar to Petersburgers, whose spectacular work could be seen in the musical Miss Saigon. Particular attention in the production will be paid to the circus context of history, in connection with which professional circus artists who have passed the casting are invited to participate. The musical director is the chief conductor of the theater - Honored Artist of Russia Andrey Alekseev.
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