Rusalka

The genre of the opera is a psychological domestic musical drama. The author of the music and libretto is A. S. Dargomyzhsky. The plot is based on A. S. Pushkin's unfinished drama of the same name. A. S. Dargomyzhsky began working on the opera in the second half of the 1840s and finished it in 1855. It premiered in May 1856 in Saint Petersburg. The opera was staged with considerable cuts, in makeshift sets, with costumes and props borrowed from another play. The low quality of the production and the cool reception of the opera by most of the public meant that after 11 performances, in 1857, the opera was withdrawn from the repertoire.

In our Theatre the idea of staging "Rusalka" in particular arose for two reasons. First, Irina Sadovnikova wanted to do something grandly theatrical with a group of her students and their parents. Second, the vocal score of "Rusalka" happened to be at hand: it had been bought in 1990 at a sheet-music sale at the Gnessin School. Just like that, just in case... And the case presented itself!

Understanding that the company would hardly manage the full opera, Irina cut the score heavily and, as a result, the 2.5-hour opera became a 40-minute show. It might seem little, but everything was a first: solo arias, ensembles, acting. Larisa Moroz, half of whose friends were in the troupe, and Zhenya Putivskaya, whose daughter Rita performed one of the leading roles, agreed to make the costumes. The artist was Katya Kolosova, whose daughters took part in the show. Ilya Vinnik — a bard, actor, and director — was invited as stage director. Irina regarded Vinnik's work with the actors as a master class and, as subsequent productions showed, proved a talented pupil.

Rusalka

A historic poster drawn by Irina Sadovnikova

It is strange now to watch the video recording of this show: alongside the sets, household items hang on the walls, and the actors enter the stage straight from the door to the street. At that moment we did not even realise there would be a sequel, that many years later we would be rewatching our shows and remembering how it all began...