The Marriage of Figaro

W. A. Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro": arias painfully familiar from music school since childhood, a beloved, memorised production by the Satire Theatre. So when about six years ago a group of Choir members led by Marina Nikiforova began to dream of staging this opera in our theatre, I resisted: there were so many new and interesting projects ahead for me! But now those are behind us too. I realised the time had come and gladly plunged into Mozart's music. It seemed it would be an easy project: a witty plot, logical, sparkling music — we'll do it! But the apparent ease of the material played a cruel joke on us and, as a result, a week before the premiere there were half-learned parts, uncertain movements, and half-thought-out characters. And, most importantly, there was none of the "drive" that is necessary on stage for a show to "work". The actors, surrounded by marvellous sets and dressed in luxurious costumes made to Lena Litinskaya's designs, were irritable and tired — evidently the race of the last eight production years had taken its toll. And you can't cancel shows for half of which the audience has already signed up! And then fate intervened in the form of covid... EVERYTHING was cancelled and we, together with most of humanity, fell into hibernation.

A year and a half later the fears had subsided and we decided to resume rehearsals. An interesting feeling: as though we had risen from the ashes — everyone worked with a smile, with pleasure. A month before the performances people began saying that the music from "Figaro" came to them in dreams at night, which showed an encouraging degree of preparation. Yes, everyone had learned everything and was "pawing the ground," eager to start performing.

Now it is all behind us — both the pleasure of the 12 performances given and the shouts of "bravo!" from delighted audiences. Several permanent members of our company could not, for various reasons, take part in the resumed production. And we are very grateful to the people who joined our troupe at the last moment and supported us in a difficult time: Lena Johansen, Zhargal Maladaev, Anton Nikiforov, Igor Plotnikov.

Thank you to the whole company for creating yet another "masterpiece"!

Irina Sadovnikova