Sergei Rachmaninoff’s one-act ballet “Miserly Knight” is set to premiere on17th April at Isidor Zak concert hall. This will be the first time this opera is shown at NOVAT, its premiere is dedicated to 145 years of the genius composer. Stage director of the performance is Alexey Smirnov, musical director – Ara Karapetyan, stage designer – Elena Bodrova. The directors suggest designing the performance in terms of cinematic “noir” genre of 1930-40s.
Elena Bodrova shared her thoughts on the performance: “We decided to put aside the Middle Ages style. By bringing the action further in time and closer to contemporary we wanted to help the audience associate the stage action with their present-day lives, especially since Alexander Pushkin’s plot underlying the opera’s libretto is one those, relevant at any time of the history”.
Costumes of main characters also have nothing to do with real historic knight armor. Costume designer commented on this decision: “Male characters of our performance wear classic suits like those in the sound films of the middle XX century. This type of dressing didn’t change a lot throughout the years, and it works well for us, it accomplishes the goal of bringing the actor closer to the audience. We have only added some individual details to complete the psychological image of each character. It may look like an ordinary item – a jacket, a hat, or a tie – but it’s the small details that produce a speaking image.”
“Miserly Knight” is the third one-act opera performed at NOVAT concert hall. And each time the stage directors use this unique space in a new way getting the best out of the stage space and the gallery: “The majority of our scenic solutions are suggested by the actual interior of the hall. In my opinion, it’s a big luck to have a possibility to use two places for the action, the gallery and the actual stage. This way we managed to create a complete image of the production centered on the orchestra”.
Sergei Rachmaninoff, “Miserly Knight”. Premiere. Isidor Zak concert hall, April 17th, 19:00.
Tickets are available at the theatre box office, on novat.nsk.ru and with our partners.
In the picture: stage designer Elena Bodrova