Credits
Libretto by Arrigo Boito after Shakespeare´s plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV
Artistic director and conductor: Dmitri Jurowski
Stage director: Vyacheslav Starodubtsev
Lighting: Irina Vtornikova
Set designer, co-director (scenery and costumes): Pyotr Okunev
Video content: Vadim Dulenko
Stage movement: Anna Ryabukhina
Chief chorus master: Vyacheslav Podyelsky
Conductor's assistant: Eldar Nagiev
Chorus master: Sergei Tenitilov
Assistant Stage director: Nikolai Natsybulin
2 hours 40 minutes
one interval
Performed in Italian with Russian subtitles
NOVAT presents Verdi’s last operatic masterpiece – comic opera Falstaff. “Finally I have a right to laugh a bit after killing so many characters” – said the composer about this opera. Basing his opera’s plot on William Shakespeare’s the Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Verdi in cooperation with librettist Arrigo Boito created an image of a real knight from the XV century. Sir John Falstaff is an experienced swindler, a man of square build, advanced in his years. He’s planning on solving his financial problems using two married women, Alice and Meg. He writes two identical love letters to both of them considering the deal to be almost done. However, his “victims” are not that stupid: they make sure the letters are the same and decide to teach Falstaff a lesson.
“Falstaff is a lyric comedy, it’s score sparkles with humor, while a dynamic plot and tender love scenes make a perfect representation of Verdi’s talent. This is a pinnacle of opera genre, the last opera created by Italian best composer at a high ebb. A sophisticated piece of musical drama based on works of greatest Englishman, sir William Shakespeare actually has a lot more in common with the present day, than it may seem at first sight. Our staging represents two different worlds juxtaposed – old London treasuring its traditions and a modern, fast moving, artist built British city.”
Vyacheslav Starodubtsev, author of artistic concept and Stage Director.