On 26 and 27 December the Mariinsky Theatre will be presenting an unusual premiere to the public – Johann Strauss' operetta Die Fledermaus staged by Alexei Stepanyuk. The set and costume designs are being created by Vyacheslav Okunev while Ilya Ustyantsev is working on the choreography. The premiere is to be conducted by maestro Valery Gergiev.
Die Fledermaus most frequently appears on theatre playbills at New Year, and it is rare for a New Year gala concert at a major opera house or philharmonic hall not to feature the overture from this operetta in the programme. For the Mariinsky Theatre, however, this is not the most typical of genres. "It was specifically in 2020 that we decided to turn to Strauss' operetta. Circumstances are forcing us to seek an adequate response," joked Valery Gergiev.
The operetta's plot unfolds over an evening (Act I), the ensuing night (Act II) and the morning of the following day (Act III), though its subject is no less confusing than Verdi's Il trovatore. It is Alexei Stepanyuk's task to untangle all the amusing collisions. He may well be referred to as possibly the most productive of the Mariinsky Theatre's stage directors. His imagination has resulted in stage embodiments of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, Shchedrin's The Enchanted Wanderer, The Lefthander and A Christmas Tale, Weinberg's The Idiot and Banevich's The Story of Kai and Gerda. Stepanyuk's productions are notable for their attention to detail and the unity of the music and the visual elements. Of his latest work, the stage director remarks that "We are currently living through an unsettled and unsettling time – and such joyous and vivacious music and such a merry production, bubbly as champagne, with beautiful sets and costumes, may prove to be our salvation from the rather depressing mood that circumstances have brought us to."
At the Mariinsky Theatre Die Fledermaus is being presented with a Russian text by Nikolai Erdman and Mikhail Volpin. After the war, they translated the libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, constructing witty dialogues and adding several details – even entire episodes (for example, the famous scene with Emma the dog). As the production team sees it, this version, in which the performers speak and sing in Russian, will not only be closer and more comprehensible to the audience but will also offer greater space for artistic improvisation into the bargain.
The premiere is being rehearsed by several casts. For these performances, the role of Heinrich (Gabriel in the original German version) is to be undertaken by Yevgeny Akimov, Sergei Semishkur and Alexander Trofimov and that of his wife Rosalinde by Maria Bayankina, Elena Stikhina, Oxana Shilova and Natalia Pavlova. The role of Adele is being rehearsed by Olga Pudova, Anna Denisova, Pelageya Kurennaya and Antonina Vesenina. The full cast lists may be found on the website.
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