Ruslan and Lyudmila at Mariinsky Theatre

Dates: (2/16/2014 )

Theatre:

Mariinsky Theatre

1 Theatre Square
St Petersburg,Northwestern 190000

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Phone: +7 812 326-41-41

Running Time: 4 hours 10 minutes The performance has two intervals

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Cast Creative Edit

Act I
Svetozar, Prince of Kiev is celebrating the marriage of his daughter Lyudmila to the warrior Ruslan. The guests praise the Prince and the young couple. Only Ruslan’s two rejected rivals are unhappy – the boastful and cowardly Viking knight Farlaf and the Hazarian Prince, the ardent and dreamy Ratmir. The noisy merriment abates: all devote their attentions to Bayan, the singer and gusli player. The prophetic singer foretells the destiny of Ruslan and Lyudmila: they will face trials but the power of true love will overcome all barriers to their happiness.
Lyudmila bids a sad farewell to her father and her native Kiev. She speaks fondly to her betrothed and jokingly consoles her unsuccessful suitors Farlaf and Ratmir. Svetozar blesses the young couple.
The quarters of the body-guards are suddenly enveloped in mist, there are peals of thunder and there is a whirlwind the force of which has never been seen before that makes all tremble. When the gloom dissipates everyone can see that Lyudmila has disappeared. Killed with grief, Svetozar promises to give his daughter’s hand and half his kingdom to whomsoever brings her back. All three knights are ready to seek out the Princess.

Act II
Scene 1
In his search for Lyudmila, Ruslan comes to the cave of the elderly Finn. The wise Finn tells the Prince who his enemy is: Lyudmila has been abducted by the evil magician Chernomor. Answering Ruslan’s questions, Finn speaks of his life, of how he loved Naina and how the proud beauty spurned him. Through feats of arms, gaining glory and becoming rich Finn resolved to win Naina’s love. But his achievements never touched her heart. Then he began to study sorcery to make this unassailable girl love him. Once again, however, Fate laughed at him. Years passed. And when, at last, with the aid of magic Finn succeeded in igniting love in the heart of the unconquerable beauty he was faced with an ancient hunchback with grey hair and a convulsing head who yet burned with passion. Fearful, Finn fled from her, and ever since then the vengeful Naina wishes revenge. Finn warns Ruslan against the evil charms of Naina.

Scene 2
Farlaf, afraid of the impending trials, is almost prepared to abandon the search for Lyudmila, but suddenly he meets Naina. She promises to help him find the Princess. Farlaf is triumphant: Lyudmila will be his.

Scene 3
Ruslan continues on his journey. He discovers a field filled with the bones of fallen warriors. The knight falls into deep and melancholy contemplation. Among the weapons abandoned in the field he discovers a lance and a shield, but no sword.
A mist descends over the field and a huge living Head appears before a stunned Ruslan. Seeing the knight, the creature being to blow and creates a veritable storm. Ruslan boldly attacks and for his victory is awarded the sword that the Head had defended.
The Head tells Ruslan his surprising story. Once there were two brothers – a giant and Chernomor the dwarf. The brothers were told that they would both die by the same sword. Having won the magic sword with the assistance of his giant brother, Chernomor cut off his head and used magic powers to make the head guard the sword in a remote desert. Now that the magical sword belongs to Ruslan, he can use it to overcome the perfidious Chernomor.

Act III
Naina is contemplating killing the knights who are in search of Lyudmila. Voluptuous and passionate beauties tempt Ratmir with their dances and he forgets about everything in this world. Abandoned by Ratmir, Gorislava searches for her beloved and laments her sad fate.
Blinded by Naina’s magic, Ruslan is ready to forget Lyudmila. Finn appears, however, and annuls Naina’s evil charms. Ruslan continues his journey.

Act IV
Chernomor’s magic gardens. The captive Lyudmila languishes. Neither the rugged beauty of the gardens nor the magic, neither the persuasions nor the comforts of unseen voices promising the Princess joy and pleasure can divert her from her thoughts about her home and her beloved groom. Svetozar’s daughter would rather die than fall for the charms of the evil sorcerer.
Chernomor and his retinue arrive to visit his unruly captive. At his order she is entertained with dancing. But the dancing is interrupted by the sound of a horn – it is Ruslan, who has finally advanced into Chernomor’s kingdom, challenging the evil dwarf to a duel. Chernomor magically puts Lyudmila into a deep sleep and sallies forth to challenge the knight. As the battle commences, Ruslan cuts off Chernomor’s beard with his sword – that was where his power lay. Chernomor is defeated but Ruslan is unable to awaken the Princess from her sleep.

Act V
The quarters of Svetozar’s body-guards. Lyudmila is fast asleep, having been brought to Kiev by Farlaf. The lamentations of the Prince’s retinue are in vain, as are the inconsolable Svetozar’s please to Farlaf.
But suddenly Ruslan, Ratmir and Gorislava appear. At the sight of Ruslan Farlaf takes to his heels.
Using his magic ring, Ruslan awakens the Princess.
All praise the gods, the motherland and Ruslan and Lyudmila.
Ages: Age category 6+

Cast and Creative team for Ruslan and Lyudmila at Mariinsky Theatre

Music by Mikhail Glinka
Libretto by Mikhail Glinka, Konstantin Bakhturin, Alexander Shakhovskoi, Valerian Shirkov, Mikhail Gedeonov, Nestor Kukolnik and Nikolai Markevich after the poem by Alexander Pushkin

Decorations are restored from the 1904 version of the performance by Alexander Golovin and Konstantin Korovin
Choreography by Michel Fokine, 1917 production

Stage Director: Lotfi Mansouri
Set Design: Thierry Bosquet
Lighting Designer: Vladimir Lukasevich
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko
Musical Preparation: Irina Soboleva

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