The production of the opera The Love for Three Oranges
on the stage of the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater was dedicated to the people who made a real revolution in art.
Sergei Prokofiev first thought about creating the opera The Love for Three Oranges when there was a crucial point in the Russian history - the revolution of 1918 in Petrograd: there was a civil war, and the revolutionary transformations divided the people into “us” and “strangers.” It was then that Prokofiev, who was abroad, being advised by his friend, the director and reformer Vsevolod Meyerhold, created a funny performance where the audience laughed simply because it was funny to them.
It took Sergei Prokofiev very short time to write the libretto for the opera: the musician liked the playfulness, epatage and optimism of Carl Gozzi’s fairy tale.
Despite the public's traditional love for psychological dramas in opera, Sergei Prokofiev creates a careless theatrical performance without any regard for opera fashion. Instead of psychology, he offers masks, games, farce...
Notwithstanding the tragicomic genre of the opera, a seeming lightness and cheerfulness, the opera The Love for Three Oranges has a complex plot.
Such characters as the King of Clubs, the Prince, Leandro, Clarice, the jester Truffaldino, Pantalone, the princesses, the magician Chelio, the witch Fata Morgana, the demon Farfarello will help you to comprehend it.
The Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater will offer the viewer its own aesthetics of the opera in unusual settings and with new characters that will try on the face masks of acquaintances and friends from Sergei Prokofiev’s entourage.
We invite you to the opera that will not only lift your spirits, but also help you understand the new challenges of the era, and tell you how to respond to them correctly and wisely!
