Fairy tale, legend, myth…. Beautiful Galatea

The Austrian composer Franz Suppe wrote about the peretta La Belle Galatea in 1865. At the core of the story - ancient greek myth about Galatea, a statue come to life, in which its creator, the sculptor Pygmalion, fell in love. In general, this story pops up every now and then in various works art. No less famous is Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, where the illiterate simpleton Eliza Doolittle acts as Galatea, and her "creator" - Professor Higgins - sculpts a lady out of her. In 1964, Hollywood director George Cukor made a film based on Shaw's play, My wonderful lady starring Audrey Hepburn.

The premiere of Franz Suppe's operetta took place on September 9, 1865 at the Karl-Theater in Vienna. There are only four heroes in "Beautiful Galatea"! The sparkling, light operetta quickly won the love of the audience in the main musical capitals of the world. In the seventies years XIX century, "Beautiful Galatea" was given in St. Petersburg.

The performance, which is offered to your attention, was a hit of the Moscow Operetta Theater in the 80s. I must say that the new edition of the libretto contributed a lot to his success. Its author is Andrey Menshikov. In this version, the dialogues of the classical operetta acquired an actual, sharply satirical sound. “I just saw your master at the market, he is behind the grapes. And this, as you understand, is for a long time, ”says patron Midas to Pygmalion’s assistant Ganymede. The hall explodes with laughter and applauds understandingly: it's the mid-eighties, the era of total shortages. "And who are you?" - Asks when meeting Galatea Midas. "I am a simple, ordinary ancient Greek millionaire." Midas walks around the stage in a tunic and with a diplomat in his hand, like a businessman. Under the wig and heavy make-up, it is difficult to recognize the artist Yuri Vedeneev - but this is him. At that time, his repertoire included mainly romantic parts of the first characters, so Midas in La Belle Galatea became a convincing victory for the artist in the field of sharply character parts.

And Galatea was played and sung by the prima of the Operetta Theater Svetlana Varguzova. In addition to the fact that the artist has excellent vocal abilities, she is pretty, feminine, flirtatious - she is the perfect Galatea. After all, her heroine is a woman as such. The gods yielded to the sculptor's entreaties and brought the statue to life. Stepping from the pedestal to the ground, Galatea immediately felt the power of her beauty. Men lose their minds, looking at her, and are ready to fulfill all her whims. For example, the philanthropist Midas brings servants with gifts for Galatea, and she happily tries on bracelets and chitons. “How did she find what to change into? ..” - the returning Pygmalion is puzzled. “If you gave a woman consciousness, then she will somehow find the matter herself!” - gets out Ganymede. The part of Ganymede was wonderfully performed by Vitaly Michelet, and Vladimir Nikolaev played his mentor Pygmalion. The hero of the latter, in the end, is not himself glad that he revived the beautiful Galatea ... Beauty is beauty, but how many whims! “This is what happens when a woman is put on a pedestal!” grumbles Ganymede. And Pygmalion can't help but agree with him...

MAY 18, 2016 at 19.00

Operetta theater

Pyatigorsk, Kirov Ave., 17

March 26, 2016 Stavropol state theater operetta celebrates International Theater Day and Cultural Worker's Day.
The premiere of the operetta "The Beautiful Galatea" will take place.
The author of the music, the Austrian composer Franz von Suppe, went down in history as one of the founders of the Viennese operetta. The libretto of the modern production was written by Andrey Menshikov.
Beautiful Galatea! An ancient and eternally young story about a statue created and animated by the power of great talent and great love its creator.
The sculptor Pygmalion, having fallen in love with his creation, asks the gods to breathe life into the statue. The revived beauty Galatea longs for fame, wealth, luxury and admirers, demands the fulfillment of all her whims. She does not need the sincere and sublime love of a poor sculptor. She accepts gifts from the wealthy philanthropist Midas, and she likes the prudent servant of Pygmalion - Ganymede. Having caught his beloved in his arms, Pygmalion, driven to despair, prays to the gods to turn Galatea back into a statue .....
A fairy tale, a legend, a myth... And yet there is a lot of reality here. The plot of the operetta is relevant: the relationship between people is always in the spotlight. The eternal problem the choice between feelings and wealth is still reflected in works of art today.
On our stage, the revived heroes of the ancient myth will tell about this.
The performance was staged by:
director - Inna Khachaturova,
conductor - honorary worker of arts of the SC Vasily Remchukov,
choreographer - honorary worker of arts of the SC Tatyana Shabanova,
set designer - Inna Avgustinovich,
lighting designer - Anton Vasyutin.

The good old operetta today, in the hustle and bustle of the computer age, excites the hearts of the audience no less than a century ago. And if among well-known classical performances this genre in the repertoire appears little known, it is always interesting. A pleasant surprise was presented to fans of the genre by the collective of the Pyatigorsk operetta.

Showing constantly the classics, the theater sometimes returns to its origins. Exactly 150 years ago, one of the founders of the genre, Franz Suppe, staged the operetta “The Beautiful Galatea” in Vienna, resurrecting the ancient Greek myth about the sculptor Pygmalion, who created such a beautiful female statue that he himself fell in love with her and begged the gods to revive her. The love story of Pygmalion and Galatea conquered more than one heart of artists, writers and composers who sometimes created allegorical works on the theme of "the creator and his object." The musical "My Fair Lady" - a modern reading famous myth. Operetta Zuppe, without leaving the plot of Ancient Hellas, the happy ending was replaced by a more modern one. Revived by the gods, Galatea, not averse to charming female vices, wants the fulfillment of all her whims, wants to please everyone, receive expensive gifts from the wealthy philanthropist Midas, and wants love from Ganymede, the sculptor's servant. And the suffering Pygmalion begged the gods to turn the windy Galatea back into a statue, after which he sold it to Midas.

The Pyatigorsk Theater already turned to this operetta 30 years ago, staging it, of course, in the spirit of the realities of the past, the twentieth century. And here is the director artistic director Theater Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation Svetlana Kalinskaya, director Inna Khachaturova, honorary artists of the SC conductor Vasily Remchukov and choreographer Tatyana Shabanova were again attracted by melodies full of virtuoso brilliance, and it was decided to modernize the cheerful unpretentious plot even more. They managed to ignite the whole team with their idea, and a bright, memorable performance was born, full of exciting twists and turns. interesting characters.

Surprises awaited the audience even before the start of the performance. The director's idea was creatively embodied by Inna Avgustinovich, an honorary worker of culture of the NC, set designer, placing among the ancient columns and even on the proscenium Greek statues, which in the course of the performance, under the genuine delight of the audience, began ... to come to life. Galatea also came to life (honorary worker of arts of the SK Oksana Klimenko), so desired by Pygmalion (Alexey Yakovlev) - an idealist, hovering in the clouds. About the work of A. Yakovlev, it should be said that in his expressive game there is a lot of charm, liveliness, sincere faith in love and in everything he does on stage, visually depicting a hero living in his own little world. This is immediately used by Midas (Dmitry Patrov), a simple ancient Greek oligarch who showered Galatea with jewels, trying in vain to attract her, but realizing that she is interested in him while gifts flow in a stream. D. Patrov created a memorable image of a greedy, mercenary rich man, and this role is undoubtedly another creative success of the artist. But the dexterous, dodgy, striving to snatch more benefits Ganymede (Nikita Rykunov) fell in love with the eccentric beauty. The performer of this characteristic role freely, temperamentally copes with the vocal side, and with the art of stage plasticity.

But Galatea! .. The role on which the whole action is based was not only successful for Oksana Klimenko, the artist developed it, made it much deeper, more significant, combining the mythological situation with quite modern realities. The scene of Galatea's revival, her "duet of kisses" with Ganymede are played as romances about love, and the scene of the daring "bacchanalia", warmly received by the audience, is truly a creative find of the artist. She is musical, graceful, plastic, leads the role with great emotional fullness and subtle humor.

And the artists who created stage costumes, accurately caught the director's idea: the classic chitons of the heroes contrast with the luxurious, "enticing" outfits of Galatea and the frivolous, "on the verge of a foul" dresses of the nymphs performed by the ballet dancers.

By the way, the ballet also made a truly invaluable contribution to the success of the performance: lyrical dance scenes, divertissements, the grandiose “Hymn of Love” with satyrs, gods and goddesses - all this filled the performance with a spectacularly expressive atmosphere of ancient Greek bliss, successfully emphasized by the light background of the unfolding intrigue.

And over all this splendor reigns the music of Suppe with its inherent soft Viennese melody and rhythms, uniting the plot and its embodiment into a unique harmony. Performing this music, the orchestra literally "breathed and lived" in unison with the artists. In a word, the creative team managed to create a light, elegant, ironic performance in which a bright ensemble of vocalists, dancers, musicians perfectly interact...

Peering and listening to the vicissitudes of the plot of a century and a half operetta, the public had the opportunity to make sure that it is still relevant, because relations between people have always been and will be the focus of real art. As well as the eternal problem of a difficult choice between feelings and wealth.

The power of love can revive even marble! At the request of a sculptor in love, the Gods breathed life into a beautiful statue. But ... The revived beauty turned out to be so capricious that her creator ardently regretted his request. ancient and eternal young history the artists of Krasnoyarsk will tell about the statue, animated by the power of great talent and great love musical theater.

Fairy tale, legend, myth ABOUT LOVE IN MUSIC AND MARBLE…

The ancient Greek story about the extraordinary power of love that can revive a stone on the stage of the Krasnoyarsk Theater will be presented in a modern way - director Nikolai Pokotylo and artist Yuri Namestnikov chose the middle of the 19th century, when Zuppe himself lived and worked, as the time for the action of their "Beautiful Galatea". The audience enters the world of bohemia - talented men and their beautiful, free, but capricious women. Galatea wears not a Greek chiton, but fashionable dresses. The retinue of patron Midas will appear in tailcoats, and the muses will appear in the costumes of cabaret dancers. Everything that is on the stage: details of the scenery, musical instruments and even the musicians themselves, participate in the action.

"Beautiful Galatea" - one of early work Zuppe. The story of how the sculptor Pygmalion, having fallen in love with his creation, asks the gods to breathe life into the statue. The revived Galatea agrees to bear the name given to her by Pygmalion, but this is the only thing she agrees to take from the poor artist. She does not need the sincere and sublime love of the sculptor: Galatea craves fame, wealth, luxury and admirers - a worthy frame for her beauty. In a word, she instantly understands the things around her and turns into a lover beautiful life. The romantic Pygmalion is incredibly happy to revive his beloved, but he is clearly confused: what to do with a masterful beauty? The sculptor cannot afford the claims of Galatea. She acts simply: since there is no money - goodbye, dear! But even the “simple ancient Greek oligarch”, patron Midas, is needed by the revived statue only as long as he continues to give luxurious gifts. She herself likes the servant of Pygmalion, the prudent Ganymede. When the unfortunate Pygmalion, driven to despair by the behavior of Galatea, again begs for help higher power, the high god personally turns her back into a statue. As the famous ancient Greek proverb says, "Zeus gave - Zeus took."

Men sincerely regret the departure of Galatea. Each in their own way. Pygmalion yearns for his creation and unfulfilled love, Midas - for the jewels that were petrified along with Galatea. Only Ganymede, despite the fact that he is also sad without the beauty, is the only one left to win - with Midas' money!

Note: despite the fact that the operetta was written in 1865, its plot is still relevant - the relationship between people will always be in the spotlight. The eternal problem of choosing between wealth and feelings still continues to be reflected in art.

It is known that the classical operettas by J. Offenbach, C. Lecoq, F. Suppe have never been performed in Russia in the author's version. The directors either wrote new plays, or reworked the original beyond recognition, adapting the libretto to the Russian stage and adding this or that share of topicality to it. The author of the libretto of "The Beautiful Galatea" A. Menshikov created his own version, in which the well-aimed "ancient Greek sayings" flicker every now and then: "the road is not a sacrifice, dear attention", "hope on the goddess, but don't make a mistake yourself", "I gave birth to you - I will break you." There are also associations with the Soviet stage: "Let's sing!" - the tipsy Galatea demands, and Midas, hiding behind the curtain, comments: "Let's sing, friends." And what is the value of “Is it okay, Ganymede? “Excellent, Galatea!” These moments added to the operetta topicality already of the Russian persuasion. Here she is - "Beautiful Galatea" - mischievous, sparkling, ironic and a little hooligan - myths live today if they are about love!

Nikolay POKOTYLO “…When I look at operettas and choose one to stage, music plays a decisive role… In Zuppe's music there is a place for both tenderness, passion, and even a duet of kisses; written under the influence of the work of J. Offenbach and the Italian opera music, with great vocal ensembles, sophisticated solos, "Galatea" allows singers to demonstrate acting capabilities, as well as the technique and beauty of the voice, there is grace in it, there is something to sing, there is where to play, there is something to be ironic about, there is life. It is interesting. Franz von Suppe's work is notable for its disregard for stage patterns, which is unusual for an operetta. There are almost no stable characters here, which are so inherent (sometimes to the point of toothache ...) in the operetta genre. Pygmalion's servant Ganymede - sings like a hero, plays like a simpleton. In the operetta there are bel canto episodes where you have to sing for real, and then there are grotesque, playful episodes. The roles flow into one another, the boundaries between them are blurred, and this makes the performance truly alive and modern. Suppe has written music that not only fits well with the dramatic task, but dictates the acting itself.”

The name of the Austrian composer Franz von Suppe (1819-1895) still continues to be in the shadow of his brilliant contemporary Johann Strauss-son. However, if it were not for Suppe, perhaps there would be no operetta in Vienna. It was Suppe who remained in history as the founder of the Viennese operetta, who opened its golden age. Inspired by Jacques Offenbach and his operetta Le Marriage by Lanterns, the clavier of which arrived in Vienna from Paris in 1856, Suppe began to work in a new genre. When the star of I. Strauss rose, Suppe did not compete with him, but did not stop composing operettas. His best creations, "Dona Juanita", "Boccaccio", " Queen of Spades”Successfully went on the stages of Europe and Russia.