Organization

Singer

Natalia Savchenko

Зинаида

Fedor Osipov

Путанцев

Vladimir Sadkov

Голиков

Alexander Krukovsky

Поярков

Oleg Romashin

Ревякин

Stage director

Vera Dombrovskaya

Conductor

Andrey Alexeev

Set designer

Irina Dolgova

Choreographer

Vladimir Romanovsky

St Petersburg Theatre of Musical Comedy

Knock-knock

Saint Petersburg

Russia

St Petersburg Theater of Musical Comedy

Rose Foyer

Knock-knock Shpachek

Public

Approved

Musical vaudeville in one act by V. Shpachek Stage director - Vera Dombrovskaya Musical director - Honored Artist of Russia Andrey Alekseev Stage designer - Irina Dolgova Choreographer - Vladimir Romanovsky

In 1917, on the stage of one of the most popular operetta theaters in St. Petersburg "Palace", located in a luxurious mansion at 13 Italianskaya Street, the premiere of a spicy performance called "Knock-knock" took place.

The city's Review of Theaters recounted the contents of the new play in this way: “From young, yes, early, but in his own mind, the careerist Putantsev adheres to the wise rule: the end justifies the means, and steadily follows the intended path. He scatters a whole web of intrigue in an institution headed by his godfather. And when a storm sweeps over this institution, and the godfather of a careerist remains out of work, then the elastic and dodgy Putantsev comes out unscathed ...

The music for the performance was written by the chief bandmaster of the Palace, Czech Wilhelm Shpachek, a talented conductor and connoisseur of the Russian school of composers, who managed to deftly inscribe well-known musical themes - from the folk “Ah, you canopy, canopy!” to Tchaikovsky's arias - in his score.

As a result of historical transformations that changed the usual course of life in St. Petersburg and the whole country in 1917, the Palace Theater ceased to exist as a private institution. In its luxurious building, one after another, different theater groups settled, until in 1938 the Theater of Musical Comedy was registered, which to this day remains the only professional operetta theater in St. Petersburg.

On the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the opening of the Palace, the Theater of Musical Comedy decided to acquaint connoisseurs of the genre with the best examples of the repertoire of its operetta predecessor.

Knock-Knock by Spaczek is presented in an abridged edition by a small orchestra and only five soloists. One of the main drawing rooms of the theater was chosen as a stage platform for the performance of this unpretentious, but very instructive and quite modern story. Artists and musicians are in close proximity to the audience, who are located in a specially installed "parterre". Tuk-tuk became attractive to the audience not only due to such an unusual format. The lightness and piquancy of intrigue, coupled with charming music in a sparkling performance by actors, is a win-win formula for an operetta that has won the hearts of connoisseurs of the light genre for more than a century.

English

Knock-knock by Shpachek, From (2021/2022), Directed by Vera Dombrovskaya,, Conductor Andrey Alexeev, St Petersburg Theater of Musical Comedy, Saint Petersburg, Russia

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