The St. Petersburg State Theater of Musical Comedy presents a chamber project from a series of dedications to the 110th anniversary of the opening of the Palace Theater - the first institution that specialized in performing operettas in the immediate vicinity of Mikhailovskaya Square (today the famous Arts Square).
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. One after another, different theater groups settled in its luxurious building, until in 1938 the Musical Comedy Theater 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 "ground floor". 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.
