The operetta, known in Russia as Silva, had the working title Long Live Love! It was also put under other names: "Queen of Cardash", "Child of Shantan". Its plot is “the theater about the theater”, a story about the fate of the variety show artist Silva Varescu.
Silva's entourage is princes, counts. Her talent is admired, but Edwin, the son of Prince Volyapyuk, who is in love with Silva, cannot marry her because of class prejudices. The fates of the characters are intertwined, and it gradually becomes clear how deceptive a lot of things are in their lives... Silva was, is and will always be the number one operetta, its inspired melodies tell about the all-conquering power of love, which is not afraid of any obstacles.
Silva was first staged in Samara during the Great Patriotic War, in 1942, when our theater was called the Kuibyshev Opera, Ballet and Musical Comedy Theatre, while there were very few operas and ballets in the repertoire, and many operettas. In 1944 a new production was made which entertained audiences for several years after the war. In 1992, the main director Boris Ryabikin remembered Silva; in 2007 it was staged by Boris Krichmar under the title "Queen of Csardas".
The stage director of the current performance, Honored Artist of Russia Evgenia Tenyakova, sought to move away from the usual clichés for this genre: “I want the audience to see in the operetta not just entertainment, not a set of witty replicas and comic tricks. In the famous operetta by Imre Kalman, in addition to a series of ordinary situations, there are also deep human feelings. I was interested in the brightness of the feelings and experiences of the characters, I wanted to see humanity in a cheerful plot, the embodiment of a dream of love and fidelity. The eternal theme of most operettas is the theme of love, and in "Silva" it is shown how this theme is refracted in each fate in its own way. Next to the theme of love, the theme of the theater, the theatrical "inside out", backstage runs through the entire operetta. Shakespeare said: "The world is a theater." The operetta claims: "and love is also a kind of theater."
