‘Crystal Palace’ – a grand spectacle

Since I went on a long holiday just after watching the worldpremière or was it a prepremière, of what has been baptized as a multi-genre play, Crystal Palace, at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, I had no opportunity to write about this experience. However, I do not want another day to go by without sharing my enthusiasm for this chef d’oeuvre with my readers.

*** This event was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Malta and the invitation came from the Russian ambassador and Mrs Malygina. Crystal Palace was created to celebrate this occasion. The music is by the Russian composer Alexey Shor. He recently composed a short symphonic piece Loss, dedicated to the just fallen azure window in Gozo. He says that this composition for him is a rare exception, “I usually write music depending on mood, not event.”

*** The performance was in the tradition of the Russian court theatre of the 18th century. The unique Baroque-style sets and costumes were created especially. The project was initiated and implemented by the European Foundation for Support of Culture in collaboration with the Mediterranean Conference Centre.

*** Costume designer Elena Netsvetaeva-Dolgaleva commented: “When creating Crystal Palace costumes we abandoned modern technology, all the costumes were manually stitched.

“Why do we stitch by hand? Because it is more reliable. Modern methods of glueing stones and sparkles increase the risk of shedding and tearing. For example during transportation in a plane the temperature changes from positive to a sharp -50, even the best glue turns into stone and begins to burst while all the decorations fall off.” She is trying with like-minded people to keep the old school of theatre costume workshops but in a new format. “Our audiences are tired of domestic performances, where on the stage they repeat the same routine, gray life. The audience wants fairy tales.” How right she is! And that is exactly what we got that evening. We were transported by the spectacle into a fairy-tale world and away from our hum-drum existence.

*** This performance was not ballet, nor was it opera. In the words of the stage director Ekaterina Mironova “The soloists and ballet dancers, the opera soloist, the dramatic actress, the children’s choir, the little students of the ballet school and of course the orchestra will take part in the production together. We are very happy that the world ballet star Ivan Vasilyev will participate in the project.” But this was not all, on that magical evening. We also had the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre Maria Allash, the leading soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre Maria Vinogradova and the soloist of the Bolshoi Opera Anna Aglatova.

*** For our Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Pavel Klinichev, it was the first ballet project. There were other contributions from Malta: the children’s choir from Stagecoach Malta and young ballet students from Brigitte Gauci Borda’s School of Ballet.

*** Crystal Palace takes place in 1740 at the court of the Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna (1693-1740) who was of the Romanov dynasty and ruled Russia from 1730 to 1740. The first ballet school in St Petersburg was founded under her patronage in 1738. During her reign, many Italian plays were represented at the court, and opera and ballet were very popular. *** In the capital, luxurious celebrations have been organised and during one of them the empress learns about two sweethearts and orders them to marry. But the hearts of the lovers cannot be filled with joy, as the bride and the groom are ordered by the Empress to spend the winter night after their nuptials in a specially erected palace where the walls, bed and even the flowers were made of ice.

Now the scenery was truly spectacular, based on historical archives and surpassed all expectations. I doubt we have ever seen anything like it in Malta.

Scenographer Sergei Timonin said it was difficult to adapt scenery to what is essentially a small stage and “we wanted to look into its era through the prism of modernity.”

Choreographer Alexander Somov is a former soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre and a theatre and cinema actor to boot. He has also worked as director and choreographer in many ballets.

A comment from the conductor Pavel Klintchev who has received so many awards for ‘Best conductor in Ballet’: “I like to work with contemporary composers, because there is an opportunity to change and improve things during rehearsals; this is solved by dialogue between the composer and the conductor.”

*** Ivan Vasiliev played the role of the Jester. He is an Honored Artist of Russia, a brilliant dancer and ‘one of five best ballet dancers in the world.’ He commented: “I danced heros and princes many times. I also danced jesters, but this tragic character I imagined immediately in a technical and performing manner and, of course I liked it and agreed to participate in the project, despite the most difficult working schedule. Also for me it was extremely important and interesting that in this project my beloved wife, the soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre in Russia, Maria Vinogradova was going to be my lover. We do not often get lucky to work together on stage, especially in a fullyfledged performance. Such an opportunity could not be missed. We got married quite recently, but we have to part quite often because of work.”

*** In her turn Maria Vinogradova plays the role of Jester’s bride, the beloved of the court jester while the role of Queen of Crystals is danced by Maria Allash another soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre. It is in her hands that the fate of the main characters lies.

*** There were two more leading roles: that of the opera diva played by Anna Aglatova who commented: “This project is unique, first of all, because there is a tangle of two most bohemian types of art – opera and ballet on the stage. I’m sure the audience will be fascinated by the appearance of an opera singer on the same stage as the sophisticated ballet dancers. It’s always interesting to do something for the first time. The music is unknown to anyone so it seems to me that we can be called pioneers. My main task on the stage is always to sing wonderfully and be an actress. In this production I will add gracefulness to my tasks.”

And yes, she was truly wonderful swinging high above the stage while singing her arias.

And last but not least Maria Poroshina played the role of the Empress. She is a star of stage and screen and entered stage on a horse and immediately captured our imagination.

There were live white pigeons as well and one of them strayed but everyone was far too mermerised to care.

*** There wasn’t a single empty seat that evening I was happy to note.

And I must add that I am conservative when it comes to musical tastes and am a little suspicious of new compositions especially when it comes to ballet. We have, after all, been so very spoilt with beautiful ballet music– especially by Russian composers. But Alexey Shor’s music was lyrical and beautiful. Indeed, I will go as far as saying that it could have been written by Tschaikovsly himself.

*** This spectacle stood out for its choreographic variety as well as for individual skills. The dancing flowed seamlessly, thus pleasing to the eye. It was a huge undertaking and no expense seems to have been spared; the best talent coming together to give us so much pleasure. I am sure this unique spectacle will go round the world in due course. It should.

A well deserved ovation saluted the finale. The Russians in the dress circle were particularly vociferous but why ever not?

I considered myself lucky to be there that evening. mbenoit@independent.com.mt