My Performances
“The most amazingly happy person I was when I became the artistic director, director and founder of the Chamber Jewish Musical Theater.
The fact is that by doing so I fulfilled my human mission. And these are not just big words. I understood that people of my nationality at that moment, being in a tough anti-Semist situation, wanted to leave the land on which they grew up in the name of salvation.
I myself did not grow up in a Jewish family. In my book, I clearly indicate that I am a genetic Jew, but in fact, an ordinary Soviet boy who grew up on Gorky Street, loves herring, beautiful Russian women and adores everything connected with the Slavic culture on which I was brought up. Nothing connected me with Jewish culture until I was completely unexpectedly confronted with the fact that I was a “second-class man” and could not occupy the worthy place that I have the right to occupy.
In this regard, I had a number of natural questions to which I wanted to get answers. As a theater director and artistic director, I learned that my mother speaks Yiddish. All the previous time it was kept secret from me.
The most tragic thing for me was that when my mother died, I first learned that in fact her name was not Alexandra Arkadyevna, as it was written in her passport, but Sarah Aronovna.
All these circumstances led to the fact that I had an urgent need to declare myself as a person - my kind of civic existence. It was at that moment that I founded this theater ... "
The authors of this play are Ilya and Maxim Reznik. The director and composer is Yuri Sherling. Artists-Natalia Kanevskaya and Alexander Lisyansky.
The actors are engaged in the play: Nikolai Penkov as Rabbi Rebbe Naftali, Anastasia Mikishova as the main character Zelda, Olga Surkova plays Hana, Yuri Vasiliev played one of the main characters – Benyomin, Evgeny Khazov-the Hunchback. In addition to adult actors, children from the theater children's group "Domisolka"are involved in the production.
The play is staged in the genre of a musical parable. A parable is an allegory of an instructive nature. And in the play the action takes place in the period of Hanukkah in the area called Mirana. The inhabitants of this city are very poor, but they dream of a happy life and wealth. Lives in Migraine one Jewish family Sholom ber and his wife Khans. Their daughter is in love with a local idealist, whom some people think is crazy-Yosele. But Zelda is actually waiting for the Prince. In order to tempt and test the locals, Benyomin appears in the town, which brings with it gold and wealth. It needs to corrupt the locals with the help of gold. And he succeeds in this to the full. In addition, Benyomin liked the young and beautiful Zelda. because of the pressure of her relatives, she becomes the wife of benyomin, who is actually a type of satan. it ends with a fight between benyomin and yosele, in which the righteous man wins.
It should be noted that there are quite a lot of dances in the performance, which were staged by Valery Anuchin. They make the production more dynamic and successful. And almost everyone dances: starting from the classics and ending with a break. The performance is also filled with illustrations from Jewish life and information about Judaism, celebrations and beliefs of Jews.
