The dress rehearsal of the premiere – La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi – at the Bolshoi Theatre is over, and tomorrow, the theatre will open its 85th season. To stage the opera Andrejs Žagars, an actor and director from Latvia, came to Minsk.
Especially for the National Theatre of Belarus, the most popular opera in the world has time traveled, and the audience in Minsk will see the events set in the 21st century. The Italian opera, based on Alexandre Dumas, fils’ best-selling book The Lady of the Camellias written in the 19th century, was adapted to the 21st century, though. Archaisms were left out, and some irrelevant circumstances changed. The libretto remains largely unchanged.
The characters will be wearing shirts, jeans, and sneakers, and in the course of the opera, they will change their attire several times. For the first time, costumes were created individually for each choir artist. All in all, about 200 costumes have been made for the premiere. The scenery of the three-hour performance will change four times. Each picture has its distinct color or key element.
The 85th season is brimming with premieres. In October, the Bolshoi’s audience will enjoy Le Corsair ballet. Vyacheslav Khomyakov, the Ballet Master of the Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, is working on the performance.












