Somnambulist is a performance that has returned to the Bolshoi Theater after more than a century of oblivion. Bellini - the author of the opera - created it back in 1831, but in Moscow it last sounded in 1891.
The author created this amazingly beautiful opera in just two months. But “Somnambulist” is thoroughly saturated with the author’s worldview and filled with Bellini’s characteristic lyricism.
It will not be superfluous to say that Somnambula is an opera (the Bolshoi Theater makes an exception here), which rarely appears on the stages of Russian theaters. This year, in March, the opera premiered. The founders of the theater did not take risks, entrusting the production to the Russian director. The compatriot of the author, Pierre Luigi Pizzi, undertook the work. Foreign actors were invited as actors, who coped with the tasks assigned to them with ease and skill.
A wonderful melodrama, telling about the life of a Swiss village, remaining popular for two centuries - all this is about the opera "Somnambula". The Bolshoi Theater (reviews, it must be said, is extremely flattering) makes a “daring” attempt, more precisely, directed by Pierre Luigi Pizzi. The action of the melodrama is transferred to the Russian village: such a move, according to the director, should make the opera more attractive to the Russian audience. The heroines of the opera resemble the heroines of Turgenev and Ostrovsky. Every educated, literally savvy person has such associations. But these associations do not interfere with perceiving Somnambula as an exclusively original work. "Somnambulist" is a creation far from being like a "fake" for Russian classics.
At the beginning of the opera, the viewer is immersed in the atmosphere of a Russian village, he becomes a witness to a peasant wedding. At the same time, there is a rumor about the appearance of a ghost in the village, and a mysterious stranger also appears in the village.
Spectators note the extraordinary atmosphere that forms in the performance - a feeling of complete immersion in action. What is happening on stage is dynamic, vibrant and vibrant. All images are not just types or masks, they are vital. Scene scenery, which fully corresponds to the time and place of action, also deserves high praise.
The directors paid great attention to the costumes of the characters. On the one hand, this is the traditional clothing of that era. On the other hand, each costume is special, created for a specific hero. Costumes of the characters reflect the character and the inner world of the character.
Separately, it must be said about the direct participants in the production. The musical director - Enrique Mazzola - has long been recognized as the director of Belcanto operas. And the part of Amina (the main character) is performed by Laura Claycomb - the star of the most famous world theaters.
“Somnambulist” is a special world, formed thanks to the scenery, costumes and the magnificent game and the voices of the actors. Each performer is a person, each voice speaks of something. There was a place for Russian voices such as Nikolai Didenko and Oleg Tsybulko.
In general, somnambulism is a special condition akin to sleepwalking, in which a person commits any uncontrolled actions. The name of the opera is fully consistent with its content.