This year the legendary rock opera will turn 37 years old, during which time more than 1,500 thousand performances have been given. Almost always with a full house. Despite the fact that several generations of performers have changed, the performance still excites the audience. Reviews about "Juno and Avos" were always only enthusiastic, starting from the era of stagnation, continuing into perestroika and surviving to the present.
Primary source
The plot of the poem and rock opera is based on a real story that happened with the Russian statesman and traveler Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov (1764-1807). 43-year-old Russian nobleman fell in love with sixteen-year-old Conchita Arguello, daughter of the Spanish commandant of San Francisco.
According to the memoirs of the author of the poem Andrei Voznesensky, "Avos" he began to write in Vancouver, Canada, when he read the work of J. Lensen about Rezanov. The author wrote very flatteringly about a brave traveler. Also used for writing was the travel diary of Nikolai Petrovich, which was partially preserved and published.
But neither a poem, nor a musical performance is at all documentary chronicles, as the famous poet said in one of his interviews. In reviews of Juno and Avos, viewers wrote that they could make a great performance out of a small play.
History of a Russian traveler
Nikolai Rezanov was one of the leaders of the Russian expedition, which sailed to California to buy food for the Russian colony in Alaska. An elderly nobleman fell in love with the sixteen-year-old Conchita Arguello and they became engaged. As a Russian nobleman, he needed to return to the imperial court in order to obtain permission to marry a Catholic, but before that visit Alaska. On returning home, the groom became seriously ill and died in Krasnoyarsk. The bride for a long time did not want to believe in the death of her lover, information about which sometimes reached her. According to reviews of Juno and Avos, viewers really liked this romantic story, which was immortalized in a poem and a rock opera.
Conchita believed in Rezanov’s death only in 1842, when George Simpson, an English traveler, told the story of his death. She waited thirty-five years for the groom. A few years after this, the Spaniard cut her hair as a nun and died in 1857.
Creation of a rock opera
In 1978, the young composer Alexei Rybnikov presented Mark Zakharov musical improvisations on the themes of Orthodox chants. The director really liked the music, he decided to create a play based on it on the plot of "Words about Igor's Regiment" and offered to write a libretto to the popular poet Andrei Voznesensky. However, he did not support the idea, offering his poem Avos. Zakharov agreed, setting the condition that the composer would determine himself. The poet later wrote in reviews of "Juno and Avos", Rybnikov - it was a happy choice.
For the libretto of the play, many scenes and arias had to be added. Therefore, in the reviews of “Juno and Avos”, the audience, who first read the poem, noted that the rock opera made a stronger impression on them. Vladimir Vasiliev became the choreographer, who got into the play almost by accident. One day, Karachentsev came to him, complaining that everything was fixated on them and they did not know what to do next. The choreographer to propose to weave the dances into the outline of the whole performance.
First performance
The rock opera premiered on July 9, 1981 on the stage of the famous Moscow Lenin Komsomol Theater. The leading male roles involved the famous Soviet actors Nikolai Karachentsov (Count Rezanov), Alexander Abdulov (Fernando). In the main female role, Rezanov's beloved, is Elena Shanina (Conchita). Karachentsev played the Russian nobleman until the accident (car accident). The actor had to take vocal lessons from musician Pavel Smeyan, who played the Main Composer. He pulled high notes when Rezanov could not cope with them.
According to the memoirs of music author Rybnikov, reviews of the Juno and Avos Theater Lenkom literally a few days later were published in the Western press. Where journalists rated the performance as anti-Soviet. Because of this, the production was not released abroad for a long time, they delayed the release of a record with a rock opera and the payment of a fee. In 1983, a television version was released. In the same year, triumphal tours were organized by the famous French designer Pierre Cardin. Rock opera was shown in Paris on the Champs Elysees, in New York on Broadway. In subsequent years - in Germany, the Netherlands and many other countries.
Modern performance
This year's performance turned 37 years old, all these years it has been going on with the same full house in Lenkom. The dream of every aspiring theater actor to get the role of one of thirteen sailors. The popular actor Dmitry Pevtsov played a sailor on a ship in Avos for almost ten years. Since 2005, "became captain." His beloved is played by Alla Yuganova, and Viktor Rakov, the eternal rival of Fernando.
On the poster for the play in the subtitle it says: "Modern opera in two parts." Since in the reviews to Leno’s Juno and Avos, viewers note that the story has not lost its relevance. Although many of them write that for them there is no Rezanov, except in the performance of Karachentsev, and Fernando is only Abdulov. The performance actually traveled the whole world, costumes have not been removed from drawers for convenience for a long time.
What do authors and viewers say about the play now?
Mark Zakharov says that the performance brought a lot of joyful emotions that helped the troupe live. Voznesensky managed to write an excellent poem, and Rybnikov - wonderful music, which became an alloy of Russian romance, Orthodox chants and rock culture. The choreographer of the play, Vladimir Vasiliev, is sure that the story of Rezanov and Conchita will be new as long as the next generations introduce their aesthetics and features of the new era. And for a long time no one is surprised when in the finals the audience begins to sing along to their favorite characters.
In reviews of the opera "Juno and Avos" one can find the most diverse opinions: some like Rezanov Karachentsev in his younger years, others believe that in adulthood he began to better understand his character. Some are generally more attracted to Pevtsov’s game.