Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Opera The Legend of Invisible City of Kitez and the Virgin Fevroniya at Mariinsky Theatre Performances in 1994 & 2001

Abstract

The article is devoted to the two premieres of the Mariinsky Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin Fevronia, which took place one after the other in 1994 and 2001. The directors of the productions Alexey Stepanyuk and Dmitry Chernyakov created two different images of the play. The article examines all the texts that make up the direction of the play – the principles of drama composition, choreographic and plastic text, set design and artistic design, the drama of individual scenes, and analyzes cultural and ideological aspects. Excerpts from critical publications on the performances are given, which reflect the atmosphere of the audience's perception of those years. 
The author comes to the conclusion that the multidirectional directorial methods and artistic solutions of two productions of one opera work were necessary for the processes of self-development of the Theatre.