Juventas 10 Years Celebration Video

Check it out. I made a video with a slide show celebrating Juventas and their success in making it as a professional ensemble for 10 years! Comment if you like it. Thanks!

Review #2: “The Magic Mirror”: Window Into Another World

The Magic Mirror review #2. Here's some quotes:

The Magic Mirror succeeds, most of all, in elegance. Characters move through a sumptuous world, wandering along whirls of purple and blue on the floor, moving through dark woods and bright cottages.

Also:

Still, it’s a beautiful show. The contemporary instrumentals...define a world of sharp edges and deadly consequences. The Magic Mirror unfolds like an eerie dream...always mesmerizing for the audience.

Read the full review here:

“The Magic Mirror”: Window Into Another World

Magic Mirror in the news and pics

Here's a couple pics, comments and articles about The Magic Mirror production this weekend May 30-June 1.

Here is what Steven Lipsitt, the conductor of the Boston Classical Orchestra said about The Magic Mirror:

If you enjoy the operas of Tchaikovsky & Mussorgsky, go see "Magic Mirror" at Boston Center for the Arts. A world premiere by the 26-year-old(!) Polina Nazaykinskaya, it's a grand opera packed into a 65-minute two-act piece in a 100-seat BlackBox theater. Expertly sung, played, & conducted --- a first-class enterprise. (And air-conditioned...) ;>)

hugecity.us named Magic Mirror as a "Top 10 Boston Pick" this week. AND, The New England Theatre Geek ran a nice promo post on the show.  Promo: The Magic Mirror. I hope you can make it.

Thursday, May 30th at 8 p.m.
Friday, May 31st at 8 p.m.
Saturday, June 1st at 3 p.m.
Saturday, June 1st at 8 p.m.
Tickets available here!

BCA Plaza Theatre
539 Tremont Street
Boston, MA

Tickets: $20/ $15
Box Office at 617-933-8600

Magic Mirror Rehearsal Preview and Synopsis

I am sitting in the rehearsal room at the Boston Center for the Arts as I type this entry. Don't worry! I'm not slacking. Lidiya Yankovskaya is working music for The Magic Mirror. In just a second we will launch into a dance call followed by our second full run. Tomorrow is the sitzprob and the beginning of tech week. If you are wondering what this process looks like, take a look at the video below.

My assistant director Joey Frangieh created a short video montage of our rehearsal process. It may not be the fanciest video that you've ever seen, but it shows an insider's perspective of life in the rehearsal room.

Before watching, take a look at the synopsis of the Snow White inspired show below. The story is similar to the one you know, but we've add a few twists. Let me know what you think of the differences in the comments.

Synopsis

Act 1
While attending her newborn baby, Queen Mother, lonely and weak, awaits her husband’s return. Suddenly, a mysterious evil woman sucks the life from Queen Mother and traps her soul into a magical mirror. Upon his return, the King discovers his wife’s body, and he falls into grief. Time passes yet the King languishes only for his wife. In his grief, he hears a beautiful voice. Confused, he believes he hears his wife, but the voice comes from the mysterious woman instead. She gives him a magical potion which forces him to forget his dead wife and, instead, fall madly in love with the new woman. The King marries the woman, creating the Evil Queen. The townspeople gossip about the Evil Queen and her mirror. Daily, the Evil Queen turns to the mirror for reassurance of her beauty and power. Time passes, and, to the Evil Queen’s dismay, the daughter of her husband grows fairer than she. Enraged, the Evil Queen demands the maid Chernyafka murder the Princess. Forced to follow the Evil Queen’s order, Chernyafka plays a game of “hide-and-seek” to lure the Princess away from her engagement party. In the woods, the Princess bargains with Chernyafka to spare her life. Chernyafka succumbs to the Princess’s pleas, cuts the Princess loose, and departs. Lost, the Princess runs deeper into the forest to escape her fate.

Act 2
In town, everyone is searching for the missing Princess. Meanwhile, the Princess, alone in the woods, stumbles upon a house. Unable to find anyone, she decides to clean the messy house and bake a pie in order to win the inhabitants’ favor. Suddenly, seven knights enter the house and the Princess hides only to reveal herself shortly thereafter. The men recognize her, fawn over her, and propose to her. She politely informs the men that she is engaged to her love the Prince Yelisey. Back in the castle the Evil Queen cheerily resumes her daily beauty ritual with her magic mirror. To her surprise the mirror reveals that the Princess is still alive. Infuriated the Evil Queen dresses as an old lady and seeks out the Princess. In the forest, the Evil Queen poisons the Princess with an apple. The knights discover the deceased Princess and place her body in a coffin. Elsewhere, Prince Yelisey continues his search for the Princess. He turns to the Sun, the Moon, and the Wind for aid. The Wind reveals that the Princess lies in a coffin. Devastated, Prince Yelisey bestows one last kiss on the Princess. Upon true love’s kiss, Yelisey restores the Princess’s life. The Evil Queen falls to her death from anger and the destruction of her mirror, and the village rejoices as the Prince and Princess get married.