Operetta in three acts by Dmitri Shostakovich
Adapted by Gerard McBurney
Libretto by Vladimir Mass and Mikhail Tscherwinski
Translated by David Pountney
Sung in English with German surtitles
Moscow 1958

15 August 2009 – 11.00 a.m., Festival Theatre

When Dmitri Shostakovich composed his fast-paced and zany musical comedy Paradise Moscow in 1959, Stalin was dead and Khrushchev was in the process of building Moscow anew with the aid of corrupt architects and unscrupulous workmen. As high-rise concrete blocks mushroomed on the outskirts of towns, he promised a new paradise on Earth to everyone who till then had lived in cramped conditions in inner-city slums.

The central characters are a group of Muscovites who employ all manner of tricks to secure flats for themselves in the highly coveted new city district of Cheryomushki. We meet the brazen female construction worker Lusya and her boyfriend Sergei, who works as a chauffeur for the high-ranking party official Drebednyov. And we meet Sasha and his wife Masha who don't live in the same flat and have to steal intimate moments together on street corners and in metro stations. And then there is Sasha's conscientious colleague Lidochka, who falls for the ne'er-do-well Boris. They all dream of paradise, but instead what they get is a suburban estate without buses, proper streets or shops – and they come to see that their overcrowded slum lanes were not so bad after all.

Paradise Moscow is Shostakovich's forgotten work. Composed in 1959, the work is more operetta than weighty opera. The composer said at the time that he wanted to treat a serious subject in a light and entertaining manner. And he succeeded superbly: Paradise Moscow overflows with saucy song and dance numbers and witty dialogues, and is peppered with allusions to the music of Offenbach and Tchaikovsky.

Click here to watch the promotional trailer!

Orchestra, chorus, dancers & extras of Opera North, Leeds

Duration: 2 3⁄4 hours, break after Act I
Introductory talk in the Festival Opera House at 10 a.m.

Operetta discount: three operettas for the price of two! Book two operettas and get free admission to the third!