Why are they doing this?

A new musical “LOVE” has appeared in Moscow

In 2025, the inhabitants of the planet Krizon send their representative to Earth - he must find out whether earthlings are worthy of existing in this world or whether they must be urgently destroyed and a new evolutionary project launched in a cleared place. The emissary lands and immediately goes to the theater for a rehearsal of some musical. He falls in love with the leading lady and, despite the fact that during his stay on Earth he became acquainted with all human vices, he reports to his superiors that the planet cannot be destroyed, because there is a main value there that was lost on prosperous Krizon - Love. This, gentlemen, is the plot of a rock opera, the premiere of which was just played at the Variety Theater. This plot was invented by Lisa Mond, she also wrote the music, and the main role is also played by the singer herself. Direction and choreography by Regis Obadiah. All this is called “LOVE” (Little odd voyage of an Extraterrestrial).

The English title (translation: “The Strange Little Journey of an Alien”) is not accidental - they also sing in English (sometimes, however, switching to French). There are no subtitles. Either the project is intended for international distribution, or the author assumes that a “foreign flavor” will add a special charm to the “rock opera.” In my opinion, this idea is extremely unsuccessful - the combination of bad pronunciation and poor sound technology turns any monologue into a set of completely unidentifiable sounds. Without a program it is absolutely impossible to understand what is happening on stage. Well, just imagine: there are no decorations (three pieces of a gray wall with indistinct paint stains and three low stairs move across the stage), the costumes are something with pretensions to evening luxury. In the middle of the stage, a young man is writhing - it turns out that he fell from heaven (and it looks like he is suffering from withdrawal symptoms). At what point he falls in love with an earthly girl is unclear; no minimal indications of the beginning feelings were found on stage. He walks around the city (between three pieces of the wall) and observes the life of this city.

And the city is full of falsehood, pretense, betrayal and the terrifying triumph of sexual minorities. Girls dancing with girls, guys with guys - where is this world coming to? The poor alien looks with disgust at the population of the inspected planet - oh, and here come the sadomasochistic duets, and whips appeared, and handcuffs with chains. Red light district - three spectacular girls bend over on chairs.

This, with red lanterns, is actually the only scene that reminds us that the performance was staged not by Vasya Pupkin from Ust-Uryupinsk, but by the excellent French choreographer Regis Obadiah, who several years ago received the “Golden Mask” for his “The Rite of Spring”; the corrupt girls in “LOVE” were a little reminiscent of the stunning gargoyle girls in “Spring”. But she, of course, gets lost in the general array of this home-grown show. The artists sing about “hundreds of lights” and “hundreds of lives,” at this moment there are three singers on stage (there are six in total in the performance), six dancers (there are eight in the staff), and four spotlights illuminate the performance. At the same time, they sing decently - well, as they say, no one expected Caruso and Callas there, but for the Variety Theater it is acceptable. The biggest problem is the music.

For an hour and a half, not a single memorable melody. Not a great hit, but at least some tune that could be sung upon leaving. Something rumbles, something drums (the rhythm is nowhere more trivial), and everything seems to have been heard a hundred times already, but you can’t understand where it was heard (there was something similar coming from a speaker in an underground passage, and what was it ?). Rock opera? Well, Mrs. Lisa Mond flattered herself greatly.

Why did she need this “LOVE”, of course, it’s more prestigious to make her own performance than just a concert. But why did Obadiah get involved in this? Why did he bring with him very good dancers who worked with him in his performance in the ballet “Moscow”? It seems to me that the answer would be the same as that of the American who taught English at our university, and during the most robber years he visited patently gangster places: “It was an interesting religious experience.”

Anna GORDEEVA