Write letters to Nicholas: a bright musical created in the darkness of blackouts
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On December 10 and 11, screenings of Maryana Savka’s family musical “Write letters to Nicholas” took place in Lviv. A music columnist attended the event UP The life of Natalka Pysanka and shared her pre-Christmas impressions from the City of the Lion.
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Getting to Festrepublic in Lviv is a separate challenge, especially for non-locals. This is a huge space, capable of accommodating an audience of thousands, and at the same time a location that cannot be reached by public transport. On December 10, there was nowhere for an apple to fall. Despite the non-trivial logistics, whole families came here to see the new musical of the publisher and writer Maryana Savka.
“Violas! Where are the violas?” – shouted someone behind the scenes, nearby the children from the “Dudaryk” choir chapel politely lined up in pairs under the watchful eye of their leaders, the elegant musicians of the INSO-Lviv orchestra smiled at the visitors, adjusted their Angelica halos, Chortenyatka slyly winked at everyone. Despite the large crowd of people, there was no crowded and warm atmosphere was felt.
| The performance “Write letters to Nicholas”. Photo: Ruslan Lytvyn. |
The scale of the action was impressive: 170 participants in the performance and about a thousand visitors per show. At the beginning of the event, the presenter came out, seemingly for a traditional “warm-up”, but between appeals to children and adults, he gave important information about the procedure in case of an air raid. The presenter also announced that anyone who wants to can join the charity event and donate a book to the libraries of Ukrainian front-line cities. After a short introduction, the musical and theatrical magic began, which was accompanied by a bright video sequence and light effects. In the center of the stage were the orchestra members, on both sides of the stage the members of “Dudarik” sang along to the actors. At the beginning of the performance, rock and roll motifs, which he loves so much, were played Maryana Savka (she played the role of Mom). I remembered the touching waltz that Mom sang with her stage daughter Marta (jazz singer Oksana Karaim). Chief Devil (Esken Zova) warmed up the hall with a fiery rock aria.
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| The performance “Write letters to Nicholas”. Photo: Ruslan Lytvyn. |
Sowing was a surprise “Sow, be born, rye, wheat” to beatbox accompaniment. And all this variety of musical genres was organically combined with the transparent sound of the INSO-Lviv orchestra. We owe it to Maryana Savka’s talented arrangement of melodies Yurk Romaniv (one of the members of the “Maryanychiv Trio”).
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| The performance “Write letters to Nicholas”. Photo: Ruslan Lytvyn. |
The traditional plot about the struggle between good and evil is woven into the canvas of modernity, we see a Ukrainian family where the father (Teslia) is at the front; and one of the key images in the musical is a grid. Devils try to corrupt her, but in the end Angels save her. After the performance, each of the visitors had the opportunity to weave their ribbon into this net, which will later go to the front. At the end, St. Nicholas himself appeared in the performance, who spectacularly rode to the stage on a scooter. His role fell to Lviv actor and director Oleksii Kravchuk, recently demobilized from the army. An interesting coincidence: Maryana Savka offered Oleksya to take part in the musical, not knowing that his call sign in the army… St. Nicholas!
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| The performance “Write letters to Nicholas”. Photo: Ruslan Lytvyn. |
An hour of the performance flew by imperceptibly, it was felt that the adults enjoyed the action no less than the children: some of the parents fondly took pictures with the Angels and Devils.
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| The performance “Write letters to Nicholas”. Photo: Ruslan Lytvyn. |
But the lightness and ease on stage is more than ten years of creative process. Back in 2011, Maryana Savka began writing a small intermedial play with four musical numbers. The late father, director Orest Savka, at one time was very fond of his daughter, he convinced her to finish writing and stage a musical. Last year, Maryana was motivated by a meeting with the head of the Choir Chapel “Dudaryk” Dmytro Katsal, who got fired up with the idea of a musical. Later, the INSO-Lviv orchestra joined the creative tandem. Maryana Savka remembers that she finished writing the musical during last year’s blackouts – that’s how something bright was born in the darkness.
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| The performance “Write letters to Nicholas”. Photo: Ruslan Lytvyn. |
The only thing that saddened me: the musical “Write letters to Nicholas” is no longer scheduled to be shown in Lviv this year. Tours to other cities are unlikely due to the large number of participants and props. Perhaps there will be trips to the front-line cities with a reduced version of the play. However, the team has a ready-made script, ready-made scores, and Maryana Savka says that she is open to suggestions:
“I’m interested in how people with a different composition, with a different scenographic view, could implement it. Maybe we’ll see the musical on other stages – I’ll only be glad.”
Read also: Theatrical hype 2023: Ukrainians are discovering Ukrainian drama
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