Production, set design concept - Elena Medyakova
Sung in Russian and Italian
Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes with one interval
Premiere: 12 December 2016

Viva la Mamma! is ‘the opera about an opera’. We see the stage of an Italian theatre where the troupe is preparing for the premiere of a famous opera. The characters-artists, the prima donna Corilla, the touchy-feely tenor Guglielmo, the mezzo-soprano Dorothea and the debutante Luigia, remaining in the shadow of the famed diva, all act in concert at first, but their professional ambitions and personal interests gradually take over the common goal and result in a series of theatrical intrigues, love affairs and comic situations. The whole melting pot is brought to the boil by mother Agatha who bursts onto the scene demanding that her daughter Luigia should get the title role.
The artists argue, the staging falls apart. But in the end, mother Agatha saves the day. The premiere is ‘to be’!
The opera Viva la Mamma!  is traditionally set in two languages: all the parts, arias and dialogues of the characters are performed in the native language of the country of the production, and the fragments of the opera-seria dramatized by the characters are in Italian.