Libretto by Tatiana Kalinina based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen"

Musical director: Yuri Karavaev

Director: Recipient of the Francysk Skaryna Medal Anna Motornaya

Chorus master: Sergey Agranovich

Set designers: Andrei Merenkov, Olga Melnik-Malakhova

Сostume designer: Tatyana Lisovenko

Lighting designer: Evgenii Lisitsyn

Computer graphics: Evgeny Ivanov, Julia Pintsak

Choreography: Julia Markovskaya

Conductors: Vitali Hryshchanka

Sung in RUssian with Russian surtitles

Premiere: 24, 27 December 2022

Prologue

The Mirror of Evil

Do you think we always see the world as it really is?

This is the tale of the crafty trolls. These vicious creatures, who do not like people, are always busy with dirty tricks. A very dangerous toy comes into their grasp once: the Mirror of Evil, in which everything that is good and kind is reflected as being ugly and frightening. What fun! 

The trolls mock people by looking in their mirror. And…horror of horrors!..suddenly the villains break the mirror into millions shards.

The mirror is broken! 

So what?

It turned into a mirror rain!

And now the shards flies, 

breaking people's hearts and turning them into ice.

What is happening on earth? On earth there are a variety of people, animals, birds and... Storytellers who tell wonderful good fairy tales.

Act 1

Scene 1

‘Odense is a good city...’

The residents of Odense are having fun on the main square. Our main characters Kai, Gerda and Grandmother are among them. The Grandmother has a premonition and calls on Kai and Gerda to come home. ‘Don't joke with the snow-storm, don't joke with the frost,’ she warns. And trolls, who are always hiding among people, are ready to do anything to spoil the holiday atmosphere. Cheerful townspeople, and especially happy Kai and Gerda, irritate them. 

But the cheerful holiday continues despite the fierce snow-storm.

Scene 2

‘The blizzard sings not in a good time...’

Evening at Kai and Gerda's house. A snow-storm is blowing outside the window. 

The grandmother worries that the fire in the stove is dying out, and goes for firewood. 

The children are playing a game. They don't notice that the trolls are watching them all the time. The vicious monsters have planned a terrible thing: in the midst of the game, seizing an opportune moment, they sneak up and wound Kai with shards of the Mirror of Evil. 

Gerda and Grandmother wonder what happened to Kai? The boy is a totally different person. He picks roses, teases, say rude things and terrible things!

A freezing cold fills the room. And now the Snow Queen herself is looking out the window. Her voice voice calls out to Kai, and he repeats her words like a spell.

And now the Grandmother understands that the Snow Queen can be heard by those with hearts of ice.

The trolls enjoy their triumph! 

Scene 3

Winter Fairy Tale

The town square is crowded again. The citizens are having fun: everyone is skating, toy sellers and the Lamplighter are entertaining people. In the midst of the fun, Kai bursts into the square. Suddenly a snow-storm begins. This is a harbinger of Snow Queen’s arrival. The Snow Queen herself appears on the city square. She is accompanied by an ice retinue and trolls. The queen bewitches Kai and takes him to her castle.

The snowflakes abate and the Lamplighter attempts to instil the people with hope: ‘Look, it's hardly snowing anymore, look. Wait amid any snowstorm, winter has a brief season’.

Gerda decides to find Kai at all costs and bring him back home. The townspeople send her off to a long and dangerous journey. 

Act 2

Scene 4

Camp of Robbers

Twilight in the winter forest. What is it hiding? 

There is a carousal in the forest: the robbers have made a good haul. Ruthless robbers respect only their Robber chief, but they are really afraid of the only person: the unpredictable and daring Little Robber, her wayward daughter. Defenseless Gerda got directly in their camp. The Little Robber needs a friend, and she decided that this friend will be a new captive. Gerda tells about Kai, and her story touches the soul of the Little Robber. She has never seen love and feels confused; she wants to help Gerda, but does not know how. Sensitive Gerda, who keeps the sincere warmth of the human heart, explains to her: ‘There is no evil in you, you just never knew kindness.’

Gerda is not the only captive of the Little robber, the same fate fell to the noble Reindeer along with his master. He saw the Snow Queen taking Kai away, and he knows where to find him. 

There is always a place for a miracle in life, even in the lives of little robbers. Gerda’s kind word to an unhappy embittered girl changed her. The Little Robber relents and lets Gerda and the fabulous Deer go. They are rushing to Lapland.

Scene 5

‘See, it's so quiet in here…’

In the ice palace of the Snow Queen, human life freezes, and time stops. 

Kai is in one of the halls of her icy palace. He has almost forgotten his previous. The boy is busy with something important: he is creating the word "eternity" from pieces of ice. Trolls are bragging and interfering with him.

Gerda enters the castle. Despite all the hardships on her way, she saved the warmth of her soul and carries it to Kai. She tells him about Odense, their house, storks on the roof. It seems that Kai remembers: it is she, Gerda, who appeared in his dreams, it is she who called him. The song they once sang together almost warmed Kai's heart. 

But the Snow Queen is not going to give up: she will destroy everything in her path, she will achieve supremacy on earth, she will turn even the hottest heart into ice!

Gerda starts to freeze...

At the last moment,Kai rushes to the pieces of ice and instead of the word "eternity" he spells out "I love". His thawed heart prompted this word to him. Love will never let you extinguish the fire of life, love is able to conquer eternity. Only love will always help us to see the true beauty of this world. To see it as it is.

The Snow Queen has been defeated. Kai and Gerda hurry to their native Odense, where their Grandmother, citizens and the Storyteller are waiting for them. The city is celebrating the long-awaited spring.