Musical “THE LEGEND OF ZYGIMANTAS AUGUSTAS AND BARBORA RADVILAITE”
Director-choreographer – Anželika Cholina.
Composer – Kipras Mašanauskas.
Text author – Romas Lileikis.
Set designer – Marijus Jacovskis.
Costium designer – Juozas Statkevičius.
Light designer – Tadas Valeika.
Soloists
Žygimantas Augustas – Mantas Jankavičius.
Barbora Radvilaitė – Karina Krisko-Skambinė.
Bona Sforca – Sigutė Stonytė.
Žygimantas the Old – Tadas Girininkas.
Tvardovskis – Kostas Smoriginas.
Radvila the Black – Jeronimas Milius.
Radvila the Brown – Tadas Juodsnukis.
Jokers – Rafailas Karpis, Mindaugas Jankauskas ir Dominykas Vaitiekūnas.
Premiere – December 12th, 2014
Duration – 2 h 40 min. with a break.
© Paulius Gasiūnas
About performance
The performance directed by one of the most talented current Lithuanian directors Anželika Cholina is easily the most beautiful, striking and patriotic main stage works of the last decade. The love story of the kings of the 16th century is raw, joyful and dramatic all at the same time. It’s both artistic and real. The audience is tempted to laugh along with court jesters (tenor Rafailas Karpis and actor Dominykas Vaitiekūnas) and cry when witnessing Barbora Radvilaitė’s (singer Karina Krysko-Skambinė) failing health.
Music
The composer of “The Legend of Žygimantas Augustas and Barbora Radvilaitė” Kipras Mašanauskas skillfully composed classic Renaissance music with contemporary styles, operatic arias with pop songs, as well as the sounds of rock guitars and Medieval musical instruments. Romas Lileikis created the deeply moving libretto for this musical.
© Modestas Ežerskis
Costumes
For this musical designer Juozas Statkevičius created costumes that are both “old and new”. Renaissance silhouettes are inventively complimented by contemporary designs and materials. There are total of 210 original costumes in this performance.
Story
Young King Žygimantas Augustas (extremely talented singer and performer Mantas Jankavičius) inherits the throne as a young child. His only trusted adviser is spiritual teacher old mister Twardowski (actor Kostas Smoriginas). Žygimantas is absolutely failing to meet his mother’s, Queen Bona Sforza’s (soprano Sigutė Stonytė) expectations, who’s now living in Krakow. No one has the power to influence Italian Queen, not even her husband King Žygimantas The Old (bass Tadas Girininkas). Žygimanta’s love for Barbora causes havoc in the land and Barbora’s cousin Radvila The Black (Jeronimas Milius) and brother Radvila The Brown (Tadas Juodsnukis) are conflicted whether to rejoice over the upcoming crown or to fear for the safety and well-being of their relative.
@ Dmitrijus Matvejevas
The Team
The responsibility for the whole dynamics of the musical falls on the shoulders of 32 dancers and their impeccable work. Rarely seen but always perfectly audible is the amazing Brevis Choir. Minimal set symbolizing Krakow-Vilnius union is the creation of Marijus Jacovskis. The team of around 160 people worked with this project.
Repertoire
6th October, 2018 - Chicago, Auditorium theatre of Rusevelt university