Premiere in St. Petersburg

04.08.2016

Here comes the first and perhaps one of the most important milestones of the NucKids 2016 Project. More than 20 rehearsal days, plenty of learned text, 8 full-scaled musical pieces, many sleepless nights and a lot of invested effort. All this is over. Now the first spectator enters the hall of the Palace of Youth Creativity to see the musical Imagineers of the XXI Century.

 By tradition, all the artists, as well as director Pavel Safonov, choreographer Maxim Nedolechko and the author of the project idea Sergey Novikov, gather backstage to make the final cheer. There, the members of the creative team give the kids their last instructions, say their final farewell words, and wish them a successful premiere. “Hands in the center! One! Two! Three! God be with you!” is heard from behind the scenes, and this means that all the participants have received a boost of energy and are ready to meet the audience.

 The third bell sounds and the curtain opens. The audience, together with the young artists, immerse in the unique atmosphere of the performance. The next two hours fly by like a blink of an eye. One novel follows another, drama after comedy, conversational scenes replace musical pieces. Throughout the musical, the audience follows the action enthusiastically: they laugh, feel sad and sing along. After each scene, there is applause. At the end of the performance, after the final song, the veterans of the project Alexander Nikolaev and Dmitry Simonov perform the favorite anthem of NucKids live. After such an unforgettable show, the hall gave a standing ovation!

“The premiere was great! Everything was at the highest level. I did not expect anything else from the participants of the NucKids Project. Vocal, choreography, and acting – all this was superb! When the performance started and I saw the kids, I immediately had a feeling of nostalgia and wanted to rush on stage. At the end I still could not resist and joined everyone by singing the anthem of the project”.

Gleb Bogdanov, participant of the NucKids Project 2011 and 2012.

After the NucKids anthem, some of the children had tears in their eyes. It is easy to understand: they gave so much of their energy and emotion to the audience, that at the end of the performance the audience brought all that they had received that evening back to the stage with applause. All the kids were overwhelmed with joyful emotions, and the members of the creative team looked at the artists with pride.

“I felt like the kids came together today and made an unbelievable show! They gave a hundred percent, and maybe even more! Of course, we should say thanks to the director, choreographer and acting teachers, naturally. Still, the main stars of tonight are the participants of the project. I sincerely congratulate them on the successful start of the performance!”

Alexander Nikolaev, acting teacher

Indeed, the participants of the project NucKids 2016 became the main stars of the evening. The performance depended on them, they were the ones who went on stage and received the applause from the audience. Undoubtedly, the choreographer, the director, the teachers of acting and stage speech, the production designers and the project management did a lot of work to make the performance happen. However, it was the kids who entered the stage and did the impossible.

“The emotions from the premiere are the most vibrant! All the children are very happy, because today we presented the fruits of our long work to the audience. Twenty-plus rehearsal days have resulted in a full, original performance. Judging by the way we were received by the audience, we did everything right! I think that our performance inspired the audience and gave them positive and pleasant emotions. And that’s our main goal!”

Mikhail Likhunov, 17 years old from Angarsk

 Now, the emotions have calmed down, the audience has left, the project participants remained waiting for the members of the creative team to hear, perhaps, the most important and competent impressions. Sergey Novikov, Maxim Nedolechko and Pavel Safonov sincerely thanked the children for the work they had done and for the great amount of energy they had received during the performance. The director gave a touching speech, in which he expressed all the feelings he had experienced during work on the musical:

“I had a very difficult theater season, and Sergei Novikov’s proposal to become a director on your project took me, frankly speaking, by surprise. I had never gone into such “creative débris”. First, as a drama director, I had to direct a musical, and second, the actors I would have to work with were under 18 years old. Shortly, a pure adventure. I want to say a big thank you to you, dear participants of the project, because during these three weeks I experienced feelings that I have not experienced for a long time. They are connected with youth, drive, and love. I received a great boost of energy and powerful, positive emotions from you. Thank you for that! Today you were amazing on stage! Happy premiere to all of us!”

Pavel Safonov, production director

 The first premiere of the musical Imagineers of the XXI Century was a success. Now the kids will go on a tour of Russia’s nuclear cities. The project participants will visit Zelenogorsk, Zheleznogorsk, Kurchatov, and the final performance will be shown in Moscow. Let us wish the guys good luck in this trip!

Lev Suslov,

Specially for nuckids.ru