Premiere in Moscow

20.08.2017

We were going to this point for a month and a half. Over 20 days of practice, intensive rehearsals with the director, choreographer, vocal and acting teachers, touring cities in Russia and Hungary. Lots of learned text, sleepless nights of waiting for rehearsals, a huge amount of stress and plenty of emotions. That’s all behind. All the tremendous work that was done by the participants of the NucKids Project 2017, led to this last and most responsible performance. On August 18th, the premiere of the musical Just a Summer Rain took place in Moscow.

 Traditionally, the premiere in the capital is the most important event for all nuclear kids. Sure! It is not accidental that Moscow is on the last place in the NucKids tour list. It is the performance in Moscow that gathers the largest audience. It is the performance in Moscow which is visited by the celebrities, friends of the project creative group members , as well as the management of the ROSATOM State Atomic Energy Corporation Performing in front of such an audience is not only challenging, but also quite stressful. Our young actors are not used to it, so, for the second year in a row, we gather the entire nuclear family at the Helikon-opera Theater to rock this stage.

 Almost immediately after arriving from Hungary and a short walking tour of Moscow, the kids set off to conquer a new stage. This year the Helikon-Opera theater, which is located in the very center of Moscow, opened its doors to us again. This is a very impressive venue, because during the theater season it hosts performances by Ilya Ilyin, Kirill Serebrennikov, Dmitry Bertman and other prominent directors. And it is a great honor for the NucKids Project that such a theater is welcoming our young artists.

 This year the participants of the NucKids Project decided to give as many as three full-format performances in Moscow. You could see the musical Just a Summer Rain on August 17th and 18th, and on the last day you could do it twice! We perform it just as big actors do.

 The day before the first performance, the kids began productive rehearsals in the Moscow theater. In just 10 hours, they had to set up the lights, adjust the microphones and, most importantly, adjust to the new stage. And, despite the fact that the project participants have already learned to quickly navigate on the next site, in the capital we still faced some problems. The thing is that the stage of the Helikon-Opera Theater is very deep and it is very easy to “get lost” on it. Therefore, our atomic artists had to distribute themselves correctly in order to fill not only the huge stage, but also the impressive hall with their energy.

 The first Moscow premiere was very lively. It was not only the first performance at the new venue, but also another opportunity for the second cast to appear on the big stage. The children, who had previously delighted only Hungarian audiences, were able for the first time to show their talents not just to the Russian-speaking public, but to the sophisticated residents of the capital. These people have seen many good performances, so the kids had to do their best. But the participants coped with this difficult task, despite all the fears and prejudices. The performance was in one breath, the kids were able to correctly distribute on a large stage and rock in Moscow like true stars. The former project participants, who came to support their friends, helped them in this.

“We have an unspoken rule on the project that each subsequent year has to be a head above the previous one. This applies to everything: the direction, the script, and the level of training of the artists. And after watching the musical Just a Summer Rain I can confidently say that the participants of the project NucKids2017 jumped above two heads at once! It turned out to be a great production. I really liked the very idea and the author’s ideas. It was a non-trivial story about Moscow, filled with simplicity, lightness and romance. And the kids this year, of course, are incredibly talented. They were able to convey from the stage the emotion that the audience craved for. I am very proud of them and glad to be part of our big family!”

Oleg Golikov,

Participant of the NucKids2015 and 2016

The musical Just a Summer Rain tells the story of a young boy who has just one day to see Moscow. It’s not only a story about the teenage adventures, but also a love confession to the capital of our homeland. In our performance Moscow is different: big, welcoming, beautiful, trendy, bizarre, romantic, flexible. Above all, it is beloved. That’s why for the residents of the capital the performance devoted to their hometown must have been shown with special thrill. The project participants, who themselves are residents of nuclear cities, understood this perfectly well and performed their best on stage.

“We were all really looking forward to the premiere in Moscow. We were told that our main performance would be here almost immediately upon arriving at the project. And all the way we came here was for the sake of rocking out in the capital. Literally, backstage you could feel the jitters. We had a unique chance to show the Moscow audience what we had been working for the whole month. This is our final point, the final stage. We were overwhelmed with emotion before, during and after the musical. It is very difficult to describe in words. But the main thing is that it all worked out! We made it!”

Alyona Gert, 16 years old from Angarsk

The first performance was played. It is followed by the second one – an afternoon performance, which was arranged especially for our participants parents and friends. The admission was free, so anyone could come to experience what NucKids 2017 musical really is. At the afternoon performance, the first cast, which got back on track, stretched out and was ready to simply rock the theater hall. Especially, when at the end of the noon performance, the NucKids anthem started playing and all former participants of the project from the audience rushed onto the stage (and there were at least 15 of them), our nuclear artists got finally charged up for the evening and final performance.

The final premiere is upcoming. The most important one. The major one. The most emotional. The latest one. The participants of the project knew that they had only one attempt left to captivate the audience, because after the performance, the play Just a Summer Rain would never be played again. A minute before the musical started, everyone got frozen. As usual, the members of the creative team cheered the kids up. What’s also important, the author of the project idea Sergey Novikov glanced backstage for a moment to tell the kids he would keep his fingers crossed for them. “Take it easy! You can do it!” – was heard from behind the curtains and the performance began.

It is difficult to describe what happened next. It is enough to say that it was the greatest, the brightest and simply the best performance. All the actors played genuinely and sincerely, the dancers moved perfectly, and the singers sang purely and emotionally. Everything went on smoothly, because the project participants have already learned to act the play during the tour. And after the finale of the musical many kids could not hide their tears. Everyone realized that it was done and done so well, but it meant that time to go home has come. The energy that the nuclear kids shared from the stage torn Moscow apart. We did it!

“So, the last premiere has been played. We performed at a high level. Everyone came together and worked as one team. All the tasks that teachers set for us were accomplished. I really enjoyed this performance. I didn’t think about the text or dance movements. I just gave myself to the audience, and to the performance. The audience reaction was fantastic, and that means that we have accomplished our task. Thank you very much indeed everyone!”

Danya Gnezdilov, 16 years old from Moscow

The musical Just a Summer Rain has been played. Finally and irrevocably. Loud applause was heard, the project anthem was played, all the guys got an extraordinary, perhaps the greatest amount of emotion for the project. The participants have done the impossible: in such a short period, they managed not only to stage an almost professional musical, but, most importantly, they managed to become one big friendly family.

Lev Suslov,

Specially for nuckids.ru