Description of the attraction
"Through the Looking Glass" - children's musical theater, theater of chamber (small) operatic forms; has the status of a state children's theater. It was founded in the Soviet Union in 1978 by the director, now People's Artist of Russia, Alexander Vasilyevich Petrov and conductor Pavel Aronovich Bubelnikov, who are still its permanent leaders.
The theater building is located at 13 Rubinstein Street in St. Petersburg. The very name of the theater - "Through the Looking Glass", received by him in 1990, undoubtedly, was born thanks to the work of the famous English writer Lewis Carroll. It reflects an original, somewhat non-standard approach to the nature of human creativity in general, and, in particular, to the nature of children's creativity. Probably, the name also reflects the essence of music and musical perception as a kind of mystery that exists in a different, spiritual dimension and is expressed in sounds, chords, voices. It is music that is the "balancer" that makes it easy to look beyond the mirror - the soul of a person and reflect or activate, perhaps, long-forgotten dreams and fantasies.
The combination of deep psychologism, plastic expressiveness of movements and bright vocals in theatrical performances is the credo of the theater.
"Through the Looking Glass" performs the function of the Family Theater, as it pays special attention to familiarizing children, adolescents and adults with the culture of perception of opera works. This is evidenced, among other things, by the names of the performances that make up the theater's repertoire: they are designed for both children and adults.
In terms of genre, the theater's performances are very diverse: these are mysteries and singshpili (from German Singen - to sing and Schpiel - to play); operas-buffoonery and Russian booth, musical and folklore performance. In the performances of the theater, the music of classical composers was used: P. I. Tchaikovsky ("Children's Album"), I. S. Bach ("Christmas Mystery"), J. Offenbach ("Hoffmann's Tales"), G. Rossini ("Cinderella").
The repertoire also includes a large number of performances, the music for which was written by contemporary composers: V. Vysotsky, S. Banevich, I. Tseslyukevich, I. Rogalev, O. Petrova, V. Ryvkin and others. As a rule, these are specially commissioned by the theater of operas with a focus on the target audience of two types: children and adults. For the first, against the background of heightened emotional perception, such performances cause a strong "explosion" of sympathy and empathy. For adult music lovers, such performances allow them to enjoy the impeccable playing of the orchestra and wonderful vocal performance.
The theater hosts monthly performances as part of a children's educational subscription called "Alice's Musical Adventures Through the Looking Glass". These are performances-shows that have a cross-cutting plot and allow children to unobtrusively and easily get acquainted with the grammar and alphabet of operatic art.
Today, the theater staff includes five honored artists of the Russian Federation (A. Matveev, S. Iskakova, E. Ternovaya, Y. Davidenko and V. Ognev), several actors from other countries, as well as students of the theater studio professor (and creator of the tetra) A. Petrov.
The theater has a children's studio, which began operating in 1992. Young students have the opportunity, under the guidance of experienced teachers, to comprehend the basics of acting, stage speech, choreography, solfeggio and choral singing, as well as participate in productions of "Through the Looking Glass". Along with the "adult" cast of the troupe, pupils of the children's studio are regular participants in festivals and competitions, where they invariably receive prizes. The geography of the tour is quite wide: these are Germany, Finland, France, Austria and the USA.
On a note
- Location: st. Rubinshteina, 13, (floor 1-2, letter A)
- Nearest metro stations: "Dostoevskaya", "Vladimirskaya", "Mayakovskaya"
- Official website: zazerkal.spb.ru
- Opening hours: daily, 12: 00-19: 00, break 15: 00-16: 00
