On December 25, a theatrical premiere took place at the October Palace in Kiev: it was the brand new performance based on The Stolen Princess animated feature by FILM.UA Group. Several thousand spectators met well-known animated characters, now – in the format of a theatrical production.
Ruslan, Mila, Nestor, the Hamster, Prince Vladimir, Chernomor and the other characters of The Stolen Princess appeared on the theatrical stage after conquering the big screen. The performance was set and adjusted to the Christmas format by the Skazki Sluchayutsia (“Сказки случаются”) studio team together with Animagrad aniation studio and FILM.UA Entertainment.
The premiere of “The Stolen Princess” play took place on Christmas day on 25th of December, in the very center of the capital, in the “October Palace” International concert hall. For engaging as many viewers as possible to be the viewers see the production, two sessions were held - at 12:00 and at 16:00.
Before the start of the performance, a catchy photo zone was created in the lobby of the Palace, and the children were entertained by professional animators and, of course, the Hamster from the movie. The guests could also purchase souvenirs from the FILM.UA Store.
The performance itself caused a considerable stir and made a very positive impression on the audience. From the first minutes, the young audience was captured by a story about the Kiev princess Mila, abducted by an evil sorcerer Chernomor with the help of magic, and the wandering actor Ruslan, saving his beloved princess. In addition to the mentioned heroes, most of the animation characters appeared on the scene: Nestor, Prince Vladimir, The Hamster, Farlaf, Finn, the Wise Cat, the Dragon, the Chairman, and even the zombies.
The performance has absorbed everything that kids love - inspirational songs, professional dancing show, bright costumes, impressive scenery, light humor, understandable and adventurous story. And the main joy for the little audience is a happy ending, where, as in the animated film, love turned out to be stronger than magic!
Although the theatrical performance was quite similar to the animated feature, and the creators gave the storylines, characters, and scenes as closely as possible, the Skazki Sluchayutsia (“Сказки случаются”) studio team managed to create a completely original product. Creating a performance based on an animated film was the first such experience for the FILM.UA Group, and it significantly expanded The Stolen Princess universe.
Katerina Polyanskaya, the founder of the studio, became the producer of the play, as well as its director together with her partner Yevgeny Bushmakin, an acting teacher and the leading actor in the ‘Hero of My Time’ movie. Choreography director was Andrei Sidorko, the main instructor and choreographer of the Open Art Studio, the director of the Arena Lviv 2012 project and the show choreographer for the Open Kids band.
The cast includes young but talented professional film and theater actors: Alexandra Dudovskaya (Mila), Lev Dolubekov (Ruslan), Sergey Volosovets (Fin), Nikolai Golovchak (Chernomor), Oleg Shevtsov (Hamster and Prince Vladimir), Alexander Tsenera (Nestor), Roman Sobolevsky (Farlaf).
Apart from the original soundtrack, a musical design also included the compositions of a young musical duet called Nude Voices, already fancied by the Ukrainian audience. The finalists of the Holos Krainy («Голос країни») talent show wrote and performed two new songs specifically for the play. ‘The Sun’ composition from the final scene was performed by Open Kids, one of the most popular pop groups in Ukraine.
The unique characters’ costumes and fascinating scenery were developed for the play, and helped to recreate the fantastic world of the favorite movie on stage.
We are grateful for everyone who visited the magic premiere! The pictures from the event could be found on our pages on the social media.
