The Tsar’s Bride and White Darkness in running for Golden Masks

The nominations for Russia’s leading theatre awards for the 2013/14 season have been announced in Moscow. Among the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s new productions, The Tsar’s Bride (in the Best Opera Production category) and White Darkness (in the Best Contemporary Dance Production category) were both selected as Golden Mask nominees by the expert panel.

Andrey Moguchy, who staged The Tsar’s Bride, has been nominated in the Best Opera Director category (he also made the shortlist in the Best Theatre Director category, for his production of Alice at the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theatre). Maxim Isaev, the stage designer for The Tsar’s Bride, has been nominated in the Best Designer in Musical Theatre category.

For reasons known only to themselves, the panel of experts have decided to divide choreographic productions into two categories: Best Ballet Production and Best Contemporary Dance Production. White Darkness, which was staged at the Mikhailovsky by Nacho Duato, was included in the ‘contemporary’ section of the list and is therefore a contender for Best Contemporary Dance Production. As far as the dancers’ awards are concerned, however, the categories have not been divided. For their performances in White Darkness, therefore, Irina Perren and Leonid Sarafanov have been nominated for Golden Masks for Best Female Role and Best Male Role respectively, in the same category: Best Ballet/Contemporary Dance Production.