The rock musical "Todd" is an extraordinary reading of the old London legend about the barber Sweeney Todd. Shakespearean passions are played out on the stage, the characters are looking for answers to eternal questions, talk about love, fidelity, good and evil. An unexpected accompaniment for a dramatic plot is the music of the King and the Jester group.

About the play "Todd"

The story of Siuni Todd, the reality of whose existence science still considers a controversial fact, has been inspiring artists, directors, and filmmakers for decades. It was staged in the most famous Broadway theaters and the best opera houses in the world. Mikhail Gorshenev decided to look at the plot in a new way, paying attention primarily to its emotional side. In order for the audience to be able to “experience” his feelings with Todd, he turns not only to dramatic theatrical techniques, but also to choreography with music.

The performance is accompanied by "live" accompaniment of the "King and the Jester" group. The musicians are "invisibly" present on the stage, being behind a glass wall. She, according to the author's intention, is a spectacular part of the scenery of the musical.

The premiere of the rock musical "Todd" took place in November 2012 at the Moscow Film Actor Theater. Since then, the production has triumphantly marched through the capital and Russian stages. On September 14, 2018, the play "Todd" will be shown at the Moscow Palace of Youth.

Creator and actors

The author and creator of the rock musical "Todd" was the leader of the group "Korol i Shut" Mikhail Gorshenev. He also played the lead role, Sweeney Todd. It should be noted that the brilliant performance was the first and only one in the theatrical and staging career of the musician.

In 2013, Mikhail Gorshenev died suddenly, but it was decided to continue the project. His place on the stage was taken by Robert Ostrolutsky. Today, the rock musical "Todd" is also unique in that it is the only place where the legendary band "The King and the Jester" performs.

How to Buy Tickets for the Rock Musical "Todd"

The rock musical "Todd" is a creative experiment that turned out to be not only successful, but truly triumphant. Buying tickets for the play "Todd" becomes more and more difficult each time - both fans of the "King and the Shut" group, and connoisseurs of dance (the choreography in the production is really fantastic), and, of course, theatergoers line up in line. We are ready to help you get a pass to the magical world created by Mikhail Gorshenev. Everyone who applies to our agency can count on:

• consultation of a personal manager who is ready to answer all your questions and assist in choosing the best places;
• the ability to place an order online or by phone, as well as pay for it in any convenient way - in cash, by bank card or money transfer;
• free courier delivery of tickets for the rock musical "Todd" in Moscow and St. Petersburg;
• discounts when ordering ten or more tickets at the same time.

Why you shouldn't put off your visit to the rock musical "Todd"? First of all, because at the moment no one knows what season will be for the production, which has become a cult, final. Perhaps you are missing the last chance to attend a performance created by Mikhail Gorshenev, and then you will regret it for a long time ...

"TODD" is not a sugary musical - entertainment "one time with popcorn". This is a completely different reading of the old London legend. In the domestic version, the eternal Hamlet questions are raised and Shakespeare's passions flare up in earnest. Where you need to think and empathize.

The rock musical "TODD" is a new interpretation of the old London legend in a modern key, in which the director of the production, Vladimir Zolotar, departs from the "lightness" characteristic of the musical genre. In the domestic version, philosophical questions are raised and Shakespearean passions flare up.

The plot of the musical is based on the creepy 18th-century London story about the barber Sweeney Todd, known to many from Tim Burton's film Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the Broadway musical of the same name. "The story we're playing right now... half funny, half dramatic... It's a story about human suffering."- Mikhail Gorshenyov, the author of the idea of ​​the production and one of the creators of the play, spoke about the play. TODD ​​is a story of betrayal, love, passion, loyalty, destruction, truth and lies, revenge, retribution and hope.

The rock musical "TODD", or "zong opera" is a unique theatrical and musical production, which is a complex multi-level narrative: dramatic, musical and plastic. The dramatic action is interspersed with vocal and musical episodes, combinations of choreographic and stunt elements. The main component of the musical is vocal compositions, called "zongs" after B. Brecht's Threepenny Opera. For the domestic production of "TODD" a new libretto (scenario) was specially written. And on the basis of this libretto, Mikhail Gorshenyov composed the musical score (soundtrack) of the entire performance. This soundtrack became the basis of the last double album of the group "Korol i Shut" and at the same time an audio version of the rock musical "TODD", where instead of the roles of the play's narrators, you can hear the narration of Veniamin Smekhov, whose voice cannot be confused with anyone. It is advisable to listen to this audio version before getting acquainted with a rock musical - then you are guaranteed to get 100% pleasure from watching an imperishable work.

The performance is accompanied by live musical accompaniment of the musicians of the "Korol i Shut" group, who throughout the performance are on stage behind a large glass wall, which is an effective part of the musical's scenery.

As an ardent fan of Kisha (however, more than 10 years have passed since I went to the band's concerts), I cannot remain silent. :)

The album, which consists of two parts (it is called “TODD”), has long been not only listened to, but also memorized by everyone. Someone screams that this is a masterpiece, others scream that Kish is not the same anymore ... But the fact remains: the performance is ready and tickets are already on sale. ;)

It's certainly very nice to write a musical based on ... a musical. Yeah, our Stephen Sondheim didn't write his "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" for nothing. The Gorshenyov brothers (mainly the eldest) nevertheless kept the promise that they began to give a lot of years ago, and altered Sondheim's creation in their own way (I hope there are no copyright problems? ..). You can, of course, say that not only the musical talks about Todd. There are plays - a whole lot. This is true. But a single listening to “TODD” from KiShey makes it clear even to the deaf that it has become the primary source.

Yes, and God be with him.

TODD

Zong-opera of horrors with the participation of the group "KOROL and SHUT"

Stage director - Alexander Ustyugov
Directed by Andrey Ryklin
Music - Mikhail Gorshenyov and the group "Korol i Shut"
Libretto - Mikhail Bartenev and Andrey Usachev
Set Designer: Sergei Skornetsky
Choreography - Olga Prikhudaylova, Yuri Chulkov
Musical director - Olga Shaidullina
Street Art - P183

The production company Teatralnoye Delo and the Russian punk-rock group Korol i Shut are preparing to present the audience with a production that has no analogues either in modern theater or in Russian heavy music. Zong-opera horror «TODD» is a grandiose experiment in which not only musicians, but also a whole team of professional theatrical figures take part: together they work on a performance based on the old London legend about the merciless barber Sweeney Todd. The group "Korol i Shut" will provide live sound on the stage, and its leader Mikhail Gorshenev will play the main role.

The ominous plot of this story is due to the aesthetics of the work of The King and the Jester and is definitely grotesque, but it is not without the tragic signs of modernity.

The barber Todd returns from hard labor, to which he was sent on a false denunciation, and finds that nothing is left of his former life. He decides to take revenge on everyone who destroyed his happiness - neither the judge nor the priest will hide from the sharp razor blade of Sweeney Todd. But retribution does not bring peace: blinded by the thirst for blood, the unfortunate barber is no longer able to stop and with his own hands destroys the most precious thing that he, it turns out, had.

Mikhail Gorshenev took his dramatic role very seriously: despite the busy tour schedule, he graduated from acting classes and was engaged in staging stage speech. In Todd, director Alexander Ustyugov, known for his acting and directing work at the Russian Academic Youth Theater and on television, works with him.

The theatrical premiere is preceded by the release of the musical album "TODD" in two parts with all the songs of the project combined into a real audio performance. Famous rock musicians (Konstantin Kinchev, Yulia Kogan, Billy Novik, Ilya Chert) took part in the recording, and the legendary theater and film actor Veniamin Smekhov reads the narrative text. Now the creators are working on the arrangements of the stage version of the zong opera for professional actors.

This production will be of interest not only to fans of the Korol i Shut group, but also to progressive theatrical audiences who are ready for a daring experiment that combines seemingly incompatible facets of modern culture.

And here's another video:

A few months ago, I got acquainted with the work of the group Korol and Shut, which had never really interested me. Before, for me, they were always "strange punks with songs about role-playing cannibals", but then something (my husband, probably) kept my ear on their songs on my favorite Our radio, and made me fall in love with their last three albums: "Theater daemon" and a two-disk "TODD".
TODD ​​is good. The record is very good. We honestly downloaded it from the net, honestly listened to everything and many times, I memorized the texts and now I can answer tricky questions with quotes or loudly and badly duplicate Gorshenev in the shower (how I display his low tones in the upper register - this show is not for the faint of heart , Yes).
But now, having heard that the musical TODD was staged and you can go to it, my faithful and I bought tickets (for a few months, damn it, they sorted it out like hot cakes from Lovett) and prepared to wait. We waited a long time - and today we went to the Film Actor Theater for a viewing. And here comes my question:
HOW COULD IT BE LIKE THIS?!
Sorry, I didn’t want to be so emotional, but I didn’t have the endurance. I was really worried about this event with my soul, I loved these songs too much not to want to hear them live ... and that's why I was very disappointed.
But let's digress from emotions and analyze everything point by point.
Let's note the fact that everyone screwed up - and first of all the soloist (oh-vey, he really screwed up, I'm not picky). The great and terrible Pot, well, how, truly, how could one give a rooster (about a rooster, by the way, after)? Well, how could you forget the text so many times? Well, okay, she said "let's mark", then we'll mark.
But who should have torn their hands off is the sound engineer. Of course, I understand that the musicians sitting behind the glass partition also want to be heard, but, apparently, the news for the organizers of the performance will be that the main thing in the musical is not the music, but the song, that is, the WORDS. In the hall, the words were understood only by those who could sing along - that is, they already knew the entire text by heart. I was lucky - I knew. But those three songs that were added to the musical and were not on the discs - I did not make out at all. At best, some words were guessed, on average, nothing. Well, you can't downvote like that. Well, you can't let the soloist's microphone turn off AT ALL TO HELL in the middle of a song. Well, you can’t spend one and a half lyam on staging and not buy normal microphones. Well, you can't screw up the performance for everyone but the die-hard fans.
Or is it possible? Maybe I don't understand something?
Do you think I'll just limit myself to the sound? Oh no, let's go through the production.
I've never seen SO many screwed up scenes. Really, guys, and I even saw the avant-garde productions of Winnie the Pooh - and this, I tell you, is extreme.
First, let's go through poor Gorshenev. I understand that the singer is not an actor. I understand that lines were drawn on the floor at a rehearsal and he learned to walk evenly on them. I understand everything - but why did you have to move along these lines like a log for the entire first part, and make scary faces for the entire second part, which were supposed to symbolize (I wonder what?) Horror and madness? You can’t blame Gorshenev - but where, your wave, was the director looking at ?! Why couldn't it have been directed properly? I do not understand.
In this regard, I would like to mention the well-known phrase that punks are hoi. I mean, let me explain: the passionate punk style of performance does not replace the emotion invested in the performance. Here, listen to the last aria of the musical, the most famous "On the Edge" - how it looks on the disc. Do you feel? Todd is ready to die in this scene. He had already given up life, the fight, everything. His story is over. This is no longer the avenger from the beginning of the musical, who is full of life and rage - this is a tired, exhausted, lost person who takes the last step towards death. Feel it?
But on the stage it was not visible. Well, in general.
The positively cheerful Gorshenev, who, apparently, took something amusing in the intermission and was still feeling joy, moved swiftly around the stage, emotionally and passionately yelling "uuuu-here I see the light", and it was absolutely clear - the hell with two he would die now . He still beats all the hypothetical ones. To whom - it is not clear, but aggression, strength, emotion - all this was quite obvious.
No, I understand, Gorsheneva is rushing, well, give him something there, or at least on the head, so that he depicts a little sadness and melancholy. Just do not overdo it, otherwise you will forget the words in the final aria again)

Let's continue to go through the screwed up scenes. Here is the one after which I sobbed and asked to be taken away from here. Well, not so emotional, of course, but the one after which my impression of the performance changed.
Lovett's explanation scene. For those who are not in the subject, I suggest the plot: Lovett finds Todd with the corpse of her butcher uncle at the meat grinder, and when he intends to wet her for company, he confesses his passionate love to him and becomes his accomplice. That is, you understand - she loves him passionately and is ready to accept death at his hands. She and he.
You know what the coolest thing you could do with that scene? Cool in quotation marks, of course. Make a secret declaration of love - a monologue in public. Listen to her words: "An exciting moment, a sweet moment ... because we are alone next to you, only you and me and darkness." What a damn sweet moment when, in the first bars of this touching composition, Todd disappears from the stage altogether, and Lovett, surrounded by a crowd of ballerinas, confesses her love to the audience? As a result, instead of the most tender scene of the entire musical, we get a public statement made in secret to the whole world.
How beautiful this moment could have been! With Todd, who collides with Lovett at the meat grinder (otherwise where is the intrigue, she should catch him there), attacks her in dismay, and how she moves towards him - and the paired scenes, by the way, are good in the play, apparently this is the director’s strong point - and starts talking about his feelings. Then let the ballet come running, and it would be possible to sing in the hall - but it was necessary to show that this is love. She is between two, she is a dialogue, not a monologue!

By the way, there is a general misunderstanding with Lovett. According to the emotion conveyed by the recording, she is a girl in love with Todd, who has grown up, but has not outgrown her childhood love, who admires a strong, handsome, tragic man (and the main pleasure that every woman will experience when watching this performance is to admire the chic half-naked Gorshenev, because he is very VERY sexy!) and is ready for anything for him - to die like this to die, to kill like that to kill. According to the performance, this is a hardened girl who wants dough and a beautiful life. Even compare how her story is told in the recording and in the play: Smekhov (the narrator on the disc) says "once a little girl, Lovett was in love with a beautiful young barber", Lovett in the play tells that she was looking out the window at a happy woman, whom Todd loves and dreamed of being that woman. In my opinion (there is no text at hand), she also describes well-being - in any case, she rests on it in interludes: "We have money, we have everything, let's live well and cool." Somehow this is wrong. Maybe that's how it should be, but somehow it's wrong.

You have to understand that Gorshenev, by the way, is beautiful. It's real - none of my stupid claims can be directed at him. He is strong and bright, he is stronger than anyone on the stage, except for the judge, he is powerful, like ... like a bazooka! Here is such a peppy, powerful, mighty bazooka on stage, which is about to shoot, and the main problem is that the producer or director simply has no idea - where to attach this damn bazooka ?! As a result, she continues to hang on stage. And the cheerful pathos of "On the Edge" is connected precisely with this - Gorshenev is too full of energy to sing it devastated, as it should be.

But the most important question that occurred to me while watching the performance is, excuse me, why make a message that is better not to do at all. This is me about the final song of the girl-death, which is formulated approximately like this:
Lalala-lalala, death is not cool, let's all live and enjoy life.
But if you don’t enjoy living, then let’s die as soon as possible.

Hey people, what do you think? Have you seen your CA? Have you seen this teenage-goth-punk tribe? You understand that any of them can remember this for the rest of their damn life, and when at thirty he, realizing that he has not achieved anything and cannot change anything, will remember the performance he saw at eighteen and take an extra step standing on the edge of the window - you, you will be to blame.
Well, if we ignore the moral side of the issue, you first determine the message for yourself, and then try to formulate it in rhymes. Because "it's good to live, but you can die" - this is some kind of nonsense, and not just one idea.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the legendary musical Todd. The latest work of the Russian punk classic Mikhail Gorshenyov is not just a new interpretation of an old legend. Eternal questions are asked in the zong opera, the tragic image of Sweeney Todd is revealed in a new way, this terrible mystical world is shown in a special way.

Sales are open for the February screenings of "TODD" at the MDM Theatre. All this season, the cult performance is on one of the best theater stages in Moscow!

Don't trust your ears, trust your eyes.
"TODD" must be watched at least once,
then to come back to it again and again.

"TODD" is not a sugary musical - entertainment "one time with popcorn." This is a completely different reading of the old London legend. In the domestic version, the eternal Hamlet questions are raised and Shakespeare's passions flare up in earnest. Where you need to think and empathize.

• Music - Mikhail Gorshenyov and the group "Korol i Shut"
• Libretto - Mikhail Bartenev and Andrey Usachev
• Director - Vladimir Zolotar
• Choreography - Olga Prikhudaylova, Yuri Chulkov
• Musical director - Olga Shaidullina
• Set Designer: Sergei Skornetsky
• Costume designer - Lyubov Shepeta
• Scenery (street art) - P183

The rock musical "TODD" is a new interpretation of the old London legend in a modern key, in which the director of the production, Vladimir Zolotar, departs from the "lightness" characteristic of the musical genre. In the domestic version, philosophical questions are raised and Shakespearean passions flare up.

The plot of the musical is based on the creepy 18th-century London story about the barber Sweeney Todd, known to many from Tim Burton's film Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the Broadway musical of the same name. “The story that we are now playing ... is half funny, half dramatic ... This is a story about human suffering,” said Mikhail Gorshenyov, the author of the idea of ​​​​the production and one of the creators of the play, about the play. TODD ​​is a story of betrayal, love, passion, loyalty, destruction, truth and lies, revenge, retribution and hope.

For several eras, the mysterious and gloomy character of Sunny Todd, whose reality historians still argue about, has inspired artists to create literary works, films and performances. The story of Todd has been revisited time and time again by famous Broadway theaters and cutting-edge opera houses. Among them are the Royal Opera House in London, The New York City Opera and many others.

The rock musical "TODD", or "zong opera" is a unique theatrical and musical production, which is a complex multi-level narrative: dramatic, musical and plastic. The dramatic action is interspersed with vocal and musical episodes, combinations of choreographic and stunt elements. The main component of the musical is the vocal compositions, called "zongs" after B. Brecht's Threepenny Opera. For the domestic production of "TODD" a new libretto (scenario) was specially written. And on the basis of this libretto, Mikhail Gorshenyov composed the musical score (soundtrack) of the entire performance. This soundtrack became the basis of the last double album of the group "Korol i Shut" and at the same time an audio version of the rock musical "TODD", where instead of the roles of the play's narrators, you can hear the narration of Veniamin Smekhov, whose voice cannot be confused with anyone. It is advisable to listen to this audio version before getting acquainted with a rock musical - then you are guaranteed to get 100% pleasure from watching an imperishable work.

The performance is accompanied by live musical accompaniment of the musicians of the "Korol i Shut" group, who throughout the performance are on stage behind a large glass wall, which is an effective part of the musical's scenery.

The idea to retell this story in the style of punk rock belongs to Mikhail Gorshenyov, the leader of the Korol i Shut group. The original libretto for "TODD" was written by famous playwrights Mikhail Bartenev and Andrey Usachev: they turned the gloomy killer Todd into a romantic outcast who seeks to restore violated justice. Under the direction of director Vladimir Zolotar, the artists of the musical "TODD" transform the usual theatrical standards, mixing ballet, parkour, graffiti, classical musical, rock opera and mystery in the grotesque manner inherent in the group "Korol i Shut". The musicians of the "King and the Jester" perform their songs live throughout the action.

In addition to actors and musicians, the parkour team, choir and ballet take part in the musical. The performance employs more than 40 people, uses a huge amount of stage equipment and over 200 costumes. The scenery was created specifically for parkour tricks and decorated by the famous street art artist P183.

Cast:

• Sweeney Todd - Robert Ostrolutsky
• Lovett - Elena Reznichenko / Maria Fortunatova
• Referee - Vyacheslav Kovalev / Evgeny Kozlov
• Priest — Vladimir Dybsky / Andrey Krasnousov
• The Butcher - Alexey Vlasov / Artur Ivanov
• Narrators — Irina Epifanova, Alexander "Renegade" Leontiev
• Eliza - Valeria Morari / Anastasia Ryseva
• Geeks - Oleg Malyshev, Alexander Osinin, Evgeny Petish
• Black Swan - Sergei Yudin
• Death - Ekaterina Smykalina
• Choir: Natalia Anisimova, Anastasia Beduleva, Natalia Golova, Andrey Degtyarev, Evgenia Korotkevich, Oleg Malyshev, Valeria Morar, Alexander Osinin, Igor Otvagin, Evgeny Petish, Svetlana Sandrakova, Andrey Fedorov, Yang Ge
• Ballet: Nikita Avdeev, Alexander Agafonov, Anna Vasilyeva, Alexei Grigoriev, Alexei Doroshev, Maria Zaplechnaya, Maria Isaeva, Elena Konova, Dmitry Konovalov, Maxim Kulikov, Lina Langner, Vasily Musikhin, Ruslan Nafigov, Anna Pizhonkova, Yulia Sikorskaya, Ekaterina Stegniy, Nikolai Trushin, Anastasia Kharitonova, Tatiana Chizhikova, Yan Novikov
• Parkour: Mikhail Belsky, Alexei Doronin, Alexander Morozov, Alexei Ryabkov, Sergei Safyanov, Sergei Samorodov
• King and Shut: Yakov Tsvirkunov (guitar), Alexander Kulikov (bass), Pavel Sazhinov (keyboards), Alexander "Poruchik" Shchigolev (drums). And also Valery Arkadin (The Matrixx) - guitar, arrangements

Duration: 2 hours (with one intermission)