THE ROCK OPERA
NICKY and ALIX
Libretto акт 3
Scene 2. TREASON. March 1917.
The Chief of Staff, General Alexeyev entices the Tsar from Petrograd to the GHQ. In Pskov, the imperial train is taken under the strict control by the conspirator general-adjutant, Ruzskii.
On March 2, after agonizing reflections, Nicholas II abdicates. Alix writes to him: "My beloved, my precious angel, light of my life, my heart breaks at the thought that you're all alone going through all this pain and strife, and we do not know anything about you, and you do not know anything about us."
The Provisional Government is powerless to keep the elementary order. The country that is swept with terror, murders and unlawful arrests, destruction and burning of government offices.
Nicky - "Treachery and cowardice around me "
Scene 1. CONSPIRACY. February 1917.
Petrograd population suffers from cold and hunger. Riots and turmoil around the country do not meet serious resistance from the authorities. On February 27 during the Duma session, Kerensky attacks not only the government but also the sovereign: - "The Ministers flit like shadows ... To avoid disaster, you need to depose the tsar, even if it takes a terrorist attack.
The Chairman of the State Duma, Rodzianko, the leader of the Cadets, Miliukov, the chairman of the military-industrial committee Guchkov, Kerensky, and the generals: Alekseev, Ruza, Brusilov plan a coup. The conspirators arrogantly believe that they can better manage Russia than the Tsar.
Kerensky - "We must depose the Tsar!"
Conspirators - "Down with talks!"
Scene 3. ARREST
Provisional Government decides on the detention of the former Emperor Nicholas II, his wife and those remaining with them. Nicholas returns to the Alexander Palace. Being left alone with Alix, he cries. A handful of people loyal to the imperial family feel like shipwrecked.
The country is forced into the situation of universal hatred of the imperial family. There are rumors that the "citizen Romanov” and his wife, “German Alexandra” secretly conspire with the Germans. Petrograd sovdep demands to lock Nicholas Romanov in the Peter and Pavel Fortress. By the initiative of Kerensky the committee of inquiry is established to investigate the crimes of Nicholas II and the Empress.
Soldiers - "Citizen Romanov"
Nicky, Alix - "I'm sorry!"
Scene 4. TOBOLSK. August 1917.
Kerensky is confused - he needs to smuggle the imperial family away from the troubled Petrograd. In the end, Kerensky decides to move the imperial family to Tobolsk.
The family of the last Russian Emperor arrives in Tobolsk on August 6 on the boat "Rus". They are stationed in the house of the former governor.
The family leads calm regular life: they read, work in the yard of the governor's house and pray. The children continue their studies. Their father reads them a course of Russian history.
Alix is engaged in reading, needlework, and painting. Sometimes, being alone in the house, she plays the piano and sings. From time to time the family arranges amateur theatricals.
Alix - "If you're sad ..."
Scene 6. EKATERINBURG. April, 1918.
The train with the Commissar Yakovlev, Nicky, Alix and daughter Tatiana arrives in Yekaterinburg. The day is blindingly sunny and warm.
At the station a crowd gathered; the cries and threats are heard: "We need to hang them right here!.. Finally they got into our hands! .." The Commissar Yakovlev commands his soldiers: "The machine guns at the ready!. Crowd backs away.
The imperial family is placed in the house engineer Ipatiev, called the House of special purpose. Alix tells Niki about her dream, in which they, as children, get lost in a huge dark forest. Among the trees they see firelight...
The crowd - "Finally, they got into our hands!"
Alix, Nicky - "Dream"
Scene 5. LEFT MARCH. October 1917.
On the night of 24th of October (old style) the quiet revolution happens. There are no demonstrations; the workers' Red Guard troops and the sailors of the Baltic Fleet simply disarm the government guards, low the bridges raised by Kerensky, take control over the railway stations, the power stations, the telephone exchange, the telegraph, etc. - all without firing a shot, calmly and methodically.
Sailors - "Left March"
The revolutionary masses - "Lenin"
Scene 7. HE MUST BE EXECUTED. July 1918.
The Urals is in the midst of the civil war. The detachments of the Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment and the Orenburg Cossacks rush to Ekaterinburg. The Red Army is retreating. The Red Urals is about to surrender.
In Moscow, Lenin and Sverdlov decide on the fate of the imperial family: "We can not leave them the living banner. To frighten, terrify, to deprive the enemy of hope and to shake up our own troops it is mandatory to execute the Tsar. Let’s show everyone that there is no room to retreat. Ahead of us is either total victory or complete destruction...".
Lenin and Sverdlov – “He must be executed!”
Scene 9. ARCHPRIEST STOROZHEV. July 14, 1918.
The Special Purpose House Commandant, Yurovsky, allows the priest, Father Storozhev, to pray in the House of Special Purpose. A deacon and Father Storozhev start singing Peace to Thee with the Saints prayer. Standing behind them, the members of the Romanov family and their attendants kneel. After the service, everyone kisses the cross.
When outside, the deacon says: “You know, father, there is something wrong with them ... they completely different; they don’t even sing.”
Archpriest Storozhev – “God save the Tsar"
Scene 8. THE MEETING OF THE URALSOVIET. July 12, 1918.
The UralSoviet meeting is in progress. Those present unanimously adopt the resolution on the execution "of the former Tsar Nicholas Romanov guilty of countless bloody crimes. Another decision: to replace the guards in the House of the Special Purpose.
Belborodov and Goloshchekin urge Botkin to abandon the family and get a job at a Moscow hospital. They take efforts to convince him that the days of the imperial family are over. Botkin makes his choice: “Thanks, but I stay. I gave my word to the Tsar.”
Nicky: “There is no sacrifice I would not make to release my family. Having murdered me, of course, they will set everyone else free. This is the only way to release them all.”
The Meeting of the UralSoviet
Botkin - "Thanks, but I remain ..."
Nicky – “There is no sacrifice I would not make... “
Scene 10. THE LAST DAY. July 16, 1918.
On their last day they get up at 9 am. The whole family and their attendants: Botkin, Trupp, Kharitonov, and Demidov gather in the room of Nicky and Alix and pray together ... In the evening Yurovsky receives the order to annihilate the Romanovs and their servants. He begins preparations for the execution.
Family and attendants – “The Prayer”
Scene 11. MY FRIEND... The night, July 16, 1918.
The family and their attendants go to bed, as usual, at 10:30 pm. The lights in the second- floor windows go out. Everyone but Nicky and Alix fall asleep. They are having yet another sleepless night listening hard to the distant sounds of gunfire and noises outside their window... They hear voices and the sound of the truck in the yard...
Nicky and Alix - "My friend ...
Scene 12. THE END.
On the night after the wedding Alix wrote in Nicky’s journal: "I would never have believed in the existence of such complete happiness in this world - the feeling of unity of the two mortal beings. We’ll never ever part. At last, we're together, and our lives are tied until the end, and when this life is over, we will meet again in another world and will be together forever. "
They did not live to be old. They died on the same day and hour...
The final
