THE ROCK OPERA
NICKY and ALIX
LIBRETTO act 2
Act 2. RASPUTIN
Scene 2. LULLABY.
Alix gives birth to her children and takes care of them herself. Her family is her world, her kingdom. She devotes a lot of time to raising her children, teaching them manners, language, and handicrafts. She talks with them on spiritual topics.
Looking at her children, Alix smiles. What a great joy to look at the little ones - so funny, touchingly helpless, needing protection from all the dangers. What a pleasure is in their educating, upbringing and letting them go into the wide world.
Evening comes. Alix puts children to bed and sings them a lullaby.
Alix - "Lullaby"
Scene 1. RASPUTIN. 1903.
A peasant Grigory Rasputin comes to St. Petersburg from the village of Pokrovskoe, Tyumen county, Tobolsk province. Dressed in a peasant shirt and trousers tucked into his greased boots, he appears in the most fashionable salons of St. Petersburg. Grigory meets the representatives of the Russian nobility. The doors of high society salons are always opened for him.
He is invited to pray and give spiritual advice. Illiterate Gregory knows the Scriptures by heart and skillfully interprets it. Rasputin behaves respectfully but does not grovel. He laughs loudly and makes critical remarks without a shade of embarrassment.
Babbitt - "In the proud capital of our ..."
Society - "Grigori Rasputin"
Scene 6. REFORMER. 1906.
The Emperor appoints Stolypin, a little-known in the capital young governor of Saratov, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
Stolypin becomes a target for terrorists. He carries a steel sheet in his briefcase to shield himself from bullets. After the explosion at his dacha in St. Petersburg (killing 27, injuring 32 people, including his son and daughter), Stolypin begins to ruthlessly suppress the turmoil.
Stolypin carries out the country's agrarian reforms, which give 9 million farmers the right to become landowners. Stolypin's reforms trigger sharp criticism from both the left and right wing political forces. The reactionaries do not like the changes in the old settled way of life. The revolutionaries hate any improvement of conditions that lead to discontent among the masses.
Beau mond - «What a smartass?"
Contemporary - "Reformer"
Scene 5. GIRLFRIENDS
Anna is the maid of honor and girlfriend of the Empress. She knows many secrets of the court and privy to the details of the life of the Royal family. The Empress like a smart, humble and well-mannered girl, framed by vain and disinterested nobility. This causes envy and gossip among the courtiers.
Государыня часто проводила её в свой кабинет через комнаты прислуги, чтобы избежать встреч со штатными фрейлинами. Женщины коротали время за рукоделием, чтением и душевной беседой. Но эта секретность встреч порождала злобные слухи и грязные сплетни.
Alix - «My girlfriend"
Anna - "Love him, the earthborn!"
Scene 4. GOD FORGIVE. 1905 - 1906.
There is unrest in Russia. In Kronstadt and Sevastopol the sailors rebel against the Tsar. In Moscow, the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies leads thousands of workers and students, who are fighting with government troops, to barricades. Russia is the first civilized world’s country to experience the terror of such magnitude. The targets of the terrorists are the officials of the Russian Empire as well as the Tsar and all the representatives of the Romanov dynasty.
For Nicky it is the time of ordeal. In the summer of 1906 the Tsar signs the bill on martial courts, which convict and hang 600 people charged with political terrorism during few months’ period.
The terrorist acyivity is ceasing.
Nicky - "God, forgive ..."
Scene 3. PETITION. January 9, 1905.
The capital is wsept with strikes. Gapon, the priest, goes from one meeting to another, making passionate speeches. He promotes the idea of going to the Tsar with a petition containing a number of totally unrealistic demands.
On Sunday morning Gapon heads one of the column of demonstrators to the city center. The demonstrators carry crosses, holy mages and banners, flags and portraits of the Tsar. The anthem "God Save the Tsar!" is heard.
When the columns approach the Winter Palace, the soldiers open fire. Men, women and children fall on the ground, dying. Ther snow is stained with blood. Gapon curses the Tsar.
The people, Gapon - "Petition"
Gapon - "Our Tsar"
Scene 7. LIVADIA
Every spring, the Imperial family travels to the blossoming Crimea, in their Livadia Palace. It is built from white limestone on the top of a cliff overlooking sea. There, Nicky and Alix feel themselves much more relaxed than anywhere else.
Kids love their mom with ingenuous and faithful love. They adore her and for them she is impeccable. If someone inadvertently does something that may hurt or offend her, he or she owes her explanations, and sometimes tears of repentance.
Children - "Mom!"
Scene 9. IDEAS BECOME A POWER!
Vladimir Ulyanov is in exile, where he went on the passport of his friend by the names of Lenin. So Ulyanov became Lenin...
Lenin deals with organizational and theoretical activities,develops the philosophical foundations of Marxism, reprinted and speaks to party members. Lenin — implacable fighter against Otzovists, liquidators, Trotskyists, opportunists and centrists in the international labor movement.
Lenin - "Ideas become a force!"
Scene 8. I BELIEVE IN RUSSIA.
The stout figure of Stolypin is recognizeable when he appears in the State Duma. "You won’t intimidate me!" - Pyotr Arkadevich thunders, addressing the left wing deputies of the Duma. – “You need great upheaval, but we do need the Great Russia. "
«I believe in God and I know that all it’s meant for me to do, I will do, no matter what obstacles ... I believe in Russia ...”
Germany is afraid that the successful economic reforms in Russia will undermine its dominant position in Europe within a generation. Lenin pessimistically believes that its wih his successful policy Stolypin takes the wind from the Bolsheviks’ sails. After the 11th attempt on Stolypin’s life he dies The bullet of the assassin Bogrov hits Stolypin in Kiev theater, not far from the Imperial box. Falling down, Pyotr Arkadevich has time only to cross the couple.
Stolypin - "I believe in Russia"
Bagrov - "I walked and staggered”
Scene 10. DO NOT DIE!
From his mother little Alexey inherited a terrible disease - hemophilia. Death walks right behind him ... The tragedy of the family is hidden under the cloak of secrecy; the outsiders suspect nothing.
In autumn of 1912 Alexei suffers from extensive internal hemorrhage as a result of injury. Doctors warn - prepare for the worst.
For eleven days Alix sits on her sick son’s bed. Alexey’s waxen face is like a dead man's face. Nicky cries in seclusion. The parents are sure - the child is going to die. The boy feels the same way.
Alix sends a telegram to Rasputin begging to pray for her son. Soon comes the reply: "Do not worry. Your son will live." The heir’s condition is dramatically improved - the disease withdraws.
Alix, Nicky - "Do not die!"
Rasputin, Alix - "I pray for him"
Alix - "Sunbeam"
Scene 11. 300 ANNIVERSARY OF THE DYNASTY. 1613 - 1913 years.
Comes in 1913 - top of the prosperity of the empire and the year of the great jubilee. 300 years ago, on Feb. 21, 1613, the throne of Moscow Zemsky Sobor elected sixteen boyar Mikhail Romanov, who became the ancestor of a new dynasty.
In celebration of 300 years the family moved to the Winter Palace. You can hear the thundering cheers of troops. Festivities begin with a liturgy in the Kazan Cathedral, and then - taking the Winter Palace. All the ladies in Russian costumes. The tsar family accepts congratulations.
Over 300 years of the Romanov dynasty Moscow State became a great Russian empire. In a country with unprecedented enthusiasm and intellectual explosion.
Folk, Contemporary, 1613 - "All the elections "
Zemsky Cathedral in 1613 - "The Cathedral oath"
Contemporary - "300 years of power!"
Scene 12. LOVE AND HATE
The Deputy of the Fourth Duma, Kerensky, travels around the country making speeches criticizing the government. His efforts and those of similar to him yield the results - more than one million workers go on strike. For the imperial family Grigory Rasputin is the embodiment of hope. He is the only person that could help the heir to cope with his illness. The relationship between the family and him become closer and closer, later turning into a real friendship. Their meetings are held infrequently and quietly.
St. Petersburg is full of rumors about Rasputin and his influence on the Tsar. The aggressive campaign campaign in the press against him is launched. His name becomes a household word. "The Case of Rasputin" is discussed by the State Duma deputies and the members of the Government. Almost all members of the ruling family, including the Tsar's mother, are hostile toward Rasputin.
Rasputin, Anna - "Love and Hate"
Scene 13. THE WAR. 1914.
On August 1, 1914 Germany's Ambassador to Russia presents the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs a note with the announcement of war. Russians enthusiastically welcome the beginning of the war. Everyone is convinced that the war will last no more than four months and will end victoriously.
Shortly after the outbreak of war, it is clear that it will last a lot longer. The optimism yields to despondency and despair. The Tsar and his entourage are held responsible for the military failures and protracted military campaign.
Contemporary - "What are we fighting for?"
Scene 15. TESTAMENT. December 1916.
Shortly before his death Rasputin makes the most known and most terrible prophecy: "I have a feeling that I’m going to die before January 1 ... Russian Tsar ... if I die because of someone from among your relatives, I’m telling you that none of your family, none of your children and relatives will live for more than two years ".
On December 30, 1916 Grigory Rasputin is found dead. The residents of the capital celebrate vigrously: "the evil spirit is gone!» The investigation reveals the murderes - Prince Yusupov, the husband of the Emperor’s niece and Grand Duke Dmitri, the Tsar’s cousin. The next day the Tsar orders the exile of the assassins from Petrograd.
Rasputin - "Testament"
Scene 14. AFTER ALL, YOU ARE THE EMPEROR! 1915
Alix is imersed in the work of a nurse. The huge Catherine the Great Palace in Tsarskoe Selo is transformed into a military hospital.
She suffers every time Nicky leaves to the frontline. Alix writes letters to her husband like a young girl: "I so want to hold you tight and put my head on your shoulder ... I yearn for your kisses, your embraces...".
In 1915, the Emperor decides to lead the army. Alix writes to him: "Excuse me, my dear, but you yourself know that you are too kind and gentle ... Be more assertive and confident ... They should better remember who you are ... Humility is the highest gift of God, but the monarch must often display his will ... Be an autocrat, my dear ... Be the owner and the master, you are the autocrat.
Alix - "After all, you are the Emperor!»
Nicky - "I think about you every single day..."