The Cherry Orchard Festival Presents MASQUERADE

Following three sold-out New York engagements, the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre of Russia returns with a new verse drama Masquerade, directed by Rimas Tuminas (Eugene Onegin). Presented by The Cherry Orchard Festival Foundation (www.CherryOrchardFestival.org), Masquerade will play 4 performances at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street): June 13 at 7:30pm, June 14 at 7:30pm, June 15 at 7:30pm and June 16 at 2pm. Tickets are $55-$150. Group tickets, student discounts, and VIP tickets are available by calling Festival's office at 1-800-349-0021 or emailing info@cherryorchardfestival.org.

Masquerade, based on the verse drama by Mikhail Lermontov, features a star-studded cast of Russia's most acclaimed actors. Often compared to Shakespeare's Othello, this study of jealousy and pride within the gossip-ridden aristocracy of 1830s St. Petersburg unmasks the captivating and guileful revelry that keeps morality teetering on a razor's edge. The production brims with decadent feasts, bright costumes, intrigue, flirtation, and a snow-covered stage on which alluring clowns shed compassionate tears.

Tuminas' Masquerade is a tragic farce, a sad commedia dell'arte, and an exorcism of the heroes and hoaxes that enchant us away from our better selves. The production is performed in Russian with English subtitles.

The cast of Masquerade includes: Evgeny Knyazev, Lidia Velezhova, Victor Dobronravov, Leonid Bichevin, Maria Volkova, Yury Shlykov and others. Masquerade is brought to life by the acclaimed artistic director Rimas Tuminas, and features music by Fausta Latenas, set design by Adomas Jacovskis, costumes by Maxim Obrezkov, and lighting design by Maya Shavdatuashvili. The production also features additional music by legendary Soviet composer Aram Khachaturyan, originally written for the 1941 production of Masquerade at the Vakhtangov Theatre.

Of Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre of Russia, The London Guardian raves, "Anyone who saw the Vakhtangov will know they are a first rate troupe" and The London Telegraph said that the company is "magnificent, devastating, and quite brilliant." When reviewing Tuminas' Uncle Vanya, seen at New York City Center in 2017, The London Guardian applauded, "Their style is timeless. It's a kind of theatre, and of acting, that we see all too rarely." When Eugene Onegin played City Center in 2014, The New York Times cheered that the production was "arrestingly beautiful," and Time Out New York said, "this weekend is the first time in my memory that Rimas Tuminas, the Lithuanian director now at the head of Moscow's legendary Vakhtangov Theatre, has been seen in New York. You must not miss him now."

Rimas Tuminas is the recipient of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, Russian Festival of Performing Arts "Golden Mask" Award, International Stanislavsky Theatre Award, multiple Crystal Turandot Awards, and the Golden Nail Award. He has been the artistic director of the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre of Russia since 2007, one of the oldest Moscow theatre companies founded by Eugene Vakhtangov, a student of Stanislavsky. In 2011, the theater was recognized as the most visited theater in Moscow.

Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre of Russia's production of Masquerade is being presented in New York as part of a three-city North American tour, which includes performances in Toronto on June 9-10 and Boston on June 18-19.

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