'Anna Karenina the Musical' This Weekend in Shanghai

By T+ Tickets, October 25, 2024

A spectacular, breathtaking, emotional, and high-tech show based on the Leo Tolstoy masterpiece, Anna Karenina the Musical is running in Shanghai this weekend.

Anna Karenina is a classic of literature, recounting the relationship between a man and a woman, the dramatic love story of the married lady Anna Karenina and a dashing military officer Alexey Vronsky, all taking place amidst the glitter and luxury of the Russian nobility in the second half of the 19th century.

The musical captures the subtle psychology and emotional depth of the great Tolstoy novel, as the characters struggle with overwhelming and controversial feelings – of love and betrayal, passion and duty, hope and desperation.

Although almost a century and a half has passed since the time of the story, the events unfolding before the audience are gripping and touching in their timeless quality.

Anna Karenina the Musical's libretto was penned by Yuliy Kim, a famous Russian poet and playwright, while the music was composed by Roman Ignatyev, for whom Anna Karenina is his third collaboration with the Moscow Operetta Theater.

Set and lighting design were provided by Saint Petersburg theater designers Vyacheslav Okunev and Gleb Filshtinsky, known for their collaboration with worldwide famous La Scala and Metropolitan Opera, as well as the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi Theatres.

Nine moving screens, a multi-ton metal construction and more than 300 lighting units combine onstage to produce a true set of the future, with larger-than-life spectator immersion.

A sophisticated computer system navigates the moving video screens, creating an impressive 'multimedia puzzle' in a venue filled with light and music, drawing audiences inside the action and transporting them from a 19th century opera house to a skating rink, from a luxurious palace to the summertime countryside.

And, of course, the show features the famous train scene, as an incredibly spectacular and dramatic climax sweeps over the audience before the finale.