Premiered in: 2009. Moscow Operetta Theatre/ Estrada Theatre/ with Lisa Monde playing Janel
State: Closed in 2010.
Creators: Music by Lisa Monde/ Book by Lisa Monde/ Director and choreographer – Regis Obadia/ Lighting design by Jean Michel Gardier/Video installations by Wojciech Staron/ Additional choreography by Fabrice Labrana
Produce issued: CD – Original Cast Recording/ DVD of the musical/ Playbill/ Souvenirs/ Souvenir Brochure
Brief Summary:
«…In most boundless depths of Space the Earth is the last islet of hope that has managed to save FEELINGS. In cold, rational and pragmatic Cosmos this Planet is, maybe, the only abode of LOVE…»
An envoy, sent from Crizon, a planet in zodiac constellation of Libra, where the inhabitants are losing the power to feel and express emotions, comes to the Earth with a secret mission: he is entitled to determine, at last, what Love really is. On the basis of his investigation the Big Interplanetary Council is to pass a judgment, whether to preserve life on the planet, or, by turning back time, restart its evolution.
Having found himself on the Earth, the Extraterrestrial lands in a theatre, where a rehearsal of a musical is going on. It is there that he starts studying the phenomenon of Love, previously unknown to him. He gets acquainted with Janel, a young actress, taking part in the performance. Hoping that she may help him, the Extraterrestrial tells her about his secret mission.
Janel agrees to help him. She takes the Extraterrestrial on a journey through the circles of…Love…
Janel tells the astonished Extraterrestrial about many-sided nature of Love, that is about devotion and self-sacrifice, but also about jealousy, spiritual wounds and mental unbalance that may be caused by it. However, the earthly love may come abruptly to its end. It may also wear out, torment, and torture… Love can create, that is true, but also kill, and most treacherously.
The Extraterrestrial’s journey over the territory of Love turns to be a wandering over the circles of hell. Now and then, here and there, he sees most ugly pictures of perverted love, such as that of a prostitute, selling her “services”; and besides there is a lot of treachery, faithlessness, and betrayal, connected with love. The Crizonite understands that the flame of love may burn to ashes. The back side of Love seems to be terribly unsightly to him. Transvestites, sadists and masochists; sexual slavery; dens and taverns, full of drunkards…
The Extraterrestrial decides: «Love is deleterious, there is no use in it, and it should be annihilated together with all things alive on the malicious planet of Earth».
Extraterrestrial’s acquaintance with Janel makes him realize that Love cannot be seen, and it is useless to try describing it with words: it can only be felt.
«An Earthly disease, known as Love, should not be wiped away together with the infected planet, where it flourishes. On the contrary: a Love-reserve should be created on it, so that old, dispassionate and fading-away worlds could be inoculated there with it to save them from death and destruction.»
From a Report to the Big Interplanetary Council presented by the Omnipotent Envoy and High Inspector for the Planet of Earth, of 08.22.2035 Anno Domini, and of ZX7, LXXXIV Anno Crizoni