In the Ice Palace "Iceberg" in Sochi, the world premiere of the dramatic ice show "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Ilya Averbukh.

The performance was long-awaited for the Sochi public - long before the premiere all the seats for the first performances were sold, there was not a single empty space in the hall. Ilya Averbukh invited at once 7 Olympic champions, and each of them had his own memorable role.

Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin played Romeo and Juliet, Alexei Yagudin and Roman Kostomarov - Merkutsio and Tybalda, Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov - Prince and Princess Verona. A loud ovation was met with the appearance of Ilya Kulik. Olympic champion Nagano has long lived in the US, but despite this, his brilliant performance was one of the main sensations of the evening and was warmly received by the Russian public.

Photo: the press service For more than half a year, Ilya Averbukh's team was preparing the project for the exit, and the lion's share of that time was taken up by the script - "transferring Shakespeare's tragedy to skates". Fairly worked hard and on the musical accompaniment. The production uses the works of Sergei Prokofiev, Mozart, Bach, Mendelssohn and original music created by the leading composer of Russian musicals Roman Ignatiev.

The project involved 22 international-class athletes, 14 ice-dance artists, 5 vocalists, 10 ballet dancers, 5 musicians. Skaters were engaged in professional fencers, choreographers and teachers in acting skills. Costumes created a whole team of artists - in all, more than 160 costumes were made. The creative and technical group of the performance includes more than 150 people.

Photo: the press service From the first minute, the action unfolding on the stage seized the hall and then the heat of passion steadily continued along the growing. The appearance of Juliet in the middle of the first act was met with an enthusiastic roar. But the main surprise was waiting for the audience at the end. On a bow figure skaters came to the ice barefoot, taking off the scenic costumes and remaining in ordinary clothes. In this symbolic way, the director-director decided to show "real life" without embellishment. And without that the hall inspired by the performance met such a "removal of masks" with a squall of applause, the audience applauded standing more than 10 minutes.

Photo: Press Service "For me it was important not to retell the story written by the great Shakespeare, but rather show all the hidden lines of the text, tell the story as I see and feel it was me. And we are not talking about the literal translation of the original text into the feet of athletes. The performance has its own idea, which we disclose at the very end. Everything that happens on ice is a game.

But there is a real life between rehearsals, even between entrances to the ice and everyone lives it in their own way. But, what I was convinced of for many years of work, is that love drives everyone and this is the main theme of the performance, "said Ilya Averbukh.

Photo: the press service On the ice ice "Iceberg" artists will come out 58 more times - guests and residents of Sochi will be able to see the production of "Romeo and Juliet" in the period until October 1 inclusively.