A new production by The Royal Opera of Tchaikovsky's The Tsarina's Slippers opens on Friday at Covent Garden, directed by Francesca Zambello, designed by Mikhail Mokrov and Tatiana Noginova, and with an all-Russian cast of principals conducted by Alexandr Polianichko. Read Ismene Brown's interviews with the creative team elsewhere, and enjoy this feast of design models, costume sketches and production photographs.
Click on a picture to enter full view and the slideshow.
Sets by Mikhail Mokrov
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Costume designs by Tatiana Noginova
Characters: Vakula, a blacksmith (2 costumes); his mother Solokha (2 costumes); his girlfriend Oksana; the Devils, the Tsar, Mayor, Odarka, Panas, Chub
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Ballet dancers, Cossacks, children's ballet, Tsar's court, villagers
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Production photographs by Bill Cooper/The Royal Opera House
- Vsevolod Grivnov as Vakula, a blacksmith
- Olga Guryakova as Oxana, his girlfriend
- Larissa Diadkova as Solokha, Vakula's mother
- Maxim Mikhailov as the Devil
- The Royal Ballet's Mara Galeazzi and Gary Avis lead the ballets
- Sergei Leiferkus as His Highness
- Cossack dancers
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- The Tsarina's Slippers opens on Friday at The Royal Opera House, with performances until 8 December. Book online here.