Rusalka is a family musical - a freely adapted working of the world-renowned opera, which is performed in the completely new Milénium Theatre in Prague, with the participation of famous personalities from the Czech music and operatic scene. The story of the unfulfilled love of the mermaid Rusalka for a man - the prince - is a variation of a classic tale that has appeared in the folklore of various nations for over a thousand years. This beloved fairytale theme was transformed into the opera Rusalka at the turn of the century by librettist Jaroslav Kvapil and the composer Antonín Dvořák.
The creators of the musical version of Rusalka have used the themes of Dvořák’s music, which Zdeněk John, well known as the author of film scores, has adapted to modern sounds and into musical format. Every evening over thirty musicians sit in the orchestra in the Milénium Theatre and together they create a unique symphonic/rock musical orchestra. The original libretto from the end of the last century has been sensitively adapted by the writer and producer of the musical Michael Prostějovský so that the format of the aria will fit into the form of a song and so that several archaic and today unknown expressions, could fit their current equivalent, and so that the meaning fits the musical format more closely.
The Rusalka musical features many of the Czech Republic's leading rock singers - Petr Muk, Kamil Střihavka, Yvonne Přenosilová – and opera singers - Jiří Schoenbauer and Peter Poldauf. In working on preparations for the musical, excellent scenic artists came together - costume designer Theodor Pištěk (winner of an Oscar and nominated for a British Award for the Miloš Forman films Amadeus and Valmont), director Jozef Bednárik, well-known for his work directing musicals, operas, ballets and plays not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Slovakia and in many European countries, and choreographer of National theatre in Prague Libor Vaculík, the pupil and successor of the celebrated Czech choreographer Pavel Šmok.
A new theatre has been created in the old Marketplace of Prague for the Rusalka musical production. The production company Parlando built this out of the former storehouse of the Prague abattoir, according to designs by architect Jaromír Pizinger, who linked work on the theatre project with the proposed scenery for the musical.
For the premiere of the musical, the company Monitor (the Czech branch of EMI) issued a recording with highlights from the musical and a special single with the musical's key song „O Silver Moon“ (Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém). It is now available on video cassette with a television documentary about the making of the musical an construction of the theatre.
beginning of 1999