Famous musical comedy "Cloth Peddler" to be staged in Los Angeles
By Nigar Orujova
World-famous Azerbaijani musical comedy and operetta "Arshın Mal Alan" ("Cloth Peddler") will be staged in Los Angeles on September 7.
The unique and one-night-only performance is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the operetta and organized by Azerbaijan's Consulate General in the Californian city. It is the first time that this unique musical comedy will be performed at such a scale and form in the United States and in the English-speaking world overall.
The performance will take place in the Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, which is one of the largest and most renowned opera houses of the world. Besides being home to the eminent Los Angeles Opera, the Pavilion is also famous for having hosted Oscar Academy Awards in the 1970-90s.
Produced by award-winning American producer Michael Schnack, the musical comedy will be performed by outstanding American opera singers, who will be singing in original Azerbaijani, with projected English translations, and speaking English.
A Los Angeles-based orchestra of exquisite musicians will play the music.
Schnack was also the producer of the same operetta staged in Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Austria, in 2006, to a great acclaim.
Arshin Mal Alan is one of the most well-known and dearly-loved stories among Azerbaijanis.
The operetta was composed and staged by the founder of Azerbaijani opera and classical music composer and playwright Uzeyir Hajibeyli in 1913 in the Azerbaijani capital Baku. The comedy with amazing music and breathtaking plot is considered to be the first operetta in the entire Muslim world.
Over the last 100 years, the operetta has been successfully performed in a plethora of languages in over 60 countries of the world, including in Austria, France, China, Greece, India, Russia, and Turkey.