Nord-Ost

The literary basis of the musical "Nord-Ost" is the famous novel "Two Captains" by Veniamin Kaverin. The main roles in the musical were performed by Andrey Bogdanov and Ekaterina Guseva.

The premiere took place in Moscow on October 19, 2001. The musical was performed over 400 times and was seen by nearly half a million spectators. In 2003, the production received the national theater award "Golden Mask."

For many years, enthusiasts painstakingly restored video materials of the musical, with the permission of the authors, to show "Nord-Ost" on the big screen. Artificial intelligence was even used in the final stage of restoration. As a result, the best possible quality was achieved for a twenty-year-old recording. This adapted version is suitable for cinema screenings and noticeably differs from previously available versions.

We hope that the impressions of the scale of what is seen will be comparable to those that audiences experienced daily in the theater, where a full-size airplane landed on the stage. For fans of the musical and the "Ivasi" duo, this is the perfect opportunity to gather together, remember their favorite performance, and introduce it to friends, family, and children.

Prologue
North, 1913

Captain Tatarinov’s Arctic Region expedition on the “St Maria” schooner perishes. In his farewell letter the captain names his brother Nickolay as the cause of all his troubles.

First Act
Arkhangelsk, 1916
A mute boy, Sanya Grigoriev, witnesses a postman’s murder.  Sanya’s father is accused, wrongly, of the crime, but speechless Sanya isn’t able to convey the truth.  He doesn’t realize yet that he is seeing his father for the last time. The boy is still in possession of the bag of letters that the postman failed to deliver.

Maria Tatarinova is eager for her husband to return from his expedition, but having long waited without any message from him, she leaves Arkhangelsk with her mother, Nina Kapitonovna, and small daughter Katya. The captain’s brother, Nickolay, takes them to Moscow. Maria says goodbye to Korablev, a devoted friend of the Tatarinov family.  Korablev encounters the weeping Sanya at the empty pier.  Filled with compassion for the boy, he teaches Sanya how to overcome his muteness by will and patience.

Moscow, 1920-1921
The ruin and chaos of civil war reign over the country.  The orphaned Sanya wanders from city to city with his only possession – the Arkhangelsk postman’s mail bag.  As a result of his determined persistence he, following Korablev’s advice, finds the gift of speech.

A happy coincidence reunites Sanya and Korablev in Moscow. Korablev, who now works as a teacher, persuades the school commune’s director - Nickolay Tatarinov - to take the orphaned waif in.  Sanya acquires new friends:  Valka Zhoukov and Romashov.  By chance, he meets the director’s niece, Katia Tatarinova, a courageous and resolute girl. She intercedes for Sanya, who has broken one of Tatarinov’s instruments.
 
Korablev asks Maria to marry him, but she refuses – the captain’s widow still isn’t reconciled to the loss of her beloved husband. Nickolay, who is not indifferent to Maria, provokes an argument and turns Korablev and Sanya (who happens to witness the scene) out of the house. Sanya and Nickolay Tatrinov become enemies.

Moscow, 1928
The mature Katya and Sanya have fallen in love.  On New Year’s Eve Katya invites her friends to a party at her house.  From her story about her father Sanya suddenly realizes that Captain Tatarinov’s farewell letter is among the letters in the postman’s bag.  Romashov, wishing to curry favour with Nickolay Tatarinov, at his request steals a page from this letter. However Sanya remembers the text by heart. He reproduces from memory the missing page, in which the captain accuses his brother Nickolay for the expedition’s failure. Maria is aghast, because only recently she has become the wife of Nikolay, having given in to his persistent persuasion. The intolerable notion that she has betrayed her love drives Maria to suicide.
   
Nikolay Tatarinov accuses Sanya of slander.  Sanya turns to Katya for understanding, but she also turns away from him. He is in despair:  As a child Sanya lost his father because he could not speak and now the truth he speaks leads to the death of Katya’s mother.  Still, after a fierce internal struggle, Sanya is determined not to surrender. He swears to find the remnants of the lost expedition. He will never be speechless again.
 
Second Act
Moscow, 1938

Sanya Grigoriev has become a pilot. He dreams of making an Arctic flight following the route of Captain Tatarinov’s lost expedition.  Enlisting the support of the famous pilot Valeriy Chkalov, Sanya comes to Moscow to seek official sanction from the Arctic Ocean Sea-lane Administration (GlavSevMorPut)

His old friend Valka Zhoukov persuades Sanya to meet with Katya. Sanya still  loves her, though he has not seen her for nine years. Sanya’s phone call finds Katya in the midst of Romashov’s declaration of love, during which  he proposes marriage to her, as he has many times before.   Without a word, Katya runs from the  apartment.  Blackmailing Nickolay Tatarinov with the damning page from the letter, Romashov demands his help in getting the rival from his way.

Sanya and Katya wander together in the city’s twilight, but bitter memoirs keep them from finding the necessary words.  What is more, because of the intrigues of Romashov and Nickolay Tatarinov, pilot Grigoriev has been refused GlavSevMorPut’s permission to organize a search expedition to the Arctic Region.  The dismayed Sanya is forced to leave Moscow.  However, Katya appears at the station at the last minute. The long-awaited declaration of love takes place at last.  Katya tells Sanya that she has decided to leave her uncle and move to Leningrad.

Leningrad, 1942
The war again separates Katya and Sanya.  Katya and her grandmother remain in besieged Leningrad. Romashov finds her there, half dead, and tells her that he encountered the seriously wounded Sanya in a hospital train, but the train was attacked by German tanks.  He tells her that he tried to rescue Sanya, but was unsuccessful.  Katya throws Romashov out, accusing him of treachery.

Romashov has lied.  He has in fact left Sanya in a wood hoping he would not survive. In hysterics Romashov relives the circumstances of the encounter and realizes he has been defeated.    Hope returns to Katya.  She feels that Sanya is alive, and believes that her love will rescue him.  But she remains lonely:  her grandmother dies, unable to survive the hardships of the Leningrad siege.  Katya’s strength, too, is waning.

Moscow, 1942
Despite all the difficult circumstances, Sanya manages to survive.  In searching for Katya he comes to Tatarinov’s apartment. Romashov opens the door.  The apartment has markedly deteriorated, and former master Nickolay Tatarinov is paralyzed and mute.  Terrible news awaits Sanya here:  Romashov tells him that Katya died in Leningrad.

North, 1943
Captain Grigoriev fights desperate air battles in his polar aircraft.  After one victorious air battle his plane makes an emergency landing in a Nenets nomad camp.  Among the implements the natives bring for repairing the plane, Sanya finds a hook from the “St Maria” schooner. He doesn’t believe his eyes.  The elders tell him that they saw Captain Tatarinov before his death and have even saved the ship’s logbook.  Sanya’s cherished dream has come true, but it brings him little happiness now, with Katya dead.
   
Fortunately, he is mistaken: Katya is alive!  In spite of everything, she finds her beloved in a polar military base, at the very edge of the earth.  They are together again.  They are at last happy. They are flying on the wings of the dream that came true.