Turandot returns to the National Theater in Prague after 40 years

Nizami wrote an epic seven-poem cycle, with with each poem corresponding to a day of the week. This tale was for Tuesday.

The basic plot is the stuff of fairytales, with Prince Calaf having to solve three riddles to win the hand of Princess Turnadot. She still refuses, even though he solves them, and then the prince tells her he will relent if she guesses his true name.

“The romantic tale of love and hate is surrounded by mysterious motifs of ice, fire, moon and sun. …An extraordinary audience experience is crowned by Puccini’s masterful musical language, adorned with many ‘eccentric’ elements — from oriental paraphrases to the brutal sound of the orchestra and dissonant harmony to wildly complicated choral and ensemble scenes,” the National Theatre stated.

Michal Lehotský and Renzo Zulian will perform the role of Prince Kalaf, whose love will eventually overwhelm the Princess’s coldness.

For this new production, costumes are by Boris Hanečka, the personal fashion designer of Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová and Slovak celebrities.

The musical staging is by conductor Jaroslav Kyzlinek, the musical director of the National Theatre opera since September 2016. He had worked previously in Brno, Bratislava, Copenhagen, and Tokyo.

Princess Turandot will be played on different nights by Anda-Louis Bogza, Iveta Jiříková and Eliška Weissová. Michal Lehotský and Sergey Polyakov will perform the role of Prince Kalaf. Other main roles are performed by Jiří Sulženko, Alžběta Poláčková, or František Zahradníček.