The premiere of the play “Psalm” dedicated to the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Russian invaders has taken place in New York’s Soho Playhouse in Manhattan.
As an Ukrinform correspondent reports from New York, the idea of the production belongs to director and actor Grygor Melskyi, a native of Ukraine who lives in the USA.
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The play, which the authors call a “musical ballad”, is created from the verses of Vasyl Makhno, a Ukrainian writer who lives in New York. Grygor Melskyi and musical director Jan Perchuk set verses to music. The poetry is performed against the background of the pictures of war, the ruins of Bucha, Mariupol and other cities, the life of Ukrainian refugees.
“On Feb. 24, when Russia attacked Ukraine, I was so shocked that I began to think how to show it to the American audience but in the language of art,” Melskyi told Ukrinform in a comment, “I discussed the idea with Makhno… His ‘psalms’ about the war were perfect for this.”
According to Makhno, the main idea of the project is to “record this difficult time and experience it together.”
“Because the art has to fulfill its function during the war… For us, it was a kind of challenge: to present what everyone is talking about in a concentrated form,” he told Ukrinform.
The money collected in ticket sales will be transferred to the humanitarian account of the National Bank of Ukraine and sent to support writers affected during the war.
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