The presentation of the Russian movie and musical performance is to raise money to renovate the Victory Theatre.
Members of Holyoke High School choir file into United Congregational Church of Holyoke to provide accompaniment to 938 movie "Alexander Nevsky" shown in the church Thursday.
HOLYOKE - A Russian movie about a 13th century battle; score performed live by choir, organist and mezzo-soprano, in a church on a weekday:
The showing of the 1938 Russian movie "Alexander Nevsky" was an experience Thursday that high school students said they will remember.
"I thought it was awesome, and the singing, I thought it was a good cultural background," said Naisha Arroyo, 18, a senior at Dean Technical High School.
"I thought it was a really interesting idea. At first I wasn't really into it. I've never seen (an often) silent film, so I didn't know what to expect, but I got into it," said Carly Costello, 16, a junior at Holyoke High School.
Nearly 100 students attended a matinee show with the movie projected on a big screen in front of the altar at United Congregational Church of Holyoke, Appleton and Maple streets, accompanied by the Holyoke High School choir directed by Mark Todd, organist Peter Krasinski and mezzo-soprano Gigi Mitchell-Velasco.
The show previewed a main one that is open to the public Saturday at 7 p.m. at the church. Ticket prices include $125 for a gala that includes premium seating and pre-performance champagne and hors d'ouevres at the nearby headquarters of the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, 56 Suffolk St., from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Other ticket prices are $45 for general admission and $25 for students with identification.
MIFA is offering the performance as a fund-raiser toward renovation of the Victory Theatre, a stage and movie theater at 81-89 Suffolk St. The 93-year-old Victory has been closed since 1979.
The cost of renovating the old vaudeville house has risen to $28 million. Because of funding uncertainty, a scheduled reopening that has been changed a few times is now pegged only at within the next three years, said Donald T. Sanders, executive artistic director of MIFA, the nonprofit organization that owns the theater.
Sanders said his organization has commitments for $21 million of the $28 million needed to redo the Victory in the form of tax credits from the Massachusetts Historical Commission and other government agencies and donations.
"Alexander Nevsky" was directed by Sergei Eisenstein with music by Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev. The 112-minute, black-and-white movie tells the story of "villainous Teutonic Knights" invading Russia in 1241 with a key battle detonating on a frozen lake near Novgorod, according to a New York Times review.
Nevsky is the prince who leads the defense of "Mother Russia" in a tale of horse-back charges, sword-wielding warriors and screen-filling, hand-to-hand combat resulting in many soldiers' deaths, but virtually no noticeable bloodshed.
Nevsky, played by Nikolay Cherkasov, is a fair-haired and bearded general who resembled a smoother Chuck Norris.
Toward the end, Mitchell-Velasco steps into the spotlight at the podium beside the screen, and later from the balcony, singing over the long camera shots of the battle's carnage.
Such shows highlight what MIFA can offer, said Sanders, noting actor Hal Holbrook's performance here as Mark Twain in November. "Alexander Nevsky" was a chance to show a tragedy with a standout score -- "It's considered one of the best scores ever written" -- and get students involved by enlisting the chorus, he said.
"I hope you will remember this," Sanders told the high schoolers. "You're going to be like Alexander Nevsky and fight for what you want to see."