Flight of the Polunochnaya (musical)

> *"From the esteemed director of 'Comrade Pavlov', Rudolph Kalakovsky, and starring Robert Joseph, Victoria Lang, and Nathan Grammer! Don't miss...the ROMANCE! The INTRIGUE! The ACTION! Don't miss what the World City Times are calling 'the greatest stage production since 'A Quarter to Nine' with all the charm of 'Percy's Big Adventure in Little UDAP!' and all the action of 'The Woman from Taipei'!. Catch it every night at the Gershwin, 7 o'clock on the dot!"*
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> -a poster advertisement for *Flight,* made during it's opening week
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## Introduction

*Flight of the Polunochnaya* is a Frenkish musical play, directed and produced by famous playwright and director Rudolph Kalakovsky. Kalakovsky, noted for his earlier film masterpiece *Comrade Pavlov,* aimed to "portray the Flight in a tasteful enough manner while making it appealing to Imperial audiences". Hence, the play is generally regarded as a "series of drama and romance tales via a diverse roster of characters". Unlike other productions of it's caliber, however, it's often treated as a quasi-tragedy, as the play focuses on Alain almost as much as the crew of the Polunochnaya, and paints him in a sympathetic light as he grieves over the loss of his beloved Mildred.

Kalakovsky managed to get many rigid details of the actual Flight (including the actual names of those involved) via "extensive contacts in the Culture Office".

## Plot

The play opens with seasoned IIA field operative Jon Rollins (portrayed by veteran actor Robert Joseph), languishing over his conflicted feelings in Sunikagrad University Hospital, as Elena Trotskaya (Victoria Lang) gives birth. Rollins reveals that after months of protecting her, he's fallen for her, but has also grown to heavily respect her current lover as a close friend, Victor Golovkin (Kyle Rainey). Meanwhile, Alain (Nathan Grammer), plots revenge against Trotskaya and Golovkin, revealing that they had killed his lover on a "mission gone awry" nearly a year prior. Back in the Hospital, Rollins eventually decides to reveal his feelings to Trotskaya, stating that "no matter what she says...my conscience will be clear". However, just as he enters her room to tell her, Alain attacks, defeating Trotskaya and Rollins in combat and stealing the children.

Trotskaya acts immediately, gathering the "entire socialist world" and piling them aboard the Polunochnaya to pursue him "across dimensions". Rollins gathers his team (including Commonwealther Harper Brooks, portrayed by Jennifer Langley) and joins her.

wip

## Memorable Numbers

* Count Every Star, sung by Jonathon Rollins (portrayed by Robert Joseph)
* Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland, duet sung by Victor Golovkin and Elena Trotskaya (portrayed by Kyle Rainey and Victoria Lang, respectively)
* My Foolish Heart, sung by Atalanta (portrayed by Tara Juno)
* Confessin' (That I Love You), sung by Rachel Enns (portrayed by Ashley Ericson)
* I'll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her, sung by Alain (portrayed by Nathan Grammer)

## Status in the World

*Flight* became the highest grossing play in history, earning well over six hundred million credits in it's opening week alone. It became so popular, that it was soon regarded as a "standard" along with much older works, such as those of Shakespeare.

However, by WWIV, Imperial authorities banned the play, due to it's sympathetic leaning towards the Mechanocracy. This authoritarian measure would soon prove extremely unpopular with the common man, however, and the measure would eventually be overturned.

By the end of WWIV, Kalakovsky had revealed that he was working on a holofilm remake, and it should be out shortly after the war's end "as a celebration of peace and unity".

### Mechanocratic Russia

*Flight of the Polunochnaya* would go on to be known as one of a very small handful of Western plays to be performed in Mechanocratic Russia, and would join an even more miniscule elite of Western media considered extremely popular amongst Mecharussians. Its first performance in the Eastern World was at the Great People's Celebration Hall in Velikiy Sunikagrad's Vsevolozhsk District on the 18th of October 2154, with Grand Curatrix Trotskaya herself attending the showing.

The Mecharussian version of the play differs very little from Kalakovsky's original, the only major alteration being casting. The lead roles of Golovkin, Trotskaya, Rollins and Alain were given to, respectively, veteran propaganda actor Eriney Kolchak, musician and performer Varvara Ionanova, Turkish performance-artist Erdem Aslan, and ballet-dancer Yakov Pobedonostsev. The latter reportedly developed stage-fright when he learned that the real Trotskaya was attending the first showing, because he was unsure of how she would react to his re-enactment of the various depredations waged against her by the actual Alain. However, Pobedonostsev overcame his fear and delivered *"a performance worthy of the legend itself"*, according to the review of the showing by Mecharussian tabloid *Iskra*.

Both the Mecharussian version and the unadulterated Frenkish version of *Flight of the Polunochnaya* were met with overwhelming critical acclaim. The appearance of the musical marked the beginning of the 'legend drama' period in Mecharussian culture, where works depicting the great tales of the Mechanocratic Ideology were produced up until the Fourth World War.

## Comparison

While *Flight* generally follows the real events in a true pattern, but plenty of liberties were taken by Kalakovsky. For instance, the entire romance arc between Rollins and Trotskaya is entirely fictional. Actual historians on the subject generally agree that Trotskaya and Rollins saw each other only as friends (with Trotskaya, at best, seeing Rollins as a "big brother" figure for guidance), and that Rollins was a "notorious professional" in that regard.

The opening fight scene is also much different than what actually happened, as Harrigan (who actually fought Alain off) is absent. Kalakovsky revealed that it was originally planned for a much bigger fight scene to take place between Harrigan and Alain, but "the special effects budget didn't allow it to live up to its deserved glory".

Many of the romances are also "exaggerated" or generally dramaticized. One example is the relationship between Atalanta and Hadrian Kelly. In the play, Kelly takes Atalanta without so much as a thought, while actual history dictates he was much more hesitant. Others (such as the romance arc between Rachel and Harper, or the arc between Rudnitsky and Robina) are agreed to have been done "much better".