The Memory of Liars

Today I finished the first draft of The Memory of Liars: A Night with Grigori Efimovich, which will be performed next April (2009). My close friend Andrew Paul Jackson, who is finishing his master's at the Boston Conservatory, asked me to write the libretto for his senior opera.

Both he and I are greatly interested in Russian culture: He in the composers, I in the writers. When he said to me, "I want to do an opera about Grigori Rasputin and the five conspirators who killed him, I said, "Sign me up."

Writing the script has been one of the most enjoyable projects I have taken on. The characters interact with each other in such striking ways. Here, dear readers, is the cast, based on the definitive scholarship of Andrew Cook:

Felix Yusupov - The spoiled, pampered Count fancies himself the savior of Russia, and his fanciful account of Rasputin's murder reads like an early draft of Bram Stoker's Dracula. He is a homosexual in love with Grigori Rasputin, whose sexual magnetism was legendary. Also, his wife, Grand Duchess Irina, was a large factor in luring Rasputin to his death.

Dmitri Pavlovich - Dmitri Pavlovich was a close friend (and possible lover) of Felix Yusupov. He was a Romanov by blood, and was once in line to marry the Tsar's niece or daughter (reports conflict), until Rasputin revealed his homosexual tendencies to Nicholas II. Rasputin also helped to undermine Dmitri's uncle, a field commander in World War I.

Vladimir Purishkevich - The speaker of the Duma, a pompous leader, and the man who ultimately revealed to authorities that Rasputin had been murdered. Purishkevich's bumbling -- along with the screw-ups of Felix and the rest -- would be comical, except it is so inexcusable.

Lt. Oswald Rayner - an English agent for MI-5, Rayner is concerned primarily with Russia's involvement in the Great War. He cannot afford to have Rasputin convince Tsar Nicholas II to withdraw troops. Therefore, Rasputin must die.

Stanislaus Lazovert - Army doctor and close friend of Purishkevich, it is he who provides, allegedly, the cyanide which fail to poison Rasputin. Insubordinate and resentful of his lowly position as driver and accomplice, Lazovert mocks his superiors even as he works with them to bring about the final solution.

Grigori Efimovich Rasputin - Friend or fiend? Angel or devil? Rasputin remains one of the most complex historical figures scholars puzzle over. A sexual deviant and man of God, Rasputin is said to have healed Tsarevich Alexei and, while unable to rid the boy of hemophilia completely, at least saved the boy from death by the blood disease. While most doctors today attribute his "cures" to psychological calmness, etc., Rasputin is said to have healed Alexei at least once from 1,000 miles away! No one has ever explained this dramatic "cure."