The Golden Cockerel (2016): Besetzung, Handlung & Streaming

Released in 2016, The Golden Cockerel is a musik film directed by Laurent Pelly, running about 118 minutes. “Am I dreaming this is real?” — that tagline sets the tone.

What it’s about. ‘A beautiful song – a shame that it shows such disrespect to the Mayor!’ This remark from the score of The Golden Cockerel highlights the delicious ambiguity of this work. Principally inspired by Washington Irving and Pushkin, Rimsky-Korsakov called on the talents of Vladimir Belsky, an author of other libretti of a fairy-tale, legendary nature and an expert on Russian folk literature. The composer, a genius at orchestration, has given us sparkling music, with oriental touches, that creates fully rounded characters. This is the perfect occasion for Alain Altinoglu to direct his first opera in his new role as Music Director of La Monnaie. After the success of his Don Quichotte and Cendrillon, Laurent Pelly returns to La Monnaie to stage this exuberant political satire, an adventure in unrestrained rhythm. More than a century has passed since its first performance, yet the opera has lost none of its boisterous sarcasm.

Who’s in it. The Golden Cockerel stars Pavlo Hunka as Tzar Dodon, Alexey Dolgov as Tzarevich Guidon, Konstantin Shushakov as Tzarevich Afron and Alexander Vassiliev as General Polkan, among others.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch The Golden Cockerel page.

If you liked it. Fans of The Golden Cockerel tend to enjoy Whiplash, Coco - Lebendiger als das Leben!, Green Book - Eine besondere Freundschaft and Die Legende vom Ozeanpianisten.