“Mama”: a magical story, featuring three Olympic champions

Of course, for Russia it’s a common thing to have an Olympic champion – or more – in a figure skating gala; the country has tens of skaters winning gold at the Olympics over the years. Having the chance to see one live is a joy by itself – and you can very well imagine what it’s like to have three: Tatiana Totmianina, Maxim Marinin and Alexei Yagudin were the stars of the show “Mama”, hosted by the Yubileyny Sports Palace of St. Petersburg at the end of 2014. Inside Skating pulls the curtains and invites you into the story of the show – in fact, an adaptation of “The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats”, a fable collected by Brothers Grimm at the beginning of the nineteenth century. But, in contrast with the original version of the story, “Mama” has a happy ending – and, of course, a lesson to be learned…

by Natasha Ponarina

One time before New Year’s Eve, on an ordinary street, an ordinary family heads home; but the children are noisy, running from here to there, not listening to their parents. Suddenly, mom, dad and the kids find a flying hat, belonging to a wizard. Played by Alexei Yagudin, the wizard receives his magical hat and, asked by the two children, he starts doing tricks. Casting his hat in the air, the wizard moves the family in a fairy village and makes them witness a very interesting story… Are you ready? Here it is.

In the fairy village lived a lot of animals: mother and father-squirrel – and their children, a family of hares, a family of sheep and their lambs, a good-natured bear and a bee, his hardworking helper. Auntie Masha (Tatiana Totmianina), a lovely goat, also stayed in the village, with all her seven kids. And while Auntie Masha was away, looking for food, her children, as all the children in the village, were in the kindergarten, under the care of the bear and the bee. The little goats liked being in the kindergarten, playing, running, having fun. But near the fairy village lived a wolf (Maxim Marinin) – and the children were advised not to stand in his way…

When Auntie Masha took her seven children from the kindergarten, the little ones continued to play their games in a meadow near the house – thus, annoying the wolf, who wanted to catch some sleep during the day, since during nights he went hunting. The wolf and his accomplices – a little wolf (his nephew), a donkey and a lynx – asked the little goats to stay quiet; but Auntie Masha, like any other caring mother, chased the wolf from her territory, asking him to never come near the children again.

The night has come into the village – all the animals tucked their children into bed and sang them lullabies. In the forest, the wolf and his accomplices plot something evil: to return to the goat’s house during the day, grab the kids and come back with them into the forest; the little goats won’t be able to find their way home and, thus, they will never interfere with his sleep.

The next day, a colorful and talented parrot shows up in the village (Alexei Yagudin, who else?). The parrot is, of course, an artist and invites all the inhabitants at the upcoming New Year’s Fair.

Before going to the fair, Auntie Masha strictly prohibits her children to open the door of the house to someone other than her. And for the little goats not to confuse her with someone else, Masha sings her a song; they’d recognize her voice and open. But neither Auntie Masha, nor her children know the wolf and his gang overheard the song…

Without Masha, the little goats start to get bored, but they do wait patiently for her mother to return. All of a sudden, behind the door, a song is heard – but the voice is rude and hoarse; and the kids realize that’s not their mother at the door, but the wolf. They laugh at him and watch him go.

Hours are passing and the kids are running out of patience; and the naughty goat kid Mityai states that he wants to go to the fair. The others try to persuade him not to, but Mityai is stubborn. “I’m not afraid of the wolf”, he says, then leaves. Outside the house, he notices the wolf and his gang – and eavesdrops on their plan. Seeing Mityai, the wolf sends the gang to catch him, while he’s going to the fair.

And what a colorful, joyful New Year’s Fair this is! The parrot is the star of the day – and the wolf starts praising his talent. “You’re such a great artist!”, he says; and the flattered parrot doesn’t suspect anything and agrees to rehearse with the wolf, in order for him to have a lovely, clear voice.

Fleeing from the wolf’s gang, little goat Mityai starts feeling sorry he hadn’t listened to his mother and brothers and ran away from home. The little wolf, the donkey and the lynx try to catch him, but Mityai climbs on a high cliff and refuses to come down. Realizing he can’t warn his family about the wolf’s plan, the little goat starts to cry.

With the evening approaching, the other six little goats become more and more preoccupied: their brother Mityai hasn’t come back; and, as soon as their mother arrives, they tell her everything. Fearing for her son, Auntie Masha runs to find him.

In the meantime, the wolf feels he’s ready: under the guidance of the parrot, his voice sounds exactly like the goat’s; he now sings the goat’s song kindly and gently, like Auntie Masha would do. Pleased with himself, the wolf decides it’s time to put his plan into action. Getting closer to the goat’s house, he begins to sing. His voice is so convincing that the kids immediately open the door. Seeing the grey wolf, children scatter in all directions, but the thief is quicker: he grabs them in a bag and returns in the forest.

Surprise-surprise: on his way to his home, the wolf encounters the parrot. And, hearing the screaming in the bag, the parrot immediately realizes he unintentionally helped the wolf to make something bad. The brave parrot fights with the kidnapper, but the wolf calls for the help of his gang, and the forces are, of course, unequal.

On his cliff, poor little kid Mityai weeps bitterly; passing by, the bear and the bee are the ones helping him descend and accompany him home. Along the way they teach him an important lesson: a kid should always listen to his mom – and running away from home was a very bad idea.

Not finding Mityai at the fair, Auntie Masha comes to her home, only to find it turned upside down, with all the kids missing. Her eldest daughter appears from nowhere: she had managed to hide and told the mother that the wolf had kidnapped her brothers. Discouraged, Auntie Masha starts crying.

At this point, everything changes: the bear and the bee bring Mityai home – and the parrot apologizes for the fact that he, unwillingly, helped the wolf to steal the kids. Everyone promise to help the sad mother.

Meanwhile, the wolf has already brought the kids to his home and let them out of the bag. But the little goats are again noisy, so the wolf warns them he’ll carry them even farther into the forest. The little goat Goga has then a brilliant idea: he persuades his brothers and sisters to pretend they are very ashamed of their behavior, and asks the wolf to teach them to behave correctly. The wolf is flattered – pretending he is a teacher, he starts telling them what to do and not to – but the kids turn everything into a noisy bedlam and the wolf is completely exhausted. Not to mention the little goats pour water on him; but the water is very cold, so the wolf starts feeling sick. The kids are sorry for him and decide to cure him. But how to do that? All of a sudden, they remember about the miraculous power of honey and tea with raspberry jam the bear and the bee had told them about in kindergarten. With honey and jam, the wolf is quickly on his feet – and he becomes very good friend with the little goats.

In the village, all the inhabitants decide to help Auntie Masha take her kids back from the wolf. But, heading to the wolf’s lair, they hear noises, a lot of noises, as if an entire army were there. The animals get ready for battle – but suddenly see there’s no army; it’s just the wolf marching with the little goats. The ending is surprising – and totally different from the one of the original story collected by Brothers Grimm: the wolf apologizes to Masha for kidnapping her kids. And, preparing to leave, he’s stopped by the little goats: they ask their mother to let the wolf live with them, promising they will always behave. And, from that moment on, Auntie Masha, the kids and the wolf lived together like a big family – and the little goats were the most obedient children in the world.

…and so the unusual journey into the fairy village ended. Mom and dad thanked the magician for helping them believe in miracles and the children… well, the children promised their parents they’d be very good. Is there a lesson to be learned here? We believe there is. THE END.

The cast of “Mama”
Auntie Masha: Tatiana Totmianina
The wolf: Maxim Marinin
The wizard/the parrot: Alexei Yagudin
The hares: Arseny Repkin and Tatyana Domracheva
The squirrels: Stanislav Novozhylov and Elizaveta Semina
The sheep: Tatiana Novik and Andrei Filonov
The foxes: Alina Khairetdinova and Stanislav Evdokimov
The gang of the wolf: Eugene Lukashenko, Andrei Lutai and Anton Kovalevsky
The bee: Catherine Bokiy
The bear: Valdis Mintals
The little goats: Children’s Ballet Ice Factory from St. Petersburg