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Mykola Gogol: The Night Before Christmas RADIO PLAY Adaptation (words): Oda Schaefer, Hellmut von Cube Music: Mark Lothar Director: Walter Ohm Speaker/Speaker Role/Function Ernst Jäger the narrator Hans Korte the devil Jochen Striebeck Wakula, the blacksmith Blanche Aubry Ssolocha, his mother Fritz Strassner Cossack hetman Christine Ostermayer Ouana, his daughter Herta Staal Odarka, her friend Traugott Buhre Mayor Peter Lühr Sexton Lina Carstens Sonja, the sexton's wife Herbert Mensching Patzjuk Leo Bardischewski Cousin Maria Nicklisch the Tsarina Jörg Hube a lad Karl Obermayr a lad In the Ukrainian village of Dikanka (Диканька) a lot is out of balance on the night before Christmas. The witch Ssolocha steals a handful of stars from the sky to decorate herself for the festival; the devil, with whom she is in league, even attacks the moon disk as it unsuspectingly passes over the village. But even stranger is the confusion that is going on in the pious and honest blacksmith Wakula: out of love for the beautiful Oxana, he allows himself to be carried away into promising to bring the most beautiful pair of embroidered ball shoes from the Tsarina's palace in Petersburg within one night. It takes some cunning and magic before Wakula can keep his promise. Bavarian Radio 1971 First broadcast: 20.12.1971