King Aniliagos

The play “King Aniliagos” is a dramatic and lyrical tale. It consists of three acts and is written in the vernacular, in a rhymed verse, sometimes paired and sometimes woven.

Andreas composed a contemporary Greek musical, a piece of work full of powerful melodies based on the fairy-tale drama masterpiece of I. Polemis, keeping the melodic musical composition’s special dialect and measure (fifteen-syllable verse) intact.

This is a quite distinctive musical where music shifts between the contemporary and the traditional. It is his first large-scale work of musical theater.

The plot of the play is based entirely on a folk tale from Etoloakarnania and contains a series of traditional elements.

According to tradition, Aniliagos was in love with Lady Rini, the beautiful tower hostess. Aniliagos won the heart and embrace of the princess, but he could only meet her at night. Fate had cursed him to die as soon as he saw the sunlight. And whoever revealed the secret of the curse to him was to turn into stone.

The kingdom of Lady Rini is the Ancient Plevrona. She identifies with the emperor Alexios Paleologos’ daughter, wife of Andronikos.

The lyrics of the additional songs are written by the renowned lyricist Lina Dimopoulou, while there is a shift between modern and traditional music with the soundtrack “Love” being the prevailing piece.

The story of King Aniliagos and Lady Rini praises the power of love.