Evgenia Borisova. Ten performances of the week

Ten performances of the week
Evgenia Borisova

Publication date: December 3, 2001

On Monday, December 3, the repertoire is sparse. Against this background, the evening of ballet at the Musical Theater named after K.S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko , dedicated to the anniversary of soloist Arkady Nikolaev, looks like a gift of fate. Despite his very advanced age for a dancer (the hero of the day is turning sixty), he will take an active part in the celebration, going on stage not only to listen to congratulations. They promise the third act of “Swan Lake”, fragments from “The Nutcracker” and “Esmeralda”. In addition, it is worth noting that at such evenings, usually few people mess around, which means that the quality of performance of the parts familiar from childhood promises to be...

On Tuesday, December 4, a five-day tour of the musical "Stomp" begins on the stage of the Operetta Theater . The organizers of the screening of this project in Moscow did their best by agreeing with TV-6 for the group’s artists to perform in the final talk show of the “Behind the Glass” program. And they did the right thing, since any advertising words around “Stomp” after actually seeing it seem petty and stupid. It's really cool, infectious and talented. Rhythm, sound, music are carved out of God knows what - garbage iron, scrubber sticks and other nasty things. Colorful performers, moving like panthers, perform miracles with their bodies, which become part of this sound. Not an illustration, but its only possible form. We, even the most talented and prepared of us, will never be able to do this. The temperament is not the same, and neither is the climate. And therefore, from Tuesday to Saturday, you must definitely find an evening and have fun with “Stomp”.

On Wednesday, December 5th, it’s time for the drama theater. Two premieres have been announced. At the Stanislavsky Drama Theater, the recently appointed chief director Semyon Spivak shows his new brainchild - “Testament in Italian”. The performance is based on the play “Poor Pierrot” by the Italian A. Campanile. The forecasts, unfortunately, are not encouraging. Spivak is a man from St. Petersburg, where fifteen years ago he was known as a promising young director, then as a talented builder of the Youth Theater. Apparently, he had to pay for the chair in the capital. And not in banknotes. Both “Masculine, Singular” and “The Bourgeois Nobleman” are nice works, the first one was even very successful at the box office, but neither one nor the other became the masterpieces or performances that Moscow theatergoers talk about. And it’s clear why: the dramaturgy, even Moliere, is read like a vulgar text from a sitcom. No more. The artists play in the “shouldn’t we make the audience laugh at Tverskaya?” But life is short, and you no longer want to waste time on a performance, the main thing in which is the plot intrigue. We can only hope that Spivak has changed...

The premiere at RAMT is much more encouraging. The play is also Italian - Carlo Gozzi's "The Deer King". But the hope is not at all in the text of the great playwright. If anyone inspires in modern theater, it is the director. Nikolay Roshchin two years ago “made” Moscow with a semi-student play “The Beekeepers,” based on the paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Younger. A new language was declared, closely associated with clownery, or more precisely with Vyacheslav Polunin. It is unlikely that Roshchin began to work in a different style. In this case, one can predict both success and enormous failure, but it is obvious that it will be at least entertaining.

On Thursday, December 6, on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater there will be another anniversary . The queen of the evening is the magnificent Makvala Kasrashvili. Exactly how old the birthday girl is is a mystery. It’s not difficult to calculate, but we won’t. At least, much less than Mr. Verdi, on the centenary of whose death Kasrashvili, rightfully considered one of the best voices of the Bolshoi, is trying to celebrate her anniversary. Excellent partners are expected - Zurab Sotkilava, Badri Maisuradze and Vladimir Redkin.

The Bolshoi Theater continues to delight this week. On Friday, December 7, Nina Ananiashvili will celebrate twenty years of creative activity on its stage. Everyone knows that she crossed the threshold of the Big House as a young maiden of seventeen years of age. Over the years, she managed to become the first ballerina, a subverter of foundations, a soloist performing in the first troupes in the world, an actress who returned Balanchine to Russia, and a “creepy personality” destroying the rotten traditions of the Bolshoi. Bravo, Ananiashvili! Bravo, the management of the Bolshoi Theater, who have stopped settling scores!

On Friday there are two premieres. At the Hermitage Theater - a performance created by three Odessa residents: author Mikhail Zhvanetsky, director Mikhail Levitin and artist David Borovsky. They say that this is the anthem of Odessa. Let's hope that it is the same one, and not the current one - dilapidated, lost its image and living with memories of its own greatness.

And on the same day, at the Dzhigarkhanyan Theater - the play “Killer Theatre” based on T. Stoppard’s play “The Real Inspector Hound”. The production director is Sergei Golomazov, which, frankly speaking, does not promise anything good. Everything will be nice, competent and average. As the name suggests, it also has a detective twist. During the time spent traveling to the theater and back, as well as watching the performance, you can read an Agatha Christie story at home on the sofa.

On Saturday, December 8, let's forget about anniversaries and premieres and allow ourselves to pay attention to the performances that certainly adorn the Moscow playbill. In "Lenkom" - "The Jester Balakirev", in "Sovremennik" - "We are playing... Schiller!" Two unconditional hits, which are impossible to get to, but you should try. The work is honest. The artists are amazing. It is enough to name Marina Neelova, Elena Yakovleva and Igor Kvasha in Sovremennik , Oleg Yankovsky, Nikolai Karachentsev and Alexander Zbruev in Lenkom, so as not to waste ardor and talent on convincing the most important couch potatoes of the need to leave the sofa.

On Sunday, December 9th, there will be a premiere again. Evgeny Grishkovets , whose name has been mentioned too often in articles about the theater lately. This time it's a love story. For the first time, Grishkovets plays with a partner - the beauty from the Vakhtangov Theater Anna Dubrovskaya. Male solidarity, which Grishkovets actively insisted on in his texts, has been destroyed. This circumstance will, perhaps, be the main surprise of the premiere. Women are recognized and accepted, even if only in the person of the fragile Dubrovskaya. Victory is clear.