Field of Miracles

Diana Vishneva and others on the stage of the Mikhailovsky Theater

The St. Petersburg Mikhailovsky Theater (renamed many times, the most ingrained of its former names is the Maly Opera House) released the premiere of “Giselle”. The director is Nikita Dolgushin, who danced on this stage for many years, then taught and staged classics for many years. Dolgushin has a reputation as a subtle stylist, an expert in “real” manners. His “Giselle” has already been shown at the Maly Opera, then at the Conservatory Theater, and now the augurs will probably enjoy the game “find ten differences.” But if we talk about some new artistic meaning, there is none. Well, let's say they are now bringing out live greyhounds - of course, to the delight of the public. At the Mariinsky Theater, peasants carry out a barrel on which a boy is sitting, and here peasants throw fallen leaves into the air. In general, fake flora occupies a prominent place in Dolgushin’s version: in the second act, Giselle places an armful of lilies at Myrta’s feet, and Albert at the very end runs to his beloved’s grave, simultaneously throwing these lilies into the air, they fall with a thud - Roman Viktyuk’s favorite mise-en-scène. In our country, Giselle rises from the grave, emerging from the wings, and, for example, in Riga she rises from the floor on a lift. And Vladimir Vasiliev at the Bolshoi Theater had a pas d'axon instead of a peasant pas de deux, and Hans also became Hilarion, as is customary in Europe, and the composer became Adam. Dolgushin also has Adam, but Count Albert in the program is a duke, and instead of the usual duke there is a “German sovereign prince” (69-year-old Nikita Alexandrovich himself must have been used as a joke). But what's the difference? There is no canonical text of “Giselle”; there is a generally accepted one. If a recording were found in the archive, and some lost fragments were discovered - that would be interesting! And so - well, they edited it here, well, they changed the mise-en-scène a little, of little importance. In this situation, specific performers become the main ones.

Diana Vishneva danced Giselle at the premiere. Wonderful as always. I have already written: she herself admits that after meeting Forsythe’s choreography she began to treat her previous roles differently, and this can be seen from the audience. Now her Giselle, before her death, like a butterfly, seemed to be beating against the glass, breaking her wings, almost in silence - it was a completely Forsyte moment and at the same time, as if a quote from her recent Mariinsky performance-confession “Silenzio. Diana Vishneva" (which includes a fragment of Forsythe's Steptext). In Giselle, the main parts consist of pantomimic and actual dance parts and, as a rule, break up into these parts. Vishneva, on the other hand, has a continuity that is rarely given to anyone: whether through gestures, facial expressions, or dance, she tells one story that develops every second. In her work, ballet miraculously ceases to be “the most conventional of the performing arts,” acquiring the psychological persuasiveness of dramatic art, but at the same time without at all replacing the aesthetics of dance theater with the primitive, stilted aesthetics of drama ballet. Moreover, she somehow knows how to saturate the chased classical form with the living breath of today: for example, in the textbook diagonal sissonnes ronds de jambe en l'air in the variation of the first act, she, as expected, jumps on one leg, takes out the other, but her hands are still In this way, without violating the accuracy of the drawing, they speak and are addressed to others - the formal gesture becomes part of speech.

Conductor Andrei Anikhanov actually set a very vigorous tempo, and Vishneva was simply burning: both in the frantic rounds in the madness scene, and in the deadly passionate pirouettes in the third arabesque (the famous “pancakes”) at the beginning of the second...

But how did it happen that the prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater, principal American Ballet Theater Diana Vishneva and the Mariinsky premier Igor Kolb (Albert) appear on the stage, hitherto considered secondary, optional, where stars appeared only in enterprises that rented the hall? This is one of the innovations of the current Mikhailovsky Theater.

If anyone doesn’t know (although everyone seems to know - PR has developed as powerfully as everything else), billionaire Vladimir Kekhman became the director of the theater. He replaced the mossy leadership of the opera and ballet troupes, now they are headed by Elena Obraztsova and Farukh Ruzimatov, forked out money for a literally lightning-fast renovation of the building, and continues to spend money on the theater. Kekhman, with unprecedented efficiency in St. Petersburg, acquired much of what was planned at other venues (they say, even at a loss), as a result, today Roberto Alagna sings for him, tomorrow guitarist Paco de Lucia plays, then the premiere of Johann Matteson’s baroque opera “Boris” takes place Godunov”, then Diana Vishneva dances, then Alla Osipenko gives a master class, also Minin’s choir, also jazzman Igor Butman, it is also promised that Alexander Sokurov and Liliana Cavani will stage, etc. There is a slight taste of adventurism in all this - - for example, according to preliminary agreements, Bolshoi Prime Minister Sergei Filin was supposed to come to “Giselle”, but it didn’t work out; the instability of Vishneva’s participation also did not allow making noise about it in advance, as a result the hall was not full. But wasn’t Diaghilev an adventurer?

Of course, a party of offended and skeptics immediately formed, Kekhman is honored as a nouveau riche (as if there are now hereditary fortunes in Russia), a banana king (he actually made capital from importing fruit), and on one TV channel they even blurted out “the owner of the Mikhailovsky Theater.” Indeed, there is something for zealots of the academic and spiritual to become irritated: he behaves like the merchant Vasya Vozhevatov from “The Dowry,” who wants to look like Prince Dulebov, the patron of the arts from “Talents and Admirers.” Before the premiere, “Godunov” ends his speech with the call: “Enjoy!”, and personally brings a bouquet to the ballerina on stage - like “from the owner of the establishment”, all that. However, if you think soberly about whether all this is for good or bad, you will have to admit: a seething life, even with foam, is better than stagnation. “Will he elevate art?” It is unknown yet. But even Tovstonogov, having headed the BDT, first staged light box-office comedies, and began serious meaningful performances only when the audience, who had long forgotten the way to this theater, began to pour out. Here it is: the public goes to see the stars, the stars cost money, the director pays them. On the other hand, I suspect that Mr. Kekhman is not strong in baroque music, but he not only arranged the premiere of the authentic Russian-German production of Matteson, carried out by the Ancient Music Foundation, but also bought the performance, and now the repertoire will be decorated with a rare opera from 1710 . Honor and praise to the manager who knows how to trust the advice of experts in areas where he himself is not very competent.

One of the main slogans of our current life: “Everything is mine,” said the gold.” The second - “Everything is mine,” said damask steel”: damask steel regularly orders gold to be divided, thereby giving Russian statehood the shine of Faberge eggs and the Rostropovich collection. In such a context, when a person buries his gold in the field of miracles, and instead of a money tree an interesting, lively (we hope) theater grows - this, by God, is not the worst use of gold.

Dmitry TSILIKIN, St. Petersburg