"Contemporary" in New York (1996)

American tour of the Moscow Theater

Archival project "Radio Liberty this week 20 years ago." The most interesting and significant from the air of Radio Freedom of twenty years ago. Incomplete story.

Ivan Tolstoy : The tour of the Moscow Contemporary Theater, judging by the reviews of American newspapers and spectators, unexpectedly became an event in the cultural life of New York. However, in these touring, not only the artistic, but also the economic side is interesting. The program about "Contemporary" in New York was prepared by our American colleague Jan Runov.

Jan Runov : The tour of the "Contemporary" were organized by the American producer Marina Kovaleva and took place on the stage of the magnificent Broadway Theater "The Lunt-Fontanne". An hour before the first performance, the chief director of the theater Galina Volchek gave me an interview that took place in the theater hall during the installation of the scenery.

Galina Borisovna, why did you choose these three performances for showing in America - "Three Sisters", "Pygmalion" and "Cool Route"? And, making a choice of whom you were guided by: to Americans, American Slavists or emigrants from the former Soviet Union?

Galina Volchek : The choice was determined at once by two sides - both us and those who invited us, and he was natural. We knew, of course, that a huge Russian colony, diaspora, the community exists here. But, nevertheless, we were oriented to the American viewer. And, if so, then this was determined by the choice. There is no in Europe and America who would not know the name of Chekhov, and this is just some kind of sign of the Russian theater, so it happened. And even when I taught at New York University last year, and somehow I asked inadvertently my students, tomorrow's artists, who of them read the “war and the world” of Tolstoy, not a single hand rose. And when I asked which of them did not read Chekhov, not a single hand rose either. Therefore, focusing on the American viewer, we chose the play "Three Sisters". As for the “cool route”, he also has a very rich biography, and everywhere, wherever we play it, the performance had a special success that was completely different from everything else. The involvement that we felt from the hall did not seem to have a reason, they did not survive 1937, they did not have camps, and, however, apparently, the real truth, the real grief of the people has neither social, nor political, nor geographical boundaries.

... they did not survive 1937, they did not have camps, and, however, the real truth, the real grief of the human has neither social, nor political, nor geographical boundaries

Many times, the Americans tried this particular project, with these two performances, to bring to New York. The prestigious New York festival invited us with these two performances. Then, just a few days before the opening, we were forced to admit that they did not collect money. It was many times when the Broadway major producers, sitting in Moscow and watching a “steep route”, in a horror declared horror for themselves and for us that this is such an expensive project, since the performance is very crowded, that it is impossible to draw out, especially taking into account the Broadway laws, incredibly stringent, with the union of theaters. Therefore, there is practically no tour on Broadway. In general, based on these reasons, we chose a repertoire. As for the Russians, for the Russians we brought Pygmalion. It’s not at all because it is worse or better (we just with Pygmalion were on tour in Israel, we had a very loud success there), but simply because for the Russian viewer it is interesting that this is not a version, and this is a pure form of Bernard Show, and put not entirely traditionally, I would say.

Jan Runov : I understand that you hope for creative success here, otherwise there was nothing to go here. As for financial success?

Galina Volchek : Since we understood that with such a project these tour could not be commercial for us in any sense, because we have a very large number of people, 68 people are involved in this. The only thing we can empathize with the Marina and Rina Kovalev, who have taken on such a huge project, come out with dignity from this situation.

Jan Runov : The New York press was quite actively illuminated. New York News Day newspaper in the article “Mother, Daughter and Three Sisters” noted that even very solid impresario did not dare to bring the troupe from Moscow, until the mother and daughter, who were emigrated in 1979 from Leningrad, 49-year-old Marina and 26-year-old Rina Kovaleva, ownership of the company. "People Travel Club". It went, as the author of the article Blake Green writes, to overcome many difficulties and take a huge financial risk to show performances in Russian in Broadway, in the The Lunt-Fontanne Theater, and on the scene of the Bally's Grand hotel in the Atlantic Siti. The author brought the words of Marina Kovaleva: "73 years ago, the Moscow Art Theater came to America for the first time and introduced the audience to the drama of Chekhov. Then this made an indelible impression." About the impression was made by the performance of the contemporary "Three Sisters" was told by American actors who could be found at every performance. For example, Liz Smith played in many Chekhov plays.

Liz Smith : From this play, as, perhaps, from all Chekhov’s plays there is a feeling that I came to people whom I know very well, and this pleasure is with them again.

... From all Chekhov’s plays, there is a feeling that I came to people whom I know very well, and this pleasure to be with them again

But it is difficult for many to watch a performance in a foreign language, even with an excellent synchronized translation. This distracts a person of unprepared and not theatrical - this is perhaps the only problem.

Jan Runov : I go to the 80-year-old Eli Walllah, known from the films "Cross Father" and "Good, Bad, Evil."

Eli Walllah : It was an excellent evening! The actors are magnificent, they deeply excited me. After all, we still feel the same that the Czech heroes once felt. I understand how difficult it is to play actors to a foreign public, but feelings and talent overcome the language barrier, because this is Chekhov.

Jan Runov : Among the audience there are many Hollywood stars - Kevin Klein, Julia Roberts, Olympia Dukakis, Tony Randall, Murray Abraham. But these are professionals. What is the opinion of a simple viewer? With this question, I turned to a 35-year-old blonde sitting next door.

Spectator : You know, Chekhov ... too many words. These Russian plays ... You know, it’s easier, easier. And the tickets are very expensive - a hundred dollars or more. Do they take them for the number of words?

Jan Runov : Of all the newspapers who published reviews, only one, the Daily News tabloid, said about the same as my neighbor. And the long-standing rival of Dailey News New York Post said that the performance of Three Sisters cannot help but see, as well as the “Cool Route”. In the "three sisters" the American reviewer noted both the directing of Galina Volchek and the acting of Neelova, Gaft, Kvashi, Elena Yakovleva and others. The author of the review Clive Barnes writes that Chekhov, like Shakespeare, penetrated the psychological depths of characters. The comparison of Chekhov with Shakespeare also met in the article “Mother, Daughter and“ Three Sisters ”” that I mentioned. There, Impresario, Marina Kovaleva, says: "It would be nice to make Chekhova and the Russian theater on Broadway with the same tradition as the annual show of Shakespeare here." The oldest American producer Arthur Kantor, who, according to the people who know him, has not been surprised at anything for a long time, said:

Arthur Kantor : I have been working with different theaters since 1946. Among them there were many non -American ones, such as Old Vick, Gabima and others. But the level of "contemporary" is so high that it is difficult to compare with someone else. Broadway has not seen such a game for many years. Over the years, the level of acting on the Broadway stage, unfortunately, is falling, the drama is practically no longer playing, only the musicals, and the contemporary reminded me of the golden time of the great actors, directors and playwrights of the 40s.

... The level of "contemporary" is so high that it is difficult to compare with someone else. Broadway has not seen such a game for many years

Jan Runov : And here is the opinion of another famous American producer, also a business man, by the nature of the profession considering art as a type of business, Lucy Jarvis:

Lucy Jarvis : I saw the "three sisters" with Vanessa Redgrave, with brilliant English and French actors, but after "Contemporary", especially after Neelova in Masha, I realized: Chekhov cannot be played as the Russians play. You have to be a Russian woman to understand the Chekhov heroines, you need the whole pathos of the Russian heart to play Chekhov really in Chekhov, moreover, “three sisters”. This is the best performance that I have seen in recent years. Costumes, music, scenery - everything is great. True, in my opinion, one could do without a bridge with an arc over the whole scene. But the stage decision is expressively expressively, everything is in motion, there is no static. Moreover, this is not only my reaction. I sat next to my longtime friend Harold Prince, one of the largest directors of the American theater, and we both in the same places of the performance sighed, laughed and cried. Igor Kvasha, who played the role of the doctor, really lived on stage. We Americans do not know how.

Jan Runov : Didn’t you have a sense of jealousy that you did not bring this theater to America?

Lucy Jarvis : It even arose. I would like to stand behind these tour. I myself am to blame that others did it. The deputy minister of culture and the theater’s people, when I brought me to Russia, our performance “Ertured Lady” was asked to take up this more than once in Moscow. The only thing I decided then was to bring the Lenkom performance "Juno and Avos." The sponsor was the famous clothing designer Pierre Carden. Those tour were also successful, but when I looked in New York Three Sisters performed by the actors of “Contemporary”, I thought: why didn’t I bring them?

Jan Runov : What do the actors say? Are you satisfied with the organization of tour? The word actress Nina Doroshina.

Nina Doroshina : While the buses were given while we loaded it and drove in a terrible traffic - all the time, and stop. In general, even some people from such stoppers became bad on the bus. I can’t say that the impression has deteriorated, but there is fatigue. We had to live in one hotel, then we lived in another hotel. This is our hotel, on Gorky Street, there is a Central Hotel, next to the Eliseevsky store. Hotel of this level. The gift to the horse, as they say, do not look into the teeth. We came to work, elementary conditions in each issue, of course, are. Of course, it is more pleasant for a person to live in more comfortable conditions, but everything was normally observed - cleanliness, and order, and shower, and the bed is soft. And this is a huge collective, and in order to pay for all this, and in order to arrange, and in order to play in a good theater on Broadway, how much it costs money, find sponsors ... Probably, there are few disinterested people, all the same, all these sponsors also want to have something from these events. I believe that a monument should be erected to Marina, that she took such a colossus on herself. I believe that to take out such a team to such long -term tour with three performances, two performances where almost the entire troupe is busy - this is heroism. Therefore, what claims can be here, what a hotel, is such a hotel? Good, cleanly, to wash where - that's good.

Jan Runov : Rina Kovaleva, who took over the financial part of the case, admitted that the Netherlander family, the owners of The Lunt-Fontanne Theater, warned her about the huge financial risk, which the mother of Kovalevs went to. To bring to the United States a foreign dramatic troupe of almost 70 people with luggage of decorations, costumes, equipment and at the same time counting on some income is absurd! Cover the costs. Logic and received at the American college, economic education is said by 26-year-old Rina, which in this kind of business is better not to get involved in, but family tradition requires another. The Antreprise of the Kovalevs brought to New York a male ballet from St. Petersburg, the male choir of the Moscow choral synagogue. And in that and in another case it was difficult to count on financial success, but it is also impossible to refuse Kovalev in business qualities. Otherwise, how can one explain that in just 17 years since emigration from Russia to America they managed to create a multimillion -dollar company? What leads them in their desire to bring Russian artists to the United States? Vanity or asceticism? Typically Russian reckless breadth of nature or purely American love of philanthropy? Or maybe business intuition is still? The feeling that risk can bring good income in the future? Says Marina Kovaleva herself.

Marina Kovaleva : I must say that, raising such a thing, it is unlikely that anyone ever counts on economic success. The tour of the Contemporary Theater, say, in our project, they were not considered as disposable tour, they were considered as some first step of the project. And if at this first stage you do not lose a lot of money, then this is already good. Our difficulty is that we, of course, are the first to go to Broadway. And to know Broadone by textbooks, according to the stories of others, by the guide, that is the Broadway we need, not Broads Visual, and the Broadway is a worker, you can only take a step from the inside only by taking a step inside. Because, say, even the most experienced producers, and next to us was one of the most famous producers of Broadway, whose name is already in the "Encyclopedia of American Art", Arthur Kantor, even he, compiling the alleged costs of the upcoming project, was very far from what we completed this project with. Its figures were much more optimistic than those numbers that were in our hands, although Cantor, conceiving this and hoping this, absolutely did not assume that we would have almost one hundred percent success. I say "almost" because almost all the performances were all -off. If there was one performance where several places were not sold, then it is just ridiculous, because until today newspapers and magazines have not stopped talking about this. Broadway did not know such success. The performance that goes on Broadway Anghelovo is spinning for years, followed by the name of the American famous producer, an American famous director, American famous actors. Behind us was the name of the producers who first entered the arena. True, there was the name of a very famous director, known in America too, but behind us stood the name of the theater, who first came to the New York Theater. And the biography of the theater, written before, as a biography of so many famous theaters in the world and groups, she does not play a role in New York if the theater itself does not win its New York success or its American success. That is, the previous story does not help. The Contemporary Theater itself captured America itself, he himself took place, he himself got his success.

The theater left a few weeks ago, but the articles continue to come out, and the most famous critics write about the theater, and Harvard University critic writes about the theater, and museums ask about the theater

The theater left a few weeks ago, but articles continue to be released, and the most famous critics write about the theater, and Harvard University critic writes about the theater, and museums ask about the theater. But the day before yesterday no one in America knew about this theater. And therefore, we believe that no matter how painful this project is, I can’t say that we have tears in our eyes ... We have such a working emergency atmosphere, when we sit, analyze and see how to continue this project in the very near future, and to continue not only in New York, but to show the performances of the Contemporary Theater to all America. And we are happy that the Netherlanders, who are the most conservative, the most acute commanders of Broadway, and the most powerful commanders of the generally theatrical life of today's America, ourselves offered us to participate in our project, and in America to lead the theater already on partnerships.