Onstage: "Thirties Forever" at the Baryshnikov Arts Center

On August 16th at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City, the 'Thirties Forever' musical workshop was performed for an invite-only audience of about 200 in the Jerome Robbins Theater.  Mikhail Shydkoi (the former Russian minister of culture) was the author of the script, idea, and is the artistic director of the project.  The cast involved approximately 10 American and 10 Russian actors, with music performed and arranged by Levon Oganezov.  The workshop was directed by Gary Cherniakhovsky.

...And the vocal coach was my good friend and colleague Taylor Sutherland, and I was the associate director.  Both of us doubled as actors as well, which was nice for a change, getting back in front of the lights instead of being in the house...

The show revolves around a concept and dream long held by Mr. Shvydkoi; to show audiences in America and Russia how similar we are by presenting us with real examples of music from the 1930's that was popular and heard in both cultures and in both languages.  The story line revolves around a Russian takeover of an American oldies radio station by the same name of the show, 'Thirties Forever', and the action takes place over the course of the thirties, forties, and today.  While the project is certainly ambitious, it underlines a very interesting, and very true point: that we as two cultures have much more in common than we realize.

Onstage: Рыдания/Sobbing

Victor Ryzhakov's production of Kshishtof Bize's 'Sobbing' starring Svetlana Ivanova at the Praktika theater is perhaps the most powerful one-man (or one-woman) show I have ever seen. It is a tour through the lives of three women; a middle-aged woman, her mother, and her daughter in modern day Poland.  As we hear the stories of these three women, their dreams and world views blend into a single message of love, loss, and hope for the future. 

Seeing 'Genesis № 2' a few years ago at the same theater with the same actress and the same director was certainly a defining event in my theater life (I feel like I've been writing about a lot of those recently...).  Similar to the way I went into 'Lear', I was reasonably excited to see the newest collaboration of this great director (who I also consider to have been an unofficial teacher of mine) and Svetlana Ivanova, an amazing actress and powerful performer.  I was not let down...Watch out guys, this entry's gonna be a long one...

Onstage: Король Лир/King Lear

Last night I finally had the opportunity to enjoy Yuri Butusov's production of King Lear at the Satirikon theater. 

After having seen this dynamic combination of director (Butusov) and actor (Raikin) produce nothing short of a visionary version of Richard III at the same theater, I was understandably excited for last night's show and a reunion of the same creative team, anxiously waiting to see if lightning could strike twice.  Adding to my anticipation was the fact that I had just seen Butusov's Ivanov at the Moscow Art earlier this month, and that this was the first time I had ever seen a production of Lear. In short, I was reasonably pumped.

Lear is no simple play, neither for the directors, the actors, nor the audience.  Even writing an analysis or review of the production seems to be a task daunting in size.  As we were riding home on the metro immediately after the show, I found myself nearly overwhelmed with the seemingly simple task of summarizing the plot with my friend, not wanting to skip over or leave out any plot point which might be important later on, and at the same time trying to keep things as clear as possible.   I suspect this blog entry will resemble more of the same; trying to streamline the impressions from this particular interpretation while also trying to convey a piece of the profound significance of Lear's message. 

Onstage: Лафкадио/Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back.

Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back  premiered last night on the small stage of the Мастерская club/cafe/theater in Moscow.  The show is based on a story by Shel Silverstein, directed by Svetlana Ivanova (An actress at the Praktika theater, Бытие № 2, Рыдания)  and stars Cazimir Liske and Odin Biron.  The set designer is Dmitry Razumov and the light designer is Yevgeniy Vinogradov.   

Before I get down to basics about this show, let me just start out by saying that Caz and Odin are two acquaintences of mine who I've had the pleasure of knowing a long time, and who have never done anything short of impress.  Caz, Odin and I share the same alma mater, but where I graduated as part of a 100% American course (well, lets say closer to 82%...three Russians graduated with us...), Caz and Odin graduated as part of a Russian course, something that always evokes a special respect and love for the two of them.  As a result, they handle the challenges of performing in a foreign language with a deftness and style all their own, making the occasional difficulties of pronunciation or translation work for them and not against them.  The result is a performance that is charming, humorous, witty, full of laughs and not short on brains or relevance.

In Preview: Жизель, или обманутые несесты/Giselle, ou les Wilis

On June 13th, the third year course at the Moscow Art Theater School (Курс Д.В. Брусникин, Р.Е. Козак) held its second открытый прогон (full dress run with audience) of "Giselle, or the deceived brides" on the New Stage of the Moscow Art Theater.  The director/choreographer is Alla Sigalova.

The piece is loosely based on the balet by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier with music by Adolphe Adam.  The piece runs a little over an hour, and it is obvious that while still in 'preview', as it grows and gains experience onstage it is sure to develop into a powerful success.  Alla Sigalova continues to innovate and defies repetition within the walls of the school, while at the same time maintaining her own professional signature style; choreographical story telling to be performed by dramatic actors, not dancers. 

Onstage: Мастер-класс Константина Райкина/Konstantin Raikin Master-Class

Last night I attended Konstantin Raikin's "Master class" (a discussion about teaching and pedagogy) at the Meyerhold Center.  Raikin spoke about teaching, how and why he uses the methods he does, and his first year course performed excerpts from their acting exam to a packed house on the mainstage.  

I was extremely happy for the first years last night.  After sitting in and assisting with them any way I could this last semester, I was thrilled that they were given the opportunity to play in front of such a large house.  In general the transition from a small auditorium like 4-1 (those who know the Moscow Art Theater School know what I'm talking about) to a space the size of the one at the Meyerhold Center is always difficult, and such transitions for actors and the material being performed are always a trial by fire to some degree; both the actors and the material can be burned by the adjustments that have to be made, and things that work in the intimacy of a classroom enivornment might be lost in a larger space.  That said, all of these dangers are part of the growing pains of any process, and while not everything translated well to the bigger stage, I was thrilled that the students got to have that experience together as a course for the first time.  The step to the big stage as a course is a big but inevitable one, and they handled themselves well.  One of the students quipped afterwards 'Playing 'The Beatles' etude tonight was like performing at a stadium!...'

Onstage: Иванов в МХТ им чехова/Ivanov at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater

For the second night in a row, I've been blessed with fantastic seats.  At Shukshin I was ten rows back, and tonight I was third row dead center at Moscow Art.  I love being able to see these shows for free, especially when I get seats like these!  Let's hope my luck keeps up!

Yuri Butusov is a name in Moscow that is most often associated with originality, interpretation, and Shakespeare.  His production of Richard III at the Satirikon with Konstantin Raikin was life-changing theater for me, and I can't wait to see his King Lear there.  So it was with great anticipation that this season we were all awaiting the premiere of his take on one of Chekhov's more difficult plays, Ivanov at the Moscow Art Theater.  The show premiered months ago and has been embattled from the start, garnering mixed reviews from critics and theater-goers, consigning it to an uncertain fate in the repertory.  Tonight I was finally able to see the show and come to my own conclusions about this interesting piece of theater.

Onstage: Рассказы Шукшина/Shukshin Short Stories

This is the first in what I hope will be an ongoing theme of posts entitled 'Onstage'.  This category will be dedicated to analysis of theater I have recently seen, which will hopefully generate discussion and be interesting to read...And here we go!  The first show to be written up on my blog!

Last night I had the fortunate opportunity to see "Shukshin Short Stories" as staged by The Theater of Nations (Рассказы Шукшина/Театр Наций).  This is quite the show to begin my blog with, and there's a lot to say about it! I'll try and be concise and informative.  It has met with almost universal praise from everyone I know who has seen it, won three Golden Mask awards this year (Russia's theater version of the oscars), including best show, and it stars (among others) Yevgeniy Mironov (also artistic director of the company) and Chulpan Khamatova.  The director is Alvis Hermanis.