It's been quite a while since I've started this blog and added any posts to it. So I guess it's high time I write something here. I've chose to write about Bolshoi, since it's one of those things in Moscow that makes (my) life here more or less enjoyable.
The first show I've ever seen at the Bolshoi was Onegin in 1994. It was Pokrovsky's second staging of the show, considered by the critics not to be that successful, but I was taken away. It was my first visit to a major opera house and I remember it very vividly. Four things struck me the most. First the enormity of the stage. Second the unbelievable sets (huge mansion without the front wall, where one could see different rooms on different floors and a garden around it). Third the list of all those People Artists of the USSR, State and Lenin premium winners, etc. in the cast (this is still present today in the russian language booklet, but the titles above the names of the singers are far far shorter than some 15 years ago) and Forth that the music was stunningly beautiful. During high school I was going to the Belgrade Opera almost every night with my friends, and Onegin was one of the shows which I disliked the most. I was under impression that the music was hardly bearable. But than came the Bolshoi. And I was enchanted by the music, for the rest of my life.
The next show I've seen there was Giselle. And my God, I hardly could've believed the precision and the beauty of the ensemble dancing. The Second (white) Act was unforgettable.
In the 90's the biggest problem with the Bolshoi, were the tickets. Actually it was not very hard, because there have always been scalpers in front of the theatre (as there are now) and many tourist agencies have been selling them. But the price was always a several times the nominal value. The problem was that the official prices were extremely low, just couple of dollars for the best seats, and the black market was flourishing. Compared to the western theatres the prices even on the black market were not so high. In 1996, I've even bought tickets for the New Year's Eve Nutcracker for 100 dollars a piece. Sounds very reasonable (or even cheap). BUT, you’ve always felt ripped off since you've not been paying the official price. Most of the tickets went, actually, never on sale, but distributed, probably by the theatre, directly through the black market. And it has always been a matter of frustration for me. Somehow, I've managed to get the tickets for many shows. And when I think about it, during the 90's I've managed to see quite a few. Luckily opera was never so popular in Russia as ballet, so it was much easier to get a ticket for an opera production.
In the 90's all of the shows shown at the Bolshoi were very, VERY classically staged. Most stagings date back to the 40s and 50s!!! But they were impressive, one cannot deny that. I remember that every time the curtain would open on the Polish Act of the Godunov, I was on the verge of joining the applause (it is more or less common in Russia to applaud the stage designer once the curtain is raised, if you like the sets). 90% of the shows were Russian operas. It was even almost impossible to hear any Verdi, not to mention Wagner or Strauss. And there was not a single 20th century opera, apart from the "Love for Three Oranges" which was produced in the late 90's.
I've seen basically the whole repertoire, all opera and ballet shows, some of them several times. The most memorable ones were Onegin, Queen of Spades, Godunov, Khovanshina (c. Rostropovich), Tsar's Bride (c. Svetlanov) and Love for Three Oranges. As for ballets Spartacus, Legend of Love, Romeo and Juliet (Lavrovsky's version) and of course Swan Lake. Well I might've missed some, but I guess if I don't remember a show, it wasn't so memorable after all)
General feeling that I have nowadays, about the Bolshoi in the 90s, is that it was extremely conservative and slow moving theatre, but it had its charms. Traditional stagings were impressive in the beginning, but once you got used to them they tend to become irritating. On the other side, the focus was much less on the director and more on music (acting was also a rarity) which was nurturing the old soviet traditions and was of a very high quality (although not always). Those grand Russian operas like Godunov or Life for the Tsar, just sounded incredibly. Especially the choir, which was probably unparalleled to any other Opera choir I’ve ever heard. (I guess it sill is, when it comes to Russian operas – I’ve just recently within a week seen the productions of the Queen of Spades in Vienna and Moscow, the Bolshoi choir is still light years ahead).
One of the main attributes of the Bolshoi in the 90s was the claque (still much alive today, but limited only to the classical ballets and a couple of remaining traditional opera shows). It’s probably the most irritating thing in the Bolshoi. These are the guys who would be clapping and yelling whenever their favorite artist would perform. The quality of the performance had nothing to do with the number of “bravos” they would scream during the show. It is sometimes more sad than funny to witness this, since they would be the only ones yelling and clapping in this enormous theatre. It looks awkward and silly most of the times. And generally destroys the show completely. I guess these idiots are not aware of what they are doing. But are still supported by the administration and some of the “stars”.
Well I’ve left Moscow at the beginning of 2001, and this was the state of the Bolshoi at the time. When I’ve come back in 2006 and so Onegin, I’ve realized that I’ve returned to a completely new and different Bolshoi. And I was once again stunned and amazed. But about that in the next post.
