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Nureyev Production and News


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9 hours ago, pherank said:

 

SFB performs something like 30+ Nutcrackers each year, so the cost of a choir to perform for all of 2 minutes each performance would be prohibitive - that would be my guess.

 

 

National Ballet of Canada has  a live children's choir for almost as many performances....

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Ordinarily I would say that it isn't fair to compare national companies with regional companies, but NBC and SFB are of similar size. The idea to use children is an interesting one since that reduces the cost quite a bit compared to employing professional singers. Another option would be to invite small choral groups to participate in at least some of the performances (as volunteers). That makes it more of a community outreach plan.

 

Personally, I don't really see the choir being a necessity for The Nutcracker - not like listening to Daphnis et Chloe without choir.

 

FYI: I have it from an SFB insider that a synthesizer is being used for the choral effect during performances.

Edited by pherank
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1 minute ago, pherank said:

The idea to use children is an interesting one since that reduces the cost quite a bit compared to employing professional singers.

 

The "idea" was Tchaikovsky's. He wrote the part for children's chorus.

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This is 3 fragments from "Nureyev" for those who have not seen them yet .. One of the ballet critics said that this "the choreography of this ballet is the best that the world theater produced in the 21st century." It sounds ridiculous, as she judges only on the fragments from the video.

Perhaps, in order to draw such conclusions, should a) review all ballet premieres of the twenty-first century; b) see "Nureyev" entirely and, preferably, "live"? However, I understand, it's cruel to ask such questions. But frankly, this is the beginning of a myth-making process that somehow does not get to take it seriously. Even if a well-respected ballet critic is engaged in myth-making.

 

http://tv.mk.ru/video/2017/07/10/pervyy-videofragment-repeticii-skandalnoy-sceny-spektaklya-nureev.html

 

http://tv.mk.ru/video/2017/07/10/videofragment-repeticii-skandalnoy-sceny-spektaklya-nureev.html

 

http://tv.mk.ru/video/2017/07/10/tretiy-videofragment-repeticii-skandalnoy-sceny-spektaklya-nureev.html

 

 

Edited by Carolelombard
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It's a reach--"mythmaking" as said above--to rave about the ballet on the basis of video snippets, but it's equally uncalled for to dismiss it as pornography or as a failure.

 

I will say that it appears to be an ambitious work.

 

Maybe we will find out in May...or not.

Edited by Drew
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I like the cinematic quality of the stagings; however, I wonder how effective this is going to be for the audience seated in the orchestra area - it's going to be difficult to see things as well as we do in these videos (presumably the camera is mounted in one of the center box seats). The studio lighting effects are excellent - the fake daylight coming in through the windows, and the change to sunset during the "Erik" scene. I'm not crazy about the choice of all black evening suits and dresses in the 2nd(?) video though. That doesn't strike me as being very 1960s Paris/London (though it's hard to place these scenes in actual historical time).

 

The flow between and during scenes needs some work, judging from these videos. The entire ballet will need to be conducted/choreographed so that there are no gaps, slips, static periods, etc. in the movement of the ballet. That is a tall order, but necessary for this approach to work.

 

What I'm seeing here I would not describe as "trashy". Mostly I've liked the work Possokhov has done for SFB - his ideas tend to be sound, though he may lack a gift for details and nuance in some of the movements.

Edited by pherank
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11 hours ago, Helene said:

 

11 hours ago, Helene said:

the mock-heroic says, “I mean what I say, but I know that saying so has its absurd aspects.”)

 

 

That's what I'm talking about! :) 

But I'm confused by another here. Okay, I am an amateur, and a critic is also a person; she sees in these fragments exceptional artistic merit that overlaps all the achievements of the ballet of the twenty-first century, I do not see them - well, let's say. But how can you even half the ballet, to praise the ballet to the skies almost on working videos and say that this is an exceptional masterpiece? Is it not too bold a statement - whatever "Nureyev", just by itself? That's what I call mythology. When they are not so much indignant at the very fact of the absurd and, most likely, politicized abolition of the premiere - in the wake of the Ministry of Culture - how much they talk about the masterpiece that we lost with aspirations. And it is impossible to verify. And you will not undermine. Myth is created, that's all. 

 

And here is the new interview with Lantratov for Hello! 

I will try to translate it in English. 

----------------------

Performing the role of Nureyev Vladislav Lantratov on the abolition of ballet in the Bolshoi Theater: "I felt the devastation"

 

In the ballet "Nureyev" by Kirill Serebrennikov Vladislav Lantratov and Maria Alexandrova were to perform the roles of Rudolf Nureyev and his mentor Margot Fonteyn. Shortly after it became known that the premiere was canceled, the main actor, Bolshoi Theater premier Vladislav Lantratov wrote a piercing post at Instagram: "There are no words ... understanding that you just loved the role, began to get used to the play, everything began to form ... And in a second this is your little life you are rooting out ... the worst for an artist ... ". HELLO! Contacted the artist to find out about his attitude to what happened in more detail.

 

"Nureyev" was one of the most anticipated prime season. But on July 8, an announcement appeared on the Bolshoi Theater website: "Instead of the premiere of Nureev's performance, the Don Quixote ballet will be shown on the Historical Stage." Nureyev "closed-door run took place on the same day, and it was finally clear: the ballet directed by Kirill Serebrennikov on the famous The reason was voiced at a press briefing on July 10, the general director of the Bolshoi Theater Vladimir Urin:

 

After the run it became clear that the artists are not ready. In the form in which the play is, you can not show it.

 

Urin also named the new dates of the premiere - May 4 and May 5, 2018. The authors of "Nureyev" - Serebrennikov, as well as choreographer Yuri Posokhov and composer Ilya Demutsky - were not present at the briefing, and they declined to comment on the situation.

 

Vladislav, do you believe that we will see Nureyev in May 2018?

 

I really believe that the performance will be held on 4 and 5 May. Artists and all other services of the theater made every effort to ensure that this happened, fully laid out on the run on July 8.

 

How would you comment on the main complaint - that the play is not ready?

 

I think this is a combination of circumstances. The production period is characterized by the fact that there are ups and downs in it. Especially when the performance is created from scratch. There are very successful rehearsals, but sometimes, everything falls apart. The management of the theater made this decision.

 

In the press there is information that several dancers abandoned the role of Nureyev, because they were not ready to completely strip.

 

The first time I heard it. Nobody refused. Especially since talking about complete exposure is not true. I do not think that this is possible on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. As for the refusals, one artist refused the role of Erik Bruhn, but only because he did not have time to learn the game.

 

Did you have any doubts when they offered you the role of Nureyev?

 

No, it was not. With the choreographer Yuri Mikhailovich Posokhov, we have already done the ballet "The Hero of Our Time", and I was more than sure that it would be an excellent work. For two and a half hours I live a lifetime, I change ten roles, this is a bottomless range of roles. For an artist this performance is a test. The profession of the ballet artist is already physically difficult, but here it is complex and dramatic. I am proud of the work done and the performance that took place on July 8.

 

About what this performance for you?

 

About loneliness. Despite the fact that the choir, the corps de ballet, dramatic artists, a lot of characters on the stage, this is a solo performance. It would seem that Nureyev has creativity, love, success, he appears then with Alexander Ivanovich Pushkin - his teacher, then with partner Margot Fonteyn, then with Erik Bruhn. He is surrounded by events, people. But at some point I realized that he was a completely lonely person. And the drama of the play, which, it would seem, is simple - a chain of episodes of Nureyev's biography - just demands from the performer not just the work of the body, but also complete internal reincarnation. In one of the episodes, for example, Nureyev yells at the artists of his troupe, it's a few phrases, almost a monologue. And I must do it convincingly!

 

 

Margot Fonteyn plays Maria Alexandrova. You must have had an interesting duet...

 

Here I can even draw a parallel. If Rudolf Nureyev, such as we know him, created Margot Fonteyn, then in my becoming, Maria took a lot of part. She, the real bearer of the old Moscow school, saw something in me ... and put her soul into it.

 

What are you focused on now, what helps to survive what happened?

 

The whole company helps. When such a huge team is announced in the morning that the performance has been canceled, and in the evening, in spite of everything, everyone plays their most complicated games, this is a real miracle. It's not just a job, but something more - an example of cohesion, the fidelity of the profession. Tears, hugs, applause - it's worth a lot. I admire every participant of the play "Nureyev", which took place on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre on July 8. Now we are preparing for a tour in New York, where I will dance in Jean-Christophe Maillot's play "The Taming of the Shrew." This is one of the most beloved by the Moscow public, now we have to win the American audience.

Edited by Carolelombard
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That is very good news, here in Britain Abramovich is known for his ownership of Chelsea FC, didn't know he was involved in the cultural world too, but there is a persistent rumour he started his empire touting tickets outside the Bolshoi theatre.

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12 hours ago, maps said:

Nureyev has living colleagues/friends who  might have opinions.  Oleg Vinogradov:

http://avangard.rosbalt.ru/interview/oleg-vinogradov-slava-bogu-chto-premeru-spektaklya-serebrennikova-o-nureeve-otlozhili/

 

And don't we all have opinions?  ;)

The Nureyev "controversy" is a mess precisely because so many people are trying to weigh in on the ballet before it gets seen. But the only reason this project is happening is because a certain small group of artists got together, didn't bicker endlessly, and they finished the "first draft" of the project. There would be no Nureyev to speak of without Serebrennikov/Possokhov/Demutsky and the Bolshoi dancers involved. I give them all credit for making the effort. The rest of it is not about art.

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The interview itself is behind a paywall, but Russian media are reporting that Serebrennikov has told Süddeutsche Zeitung that the Bolshoi may be aiming to premiere Nureyev on December 9-10 of this year. He received a call from Vladimir Urin to that effect.

 

What mostly caught the media's attention, though, is that Serebrennikov also said that although he is considered a witness and not a suspect in the case against the Gogol Center, his passport has been confiscated, and therefore he may not be able to stage a forthcoming production of Humperdinck's Hansel & Gretel in Stuttgart as planned.

 

https://tvrain.ru/news/serebrennikov-441533/

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From what little I have read about the way things are done in Putin's Russia the possibility of being arrested and charged with embezzlement is a fate which many run, including those who receive state funding for the arts. It is of course serious for the individual concerned. The prospect of being imprisoned in Russia is not something which anyone would want to face. However such allegations seem to have become a commonplace way of removing those who are rivals and those who are perceived as causing the regime difficulties and as such, are not that different from the allegations of high treason which were so favoured by Henry VIII as a means of dealing with his problem courtiers and those who stood in his way. There is a possibility that these current allegations have as little real legal substance as the allegations and trial procedures of the Henrican regime.  

 

What is happening in Russia could be characterized  as a " civilized" form of purge . It has a veneer of respectability as the process appears to be concerned with ensuring that state funds are not misused and it is "civilised" because the defendant does not end up being shot. As I don't believe that Russia has any schemes comparable to the White Sea Canal project, the chances are that a prisoner will eventually emerge from the prison system although few will be as well treated as the man who arranged for acid to be thrown at the Bolshoi's former AD.

Edited by Ashton Fan
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A sad situation. Of course the performances of Nureyev will have to be postponed indefinitely given the 'unusual' circumstances. And if Nureyev is never performed, won't that be misuse of the State's funds too? Sort of a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I sincerely hope Possokhov doesn't become a 'person of interest' to the State, as well.

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Ironic. The case against Serebrennikov and his colleagues alleges that the state paid for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that never took place, except that it did, whereas if Nureyev never sees the light of day, all the money sunk into it will probably just be written off.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/22/russian-directorkirill-serebrennikov-charged-embezzling-880000/

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