9 replies to this topic

[vrsfanatic]

Jeannie, we are having a discussion in the teacher's forum about raked stages. If you have a way to find out if the new Mariinsky stage will be raked it could be of interest to us!

Thank you ever so much!

[Natalia]

I will ask around, tonight!!

Right now, the site on which the new theater will be built (opposite the old Mariinsky, across the Kryukov Canal) is occupied by a bowling alley. Bowling -- especially something called çosmic bowling'with laser lights - is all the rage here. No, I have not tried it. ;)

I'm sure that the new theater will be an improvement on whatever goes on there.

[Odette]

What is happening to the old theatre, how sad if it is being replaced before I have had a chance to go!

[Natalia]

Don't worry, Odette. This is not a replacement but, rather, an additional theater, across the canal.  Same as they did in Moscow - an additional stage right next-door to the old Bolshoi. Think of it this way:  more venues means more nights of ballet (ballet and opera can play simultaneously)!

[GWTW]

I recently read an article in an Israeli daily which reported that the plans for the new theatre were frozen as a result of public uproar at the plans and that there would be a new tender - although they would try and decide a winner before the end of 2003. Wouldn't this also impact the internal design of the theatre?

[Mel Johnson]

I've been sort of following this one from a distance, and the objection isn't to the internal floor plan of the proposed new house, but the exterior elevations, which are, IMHO, execrable, have put things on hold.

[vrsfanatic]

Oh major Mel, I like this word! EXECRABLE...wretched! I had to look it up, but it was worth it. I agree!

Thanks Jeannie for the interest at least to find out.  Maybe they will build a stage like PO, where I hear it moves up and down, using the rake when needed. Evidently the POB does not dance on a rake.

[Odette]

Thanks for the reassurance!!  I would hate to think of such a lovely and very important thatre being abandoned!

[Marc Haegeman]

New posters may find it interesting to go back a few months when this issue was already discussed:

http://www.balletale...=&threadid=7942

[Odette]

Thanks!  Not sure how I missed this one!