The world premiere of the ballet “Nureyev” was canceled at the Bolshoi Theater. On July 11, the production by Kirill Serebrennikov and Yuri Posokhov was supposed to be shown for the first time at the main theater of the country, and then “Don Quixote” appeared on the playbill. There was a cancellation of the premiere at the Bolshoi, which was supposed to triumphantly end the next season, besides the performance by Kirill Serebrennikov, and also the ballet dedicated to the great Nureyev, who once fled the USSR and confirmed his status as a star in the West. That is, we were talking about Nuriev’s return to his homeland, albeit after death, but still it should have been a triumphant return, notes the MIR 24 TV channel.
In general, everyone immediately started saying that this was all for a reason, like the famous “LJJ” in the cartoon about Winnie the Pooh, because, of course, who cares that the premiere was postponed due to its unpreparedness? No one is interested, but if there is censorship, then everyone is interested, especially since next to him is the name of Kirill Serebrennikov, who, one might say, is already a “victim of the regime” or a half-victim, in short, one to one.
Bolshoi General Director Vladimir Urin argues with this. “This is not just a ballet performance, as we had with “A Hero of Our Time,” this is a performance in which there is a choir, opera soloists and a large crowd, in addition to the ballet component of this performance. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that in order to produce four performances, we need two, or better yet, three casts of performers. Some are better, some are worse. Everything related to the corps de ballet was very problematic. We look and are completely disheartened by what we see,” explained the general director of the Bolshoi Theater, Vladimir Urin.
It's not so easy to cancel the premiere at the Bolshoi. Firstly, they were waiting for her, spending money, and on both sides of the curtain - the theater and its trustees, the audience was already buying dresses, having previously spent a lot of money on tickets, and suddenly, “Don Quixote” as a replacement. Tickets can be returned to the box office.
“There are certainly reputational losses due to the cancellation of the performance. We understand this, but the quality of the performance is more important to us. It is important for us to do it efficiently. As for financial losses, there are none, because we replaced the performance, and the performance on which the money was spent will take place in a few months,” Urin noted.
There are, however, those who are ready to erect a monument to the unreleased premiere. Allegedly, the reason for the cancellation, which was not voiced by the theater management, was the promotion of unconventional love. But it seems that this is no secret, and inevitably, speaking about Nureyev, we must talk about what he was like.
“This performance has already taken place, period! He is! He will be in the hearts of people who devote themselves to art, who have something to say,” Bolshoi Theater soloist Igor Tsvirko is convinced.
“There are no words... You just fell in love with the role, began to get used to the performance, everything began to come together, and in a second this little life of yours is uprooted from you. This is the worst thing for an artist,” says Bolshoi Theater soloist Vladislav Lantratov.
“The failed premiere of the ballet “Nureyev”. “Bravo to the Bolshoi Theater artists!” added Bolshoi Theater soloist Alexander Voityuk.
“It’s all over before it even began...” noted prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater Ekaterina Shipulina.
The theater promises that the premiere will certainly take place in 2018.
The Bolshoi Theater notified viewers on its official website: “Instead of the previously announced premiere of the play “Nureyev”, the ballet “Don Quixote” will be shown on the Historical Stage of the Theater on July 11, 12, 13, 14. Tickets are valid."
A ballet whose hero was to be an outstanding dancer of the 20th century. Rudolf Nureyev was created by composer Ilya Demutsky, choreographer Yuri Possokhov and director Kirill Serebrennikov. In 2015, the same team produced the ballet “A Hero of Our Time” at the Bolshoi Theater, on the wave of the success of which they received a new order.
Everything foreshadowed a repeat of the triumph, but three days before the premiere the theater announced its cancellation. This has never happened before in recent decades. The Bolshoi Theater is a reliably working production organism, moreover, the premiere was supposed to take place on the Historical Stage, after the restoration of the building, which was perfectly equipped technically. Cancellation of the performance due to the illness of one of the performers is also excluded - each part is rehearsed by several groups of dancers.
The management of the Bolshoi Theater refuses to make any official comment on the cancellation. The reasons for the cancellation will be announced on Monday, theater press secretary Ekaterina Novikova assured Vedomosti.
Director Kirill Serebrennikov, when asked by Vedomosti to comment on the situation, replied: “I don’t want to comment. This is the theater's decision. That's what they decided."
The decision was made after the theater's general director, Vladimir Urin, attended a rehearsal of the play on Friday evening, where its disparate components were brought together for the first time. According to the authors of the play, their work was supposed to combine elements of ballet, musical theater with singing and dramatic theater, Vedomosti says.
As one of the theater employees told Vedomosti, the play contains a lot of verbal text in which Nureyev-specific swearing is heard in English. There are transvestite dances, and the central plot line is the lyrical relationship between Nureyev and the Danish dancer Erik Brun.
I'll start with an insider. From what you can overhear in the hall, in the buffet, behind the scenes and more. Why did the premiere, promised in May, appear in December? Behind the scenes, everyone, including the artists, especially thanked one single person for this - Roman Abramovich.
Inside: There would have been no premiere on 12/09/2017 if Abramovich had not posed the question bluntly: Either the Bolshoi Theater management finds days in this year’s schedule to show Nureyev, or he, Abramovich, leaves the Bolshoi Theater Board of Trustees. And the point turned out not to be that the oligarch was capricious and did not want to wait several months until May. They said information had reached him that the Bolshoi management was planning to postpone the performance for another year, or maybe two.
The transfer was planned, despite the fact that all the most controversial moments of the first scandalous run in this version, which the Bolshoi has now shown, were deleted. There is no photograph of a naked Nureyev either on the backdrop or in the form of the dancing naked prime minister on stage.
The transvestite dance and Nureyev's duet with Eric Brun still remained. But take away this too, and the performance could actually be canceled forever.
So it was not in vain that they thanked Abramovich. But, since this is an insider, not a word about it to anyone!
After today, Diana Vishneva’s noticeably rounded belly is no longer an insider. She sat in the box and did not hide her belly. For this reason I am very happy for her. All the best wishes to her and her husband!
Another inside: At one time, Ovcharenko was offered to perform the part of Nureyev in the first cast. But he refused to dance completely naked. The stage was tiny, but still. Ovcharenko demanded a flesh-colored bandage. But the prime minister from the second cast, Lantratov, agreed to dance naked from the very beginning. As a result, he received the right to the First Squad.
And after the scandalous rehearsal, the dance of the naked Nureyev, by decision of the theater management, was replaced by the dance of Nureyev, but in a bodily bandage. In all compositions. But Lantratov remained instead of Ovcharenko in the first lineup. Ovcharenko dances on the 10th in the second cast. Those who understand the intricacies of the table of ranks at the Bolshoi will understand why I pay so much attention to the lineups.
The entire Moscow elite was in the hall. This is no longer an insider. There were even some that I had never seen at the Bolshoi before. An event, you see, of the passing year! It would be a shame not to check in! In the end, everyone checked in. I won’t list them by name. Open the back pages of any glossy magazine, point your finger at the first gossip character you come across, and you won’t be mistaken. Was (was) at Nureyev.
There were officials, stars, politicians. Almost everyone was there.
The only thing missing was the director. Serebrennikov was present with the inscription on the T-shirts of Ilya Demutsky and Yuri Possokhov: “Freedom for the director.” It was in this form that the co-authors took their bows.
And then for those who love ballet as much as I do.
Synthesis of ballet, theater, opera. Something completely new for the historical stage of the Bolshoi. But not for the domestic theater. All this has already happened in the Russian Ballet. In Diaghilev's enterprise. This all comes from “Russian Seasons”! Is it good or bad?! OK good.
The work has been done enormously and very seriously.
Excellent choreography, especially in the duet of Nureyev and Eric. Worthy of our ballet school - all the numbers, without exception, were staged (the performance slightly “falls apart” into these individual numbers, but this does not spoil the overall impression).
Amazing music, with quotes from familiar musical fragments from classical ballets by Tchaikovsky, Minkus, Wagner. The number about Natalya Makarova, set to the famous adagietto from Mahler’s 5th symphony, is beautiful in its broken plasticity. And all - in a very gentle, intelligent processing, brilliantly “edited” into the original music.
From the point of view of choreography, I am sure that Nureyev’s last scenes will occupy a completely separate niche in the history of world choreography.
Last scene. La Bayadère. The ballet, which Nureyev reworked and staged in his interpretation at the Opera Garnier. This is how she walks today in Paris. Directed by Nureyev, not Petipa. (The first section, however, is entirely Petipa; Nureyev did not change it). It was La Bayadère that became his farewell appearance on stage. Already terminally ill, Nureyev, during bows, came out in a black tailcoat to the audience at the Garnier Theater in 1992. Everyone who was present in the Garnier Hall that evening understood that it was Nureyev’s farewell to the public, to the theater, to the stage.
In Serebrennikov’s “Nureyev,” the famous dance of shadows, the finale from La Bayadère, also turns into the scene of Nureyev’s departure. With the baton he used to conduct at the Vienna Opera, Nureyev descends from the stage directly into the orchestra pit. In a white turban, deathly pale, in a black tailcoat, he himself is like a shadow from La Bayadère. Conducting the last act of La Bayadère and his life.
At this time, at some point on the stage, among the shadows of sylphs descending the stairs, shadows of male dancers suddenly appear. And again, everything is “built in” very organically, without causing rejection. On the contrary, it is all incredibly beautiful. The last scene is unforgettable! She deserves Petipa!
The last phrase - with which I would like to end this post - was already written on their T-shirts by composer and choreographer Ilya Demutsky and Yuri Possokhov. And they came out with this inscription to bow.
I couldn't have said anything better.
The first thing that comes to mind after receiving such stunning news is, of course, the continuation of the “case of Serebrennikov and his Seventh Studio.” In the depths of the Bolshoi they immediately assumed that this was the “hand” of the Ministry of Culture and that this was Medinsky’s decision (by analogy with “Tannhäuser”). But the minister had nothing to do with it: he himself found out about it on Saturday, while in St. Petersburg, where he held a meeting of his department’s board.
The performance is truly dedicated to the controversial and scandalous figure of the legendary 20th century dancer Rudolf Nureyev, whose sexual orientation and death from AIDS are well known. Director Serebrennikov did not intend to bypass this moment in his new performance. Let's say, it is known that such a character as Erik was planned in the ballet, hinting at the ardent love of Nureyev's life for the famous Danish dancer Erik Brun. But performances, books and films on this topic have been published in Russia for a long time (for example, “An Unearthly Garden” dedicated to Nureyev at the Roman Viktyuk Theater, numerous documentaries on Russian television), and there were no bans on them... so this is also not a reason .
However, in the new performance, director Serebrennikov, they say, intended to go much further than the simple fact of the sexual orientation of the world famous dancer. So, in the program of the performance that appeared on the Bolshoi website, but was soon deleted, there was an episode “Bois de Boulogne”, which had already managed to make quite a splash on the Internet. One of the artists filmed a moment of rehearsal and leaked it to social networks: the video captured an eloquent scene of a parade of transvestites in the Bois de Boulogne, boys from the Bolshoi Theater corps de ballet in rehearsal costumes and women's high-heeled shoes are perfecting their gait. Therefore, the version of the ban on such a scandalous premiere in the main theater of the country, and even in the work of the disgraced director Serebrennikov, is not so incredible.
However, the artists themselves, with whom the MK observer managed to contact, question this version:
Firstly, it is not the cancellation of the performance, but the postponement to the next season - I am dissuaded by a dancer of the troupe who wished to remain anonymous (after the scandal with Tsiskaridze, according to the contract, Bolshoi artists, as in the West, are prohibited from giving interviews without the permission of the management). And secondly, they simply don’t have time for the premiere. There is simply nothing to show! There have been rehearsals, and they can’t even put together the first act properly. So the rehearsals went on and on: either they couldn’t wait for the choreographer Yuri Posokhov, or the director Kirill Serebrennikov. And the troupe only recently returned after a long tour in Japan. So there were few rehearsals, the performance was simply not ready... How to show it? I understand that there is a great temptation to link this with a ban, but apparently this is not the case...
So we can only guess which version the Bolshoi Theater management will announce to us at the press briefing on Monday. But the fact remains that the performance has been postponed indefinitely, which means it has been cancelled. Bye. Nevertheless, work on it does not stop and, according to the latest information, another dress rehearsal took place at the theater on Saturday evening...
The postponement of the premiere of the ballet “Nureyev” staged by Kirill Serebrennikov at the Bolshoi Theater became one of the most discussed topics in early July. The theater management assures that the artists are not ready to perform, but the public believes that the cancellation of the premiere of “Nureyev” may be a consequence of the case of financial fraud at the “Seventh Studio”, in which Serebrennikov is a witness. TASS later reported that the performance was canceled for promoting homosexuality on the personal orders of the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, but the director of the Bolshoi Theater called such statements a provocation.
On Saturday, July 8, the Bolshoi Theater website reported that the premiere of the Nureyev ballet on July 11 will not take place. On the historical stage from July 11 to 14, Don Quixote will be shown instead.
The production about the great Soviet dancer was carried out by director Kirill Serebrennikov, choreographer Yuri Possokhov and composer Ilya Demutsky. The season before last, their creative team created the play “Hero of Our Time” at the Bolshoi, which was recognized as the best of the season and received the “Golden Mask”.
Kirill Serebrennikov told Vedomosti that the decision to cancel the premiere was made by representatives of the Bolshoi Theater.
I don't want to comment. This is the theater's decision. That's how they decided
Kirill Serebrennikov.
Speaking at the closing of the season at the Gogol Center, which he heads, Serebrennikov said that the performance would still take place.
The way the artists are greeted on stage is the best confirmation of this. Victims don't get that kind of clap. Only winners clap like that. Therefore, this must be understood very clearly
Kirill Serebrennikov.
The director of the Bolshoi Theater, Vladimir Urin, said that the reason for postponing the premiere was the unpreparedness of the artists, RIA Novosti reported. According to him, initially the performance was supposed to be released in the 2018/2019 season, but due to changes in the schedule, the artists began urgent preparation for “Nureyev” by July 11, 2017.
Vladimir Urin.
The director of the theater also emphasized that this is not about canceling, but about postponing the ballet, and the premiere will take place in May next year. Kirill Serebryannikov will not be able to attend it, since he will be busy with work in Munich at that time.
TASS, citing an informed source, reported that the order to cancel the performance was personally given by the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky. According to the source, the minister considered the production to be propaganda of homosexuality.
In a conversation with RBC, Urin denied that any order had been received from Medinsky and called such messages a provocation.
I swear by my professional activity that there was no such call [from Vladimir Medinsky], no instructions were given. It’s hard for me to say who launches such provocations
Vladimir Urin.
The director of the Bolshoi Theater also denied the idea that the postponement of the premiere was politically motivated. According to him, the theater management understood the ambiguity of Nuriev’s figure and the presence of “a relevant topic that could cause rejection by a number of people.”
Urin also denied rumors that Roman Abramovich wants to buy the play. The businessman attended the ballet rehearsal and liked it.
Even legally I have no right (to sell) a performance that was created with public money.
Vladimir Urin.
The general director of the radio station “Moscow Speaks” Vladimir Mamontov published a fragment of the play’s rehearsal on his Facebook. In it, some male dancers perform in heels.
In the performance "Nureyev" the dancers must perform accompanied by opera singers. The play also contains textual elements and, according to Vedomosti’s source, obscene statements in English.
The central line of the play is dedicated to the relationship between Rudolf Nureyev, who in 1961 asked for political asylum in Paris and became the first Soviet “non-returnee,” and the Danish dancer Erik Brun. Some of the dancers had to perform as transvestites. According to producer Dmitry Izotov, who was present at the run-through of the play, everything went well.
In the comments on Facebook, many regret that the premiere did not take place and fear that it will never happen.
But the director of the Bolshoi Theater has already announced the premiere date - the release of the play “Nuriev” is scheduled for May 4-5, 2018.
