A gala concert of Vladislav Lantratov took place on the stage of the Stanislavsky Music Theater

On the stage of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater a gala concert was held dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the Bolshoi Theater premier Vladislav Lantratov, in which his friends and colleagues from the Bolshoi, Mariinsky, Mikhailovsky Theaters, the Stanislavsky Music Theater and the Novosibirsk Opera Theater took part. Tells Tatiana Kuznetsova.

In ancient times, such a gala would have been called a benefit performance: the birthday boy danced five of the 11 numbers. In the relatively recent ones – “Vladislav Lantratov and Friends”: good friends were invited to participate, mostly the same age as the hero – ballerinas and premiers born in the mid-1980s. In essence, it was the evening of the passing generation, and it was not in vain that Vladislav Lantratov celebrated an uneven date: who knows what will happen in the next five years – what these artists will be able to dance, and whether they will remain on stage.

In the meantime, they looked much wealthier than their successors. In the chaste “Sonata” by Uwe Scholz to the music of Rachmaninov, Evgenia Obraztsova and Semyon Chudin caressed the eye with impeccable training, an infallible sense of pose, and the well-behaved completeness and musicality of the dance. In the pas de deux from the ballet “The Talisman,” Vyacheslav Lopatin once again delighted with the silent softness of his jumps and unparalleled coordination, thanks to which the most hellish part in his performance seems like an intoxicating dance; The Bolshoi prime minister can only be reproached for the fact that his frantic God of the wind looked more like a Dove of Peace. His wife and partner Anastasia Stashkevich danced with her usual smiling ease, but (however, imperceptibly to the inexperienced eye) retouched the amplitude and clarity of the steps. This was more noticeable in the “Vaganova” pas de deux of Diana and Actaeon, where the miniature ballerina clearly lacked the jump, temperament and martial power of the rotations: her virgin goddess showed only her second property. The hero of the evening himself dared to dance the most difficult part of Actaeon, a favorite of the competitive acrobat jumpers, choosing the classic version of the text. Having dispensed with elaborate tricks with horizontal double revolts, he delighted with high jeté leggings, soft body bends after double rounds with knee landings and the half-forgotten excitement of academic dance.

With the excitement of a notorious ladies’ man and jumps of a different type – no less high, but damn daring – Vladislav Lantratov spurred the audience in the very first number of the concert, in his signature role of Petruchio from The Taming of the Shrew by Jean-Christophe Maillot. Since the premiere of the Bolshoi’s repertoire hit, Petruchio has changed: he has become more charming, more indulgent, and subtler. But his partner, Katarina, also changed: Ekaterina Krysanova, who was in excellent physical shape, danced a duet-acquaintance, full of rude humor like slaps and kicking batmans, with poorly hidden despondency, as if her upcoming marriage promised her a hopeless life.

The complaints against the younger generation are more serious. Let’s say that the strong leading soloist of “Stasik” Anastasia Limenko, who in a very funny and very virtuosic pas de deux to Offenbach’s music staged by Maxim Sevagin portrayed a pre-revolutionary ballerina bullying an elderly teacher (Innokenty Yuldashev is excellent in this role), one can only wish to work on style and manners. But the prima of the same theater, Ksenia Ryzhkova, non-musical, technically weak, helpless as an actor, practically failed the “black” pas de deux from “Swan Lake”, complementing her image of a cutesy Victorian young lady with a foiled fouetté. A description of the remaining numbers of the concert would only confirm the obvious: among all the ladies of this men’s benefit performance, its organizer stood out with her human, acting and professional maturity.

The concert (with the help of influential friends, patrons and the management of the Muztheater) was organized by ballerina Maria Alexandrova as a gift to her beloved husband, whose parents were soloists of Stasik. An ex-prima of the Bolshoi Theater, an active participant in the ballet “boom” of the 2000s, she was a leader in this gala as well. With amazing musicality, psychological subtlety and physical clarity, Maria performed two new duets about love – quite traditional, albeit pointless, classified as “modern” in our country: both with upper supports, bodily expression and open passion. “Where the Air Remembers Your Happy Breath” was composed to the music of Erik Satie by Briton Jonah Cook, and Alexandrova’s worthy partner, Arthur Mkrtchyan, reliably portrayed with her the drama of separation – with her hopeless attempts to return her former love. The final number of the concert, “On the String,” created by Alexander Sergeev to the music of Yann Tiersen especially for the Alexandrov-Lantratov couple, contained so many transparent biographical allusions that it is difficult to separate the actor’s experiences from the personal ones. The restless, restless hero finds peace and fortitude in the arms of a wise woman (or in the very memory of her loving support – judging by the disappearance of the heroine in the finale) – this is the story of Vladislav himself, who lost his mother at the age of 17 and found support in an alliance with Maria Alexandrova. But in contrast to the elegiac finale of the choreographic miniature, the life outcome of the evening’s hero looks triumphant, judging by the unanimous applause and hills of flowers.

In terms of the friendly and upbeat atmosphere, the dedication of the Muztheater orchestra, which learned an unfamiliar repertoire, the intelligent and balanced program (as varied as possible today), the evening turned out to be one of the best in recent seasons. Moreover, for the first time in many years, in concerts of this kind, the stage was not “decorated” with digital projections that look like photo wallpaper, making it difficult to see the artists and giving even a high-quality gala a nouveau riche vulgarity. This one-time victory of taste, like the mastery of those over 35 that dominated the evening, gave the event a touch of nostalgia – for a time that will never be returned.