Drapeko proposed organizing an auction of tickets to the Bolshoi Theater: we need to stop dealing with resellers

“This is a brand story not related to art”

The entire past week of cultural life in the capital was spent in a stampede to the Bolshoi Theater box office. The queue for tickets to the Nutcracker ballet stretched to hundreds of people. The State Duma Committee on Culture was puzzled by the chosen system for selling tickets for performances, which caused a rush of demand: the theater offered spectators to receive a bracelet giving the right to purchase a ticket, which is why a huge line formed outside the building. Parliamentarians proposed changing the ticket sales system.

“Everyone who stands in these wild queues is, as a rule, not art lovers, but those who want to resell these tickets,” First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture Elena Drapeko shared her feelings in a conversation with MK. – We need to organize an auction of tickets to the Bolshoi Theater for the New Year holidays. If people are willing to pay crazy amounts of money, let them pay. Only then will this money not go to resellers, but to the theater. We actually have a lot of Nutcracker performances. And on New Year’s holidays they are performed not only at the Bolshoi Theater. Therefore, those who want to watch the ballet can do so during the year calmly without hysterics or in another theater.

This rush to ticket sales is due to the fact that someone wants to show how cool he is by sitting in the stalls of the Bolshoi on New Year’s holidays. “Here I am driving a Jaguar, and you are driving a Maserati, and here we are sitting in the stalls of the Bolshoi on New Year’s Day.” This is a brand story not related to art. It has nothing to do with culture! The other part is apparently trying to make money from this – this needs to stop.

– Online sales for New Year’s performances at the Bolshoi Theater have been cancelled. The Bolshoi Theater offered tickets in live queues with a passport. Hence the crush. Against this background, news appears about the state purchase of tickets to the stalls of the Bolshoi Theater for New Year’s performances by the State Duma apparatus. What do you know about the State Duma’s purchase of exclusive tickets for the New Year’s Nutcracker?

– Nothing. We need to take a picture of the stalls and see who is actually sitting there. And everything will immediately become clear. Last year, State Duma deputies approached me with a request to help get into the Bolshoi, but I immediately said that I would not undertake to provide them with tickets. I believe that before the New Year holidays the ticket sales system needs to be changed.

– Tickets for New Year’s performances of the Bolshoi Theater cost from 2,000 to 20,000 rubles, is this an acceptable price for you? And do you go to Bolshoi on New Year’s Eve?

– These are very cheap tickets for such an event. I don’t go to Bolshoi on New Year’s Eve and I don’t even try and I haven’t gone before. I spend this time with my family and friends. And I can come to the theater throughout the year.