“Helikon-Opera” celebrated its birthday

The Moscow theater “Helikon-Opera” under the direction of Dmitry Bertman celebrated its 33rd birthday on an unprecedented scale, as the most “round” anniversary. And it’s true: why shouldn’t the doubling of the sacred number 3 be considered more significant in the biography of the theater than something ending in 0? In any case, “Helikon”, which knows how to surprise, amaze, delight and organize holidays, this time actually threw out all the “33 pleasures” on the hall packed to capacity – this is how the Helikonites titled their festive concert.

On the red carpet leading to the main entrance to the theater, there were real stars representing a variety of fields of activity. Here were the nearest neighbors of “Helikon” – People’s Artist of Russia Svetlana Nemolyaeva from Mayakovka, rector of the Moscow Conservatory Professor Alexander Sokolov, artistic director of the Theater on Bronnaya Konstantin Bogomolov. Colleagues in the workshop came – the masters of Russian operetta, people’s artists Svetlana Varguzova, Yuri Vedeneev, Gerard Vasiliev. Famous masters of vocal art – Nina Shatskaya, Nikolai Baskov. As well as well-known lawyers – Mikhail Barshchevsky, Ilya Reznik, Pavel Astakhov. All of them came to their favorite theater for their birthday – to get their 33 pleasures.

The festive atmosphere was already announced in the cloakroom, where the audience could hear the pianist play. A string quartet of charming girls in dresses with seductive slits played in the lower foyer, and a more academic-looking quartet was located in the foyer on the second floor.

The evening was opened by the Minister of Culture of Moscow, Alexander Kibovsky, who greeted the theatre, recalled the time when a foundation pit gaped in place of the Stravinsky Hall, and then elegantly congratulated the orchestra artists, passing a huge bouquet of roses into the pit.

The orchestra of “Helikon” under the direction of Valery Kiryanov and the troupe of the theater had to work hard for glory. The two-hour performance, consisting of magnificent musical “cabbage” numbers, united by the witty text of Marina Skalkina, was dedicated to the audience. It was a look at the auditorium from the stage: Dmitry Bertman and Ilya Ilyin thought through everything to the smallest detail, not forgetting anyone – neither the fans trying in vain to buy a ticket to the sold-out “Aida”, nor those who have a habit of lingering in the buffet, not even those – well, “Helikon” cannot be without hooliganism – who has visited the theatrical toilet. However, standing behind the wall of several men with suspiciously dreamy faces, carelessly singing Lehar’s music, soon receives a completely innocent resolution: the walls unfold to reveal chessboards (the floors in the Helikon toilet are decorated with black and white tiles). Men play chess with women, women, of course, win in the glory of the triumph of gender traditionalism.

The program of the gala concert is led by a charming Cat – he is graceful, flexible, gentle, his tail is beautiful and expressive. Plastic Karlen Kardashian speaks in the recorded voice of Dmitry Ovchinnikov, and this acting tandem is extremely charming. The cat dedicates the audience to all the nuances of the relationship between the theater and the audience. Including a special audience category – critics. The number, based on Rossini’s famous Duet of Cats, arranged for the choir, perfectly illustrates the distance between the malice of meowing and sometimes squealing malevolent journalists and the dignity of the artists. How disgusting and ridiculous are the critics! How noble and restrained are the artists!

Laughter in the hall caused another brilliant “cabbage” number. There are three doors on the stage with three signs: “Chief Director D.A. Bertman”, “Artistic Director D.A. Bertman”, “Director General D.A. Bertman. Several Tatyanas from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (one of them is pregnant) are trying to get through to the boss in the hope of getting a role: “Who are you, my guardian angel or an insidious tempter?” But the Valkyrie appears, who easily pushes the tender Tatyana and herself behind the cherished door.

Fragments of famous operas that are part of the Helikon repertoire alternated with purely concert numbers – famous hits such as the Italian songs Funiculi, funicula or O surdato ‘nnammurato or the Mexican hit Cielito lindo. A witty solution was invented for each number: somewhere the artists went out into the hall to clink glasses with the audience with a glass of champagne, somewhere the actress squeezed a tiny living dog to the tenderness of the audience. And sometimes circus elements invaded the opera genre: tightrope walking on the lounges under the dome of the theater or a magnificent culinary illusion show performed by Dmitry Skorikov.

Each artist is worthy of mention: Sergey Ababkin, Igor Morozov, David Posulikhin, Shota Chibirov, Lidia Svetozarova, Olga Tolkmit, Maxim Perebeinos, Yulia Nikanorova, Yulia Shcherbakova, Ekaterina Oblezova, Valentina Gofer – absolutely everyone who took part in this fabulous program as soloist, ensemble, choir or dance. And, of course, the incomparable Marina Karpechenko, who ended the gala concert with a solemn finale from the opera “Turandot” by Puccini-Alfano.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29009 dated April 12, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Thirty-three pleasures in the thirty-third season