“Manager of All Rus’” Kekhman acted as director

Here is the Moscow Art Theater named after. Gorky finally celebrated his 125th birthday, although two months after his competitor, the Moscow Art Theater, honored the significant date. Chekhov in Kamergersky. However, what was shown on Tverskoy Boulevard four days before the New Year forces us to take stock of the anniversary celebrations in various capital theaters.

In short, the situation looks like this: “Contemporary” on Galina Volchek’s 90th birthday is a complete failure, a classic “D” in the school diary. After the indignation of the theater community, and among representatives of different generations who knew the main “contemporary” well, the indignation of the audience who loved her performances and her artists, as well as after an article in “MK” and, not to exclude, a call from above, a mediocre spectacle called “Galya. A Magic Tale” was removed from the poster without any hope of returning to it. As they say, we looked and forgot like a bad dream. But the sediment remained.

Moscow Art Theater named after Chekhov’s 125th anniversary was also celebrated with a specially created performance based on a specially written play, the assessments of which differed. While some (professionals and spectators) rated it conditionally well, others gave it a categorical “satisfactory” rating. That is, three. The performance “9th row, 10th, 11th place”, let’s be honest, was saved by the scenery (designer Nikolai Simonov), whose projection replicated the auditorium on stage. – one in one only empty. And also the performance of artists, mostly of the older generation – Natalia Tenyakov and especially Stanislav Lyubshin. Looking at the Moscow Art Theater luminary, a doubt of this kind arose: “Will he really be 91?” He is so light in his movements and excitement beyond his years. But… this is Lyubshin, and he is the only one.

Completed the anniversary marathon of the Moscow Art Theater. Gorky. The celebration was delayed due to stage repairs, mechanization, and updating sound and lighting equipment. This is what was revealed to the public who came to the anniversary, announced as a “Star Gala”. It was directed by the theater’s General Director Vladimir Kekhman himself, which was puzzling at first. After all, in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and now in the Mother See, everyone has well learned that Kekhman V. And this: renovations in record time, stylish design, buffets, toilets – always at the highest level. But the GALA he presented proved that it was not in vain that the manager of All Rus’ received a director’s diploma from GITIS.

Without inventing the “bicycle” about the Art Theater with its powerful, dramatic history, Kekhman followed a seemingly traditional path – he assembled a gala of the highest standard, decorating it ascetically but with great taste. Only four rigid wings on each side of the stage and the backdrop worked as a decoration for him, onto which there was a projection – mainly in color or with elements of historical scenography, so that the focus remained only on those who came out on the Moscow Art Theater stage that evening.

And only the first names, primas and premieres of Russian ballet and opera art from the Bolshoi, Mariinsky, and Mikhailovsky theaters came out. NOVAT was represented by a children’s choir. The imperial scope and positioning of Gorky’s Moscow Art Theater as an imperial theater was emphasized by the Russian Anthem, which was played at the very beginning. The Mikhailovsky and children’s choir from NOVAT was sung along by the audience, which included government officials and businessmen.

No presenters, not a single passing number, no speeches about the significance and greatness of the past, no pauses. The past of 100 years ago was heard only once in the first act so unexpectedly and personally that the audience gasped. The opera choir, against the backdrop of documentary footage of the same Moscow Art Theater (Stanislavsky, Nemirovich, their first actors), performed a letter from 1908 to Konstantin Stanislavsky – words and music by Rachmaninoff. Will the director really not extend his directorial discovery? – I thought. But neither in the first nor at the beginning of the second section was there a return to the past.

It was real – the pride of ballet, opera and drama. The latter, as a younger sister, was represented by two fragments from the most successful production of the Moscow Art Theater – “Yesenin’s Women”. It must be said that this poetic and dramatic remark fit very well into the ballet and opera Gala and delicately stood next to the “Carmen Suite” – Svetlana Zakharova and Artemy Belyakov (Bolshoi Theater), Russian dance from “Swan Lake” – Prisca Zeisel, Prayer from opera “Rural Honor” – Olesya Petrova and the choir of the Mikhailovsky Theater, the fantastic Adagio from the ballet “Park” – Ekaterina Kondaurova and Konstantin Zverev (Mariinsky Theatre), Barcarolle from the opera “The Tales of Hoffmann” (Svetlana Moskalenko and Olesya Petrova) and others – 20 in total numbers, not counting encores.

When Gala went to the coda, the screen suddenly lowered and Tatyana Doronina appeared – a luxurious beauty at her best against the backdrop of the empty Moscow Art Theater hall. She proudly looked straight at today’s new viewer of her theater and asked: “Do you love theater?…”.

Calaf’s aria Nessun dorma from the opera “Turandot” performed by Ivan Gyngazov (Helikon Opera), the choir of the Mikhailovsky Theater and the NOVAT children’s choir concluded the GALA. The second finale – “Table table from La Traviata” – added unnecessary “butter” to the anniversary “dish” and influenced the assessment of what was happening: if not an A, then a solid B plus, the Moscow Art Theater deserved it. Gorky, who beat everyone in the anniversary race.