Thousands of fans said goodbye to Alexander Shirvindt

On Monday, March 18, Alexander Shirvindt was seen off on his last journey in Moscow: according to the most conservative estimates, from two to three thousand spectators and indeed a lot of stars came to the Satire Theater to say goodbye to the People’s Artist of the RSFSR. “Shura gathered us all” – our theater observer heard this phrase several times in line at the coffin of the People’s Artist. Shirvindt was loved by everyone – both ordinary citizens and stars of stage, screen and stage. At the same time, at the will of the organizers, the mournful ceremony at some point began to resemble Dante’s three-part afterlife, which conceals a certain secret meaning.

In “paradise”, that is, in a comfortable place in terms of proximity to the coffin and freedom of movement – on a stage separated by fence posts – they gathered their relatives, friends of the deceased, actors, screenwriters, representatives of the theater and cultural management of the capital. Who was not there: Philip Kirkorov, Ivan Urgant, Igor Kostolevsky, Leonid Yarmolnik with his wife Oksana, Leonid Kanevsky, Sasha Zakharova, Mikhail Shvydkoy, Alexander Kibovsky, Mark Varshaver, Vladimir Urin, former actress of the Satire Theater Raisa Etush, who came from the USA, Yuri Rost, Maxim Averin, Gennady Khazanov, Vera Alentova, Vladimir Mashkov, Fyodor Lukyanov – you can’t list them all.

Thousands of people saying goodbye found themselves in “purgatory”—that is, on a thin, dedicated line at the edge of the stage. People walked in a continuous stream along a line sixty centimeters wide for just over an hour and a half. It simultaneously became both a red carpet and a folk trail.

True, over the heads of the grieving spectators there was a constant sound: “Please don’t stop, don’t linger.” Why this “bell” was needed is clear: if an average of thirty people did not pass by the stage per minute (the MK correspondent specially calculated), from two to three thousand who came simply would not have had time to say goodbye in the time allotted. But each person who came, moving in the stream, first left a bouquet on the opposite side of the coffin, then turned to the deceased and did not know what to do: non-VIP persons were not allowed to approach. Some people bowed or crossed themselves in confusion and left the hall. Everything took seconds, but at least they saw the artist for the last time.

Journalists could only envy such an opportunity. Instead of placing the media in the stalls, as is often customary to do, the press staff were driven into an amphitheater, that is, into a kind of enclosure. Not only did they change location, they were not allowed to get up from their seats; our correspondent received a reprimand for simply getting up and heading towards the exit. And before that, two employees of one of the TV channels, who were filming from a place other than where the organizers had planned, were kicked out with shouts and noise.

It’s strange that they were “paranoid” about security in places where none of the high-ranking security officials came. There were no ministers, no heads of parliament or the Federation Council – in general, representatives of the “fourth estate” did not understand why they were forced to arrive at the theater at ten in the morning and were kept in front of a closed door for three hours, being allowed into the ceremony ten minutes late. Well, we’ve been to organizational “hell” – and that’s okay. The main thing is not the ability to fulfill one’s professional duties, but something else. Moreover, in the end they apologized to people for all the inconveniences.

“Everything moves with love,” wrote the poet Osip Mandelstam, and the feeling of love united everyone on a memorable day.

And when Shirvindt’s student Alexander Oleshko cried, these were real tears. And when the artistic director of the Satire Theater Sergei Gazarov promised that he would worthily continue Shirvindt’s work, it was a real oath. And only Vera Alentova was half-serious when she called herself the “second wife” of Alexander Anatolyevich.

“I played his wife for many years, whom he divorced many years ago. And then all her life she existed under the nickname “second wife” of Shirvindt,” she said.

Gennady Khazanov also brilliantly combined grief and humor. He said that Shirvindt’s favorite holiday was April 1st. One day, the artist staged an unusual draw: he announced a lottery for April 1st. The winner (from the audience), whose number was taken out of the drum, was given a huge sack. And then even wrapping paper was in short supply. And so he unwrapped this sack, and there… his coat.

It seems that this story, on the verge of absurdity and comedy, reflects the whole of Shirvindt.

During the last conversation, Alexander Anatolyevich said to Khazanov: “Genka, the telephone book has become meaningless, there is no one.”

Gennady Viktorovich admitted at the microphone that he erased many names from such a book after the death of his friends. “But I’m not going to erase Shura’s name,” he thundered.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29238 dated March 19, 2024

Newspaper headline:
“Shura gathered us all”