Hell for Anna: The Bolshoi Theatre radically reinterpreted Tolstoy's novel
The premiere of the ballet "Anna Karenina" to the music of Rodion Shchedrin took place on the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theater. This legendary score, once created specifically for Maya Plisetskaya, was first performed at the Bolshoi in 1972. In the new version, maestro Valery Gergiev and a young production team have relied on the scale of the spectacle and an unconventional interpretation of the classics. The main character was placed in purgatory, where faceless stokers became her sinister escorts, and a huge train burst onto the stage at full speed became a full—fledged character. Izvestia visited the premiere screening and appreciated the gloomy aesthetics of the play.
A gift from Plisetskaya
The Bolshoi Theatre has already turned to Tolstoy's plot. In 1972, the legendary premiere took place with the participation of Maya Plisetskaya and Alexander Godunov — it was for this production that Shchedrin created a large-scale score. And in 2018, John Neumeier presented a version for Svetlana Zakharova, bringing the characters to the 21st century, where Vronsky became a lacrosse player and Karenin a politician. He complemented Shchedrin's music with a complex collage of works by Tchaikovsky, Schnittke and songs by Cat Stevens.
This performance offers a pure Shchedrin. A new reading was undertaken by the young Ural Ballet team, led by its artistic director Maxim Petrov. Valery Gergiev entrusted them with the task of putting "The Hunchback Horse" to Shchedrin's music a year ago. The work turned out to be controversial. However, it was Petrov who was invited to return the music to Anna Karenina by the same Rodion Konstantinovich to the stage.
The premiere of the new version is timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the theater and opens another chapter in the stage history of the novel. This is a fundamentally different, modernist view: the action unfolds in the mind of the already deceased heroine, turning into a tragic journey through the fragments of her memory.
— Our performance begins with the fact that Anna is either dead or about to die, - says choreographer Maxim Petrov. — The tragedy has already happened. And this is her purgatory, hell. Anna remembers the main events that happened to her. That is, these are flashes of memories of what happened to her and what led her under the train.
The libretto, written by Petrov together with Bogdan Korolk, avoids a direct retelling of the plot. Due to the absence of Levin and some other lines in the score, key events - from balls to horse races — appear exaggerated and distorted through the prism of Anna's suffering. Director Roman Kocherzhevsky and artist Juliana Laikova replaced the classical ballet pantomime with capacious modern gestures, making the train the central decoration.
— Shchedrin's famous work was staged for the last time back in 1972. Rodion Konstantinovich, who recently left us, and Maya Plisetskaya covered this premiere then, and now they continue to call us to lofty goals and objectives. There are ballet forces in our theater, and to my delight they are doing well," Valery Gergiev is sure.
This intense psychological thriller features several strong cast members at once. The role of Anna is performed on different days by Ekaterina Krysanova, Anastasia Smirnova, Maria Vinogradova and Eleonora Sevenard. Vladislav Lantratov, Alexey Putintsev, Artyom Ovcharenko and Denis Rodkin appear on stage as Vronsky, while Igor Tsvirko, Egor Gerashchenko, Alexander Vodopetov and Artemy Belyakov embody the role of Karenin's deceived husband.
Stop the train
The set design of the play immediately immerses you in the finale of the novel. A huge train bursts onto the platform — the artist Juliana Laikova visually breaks through the station structure. Smoke covered everything. The passengers are frozen on the platform, and only Anna Karenina (Ekaterina Krysanova) in a black velvet dress is rushing around in the center of the stage. Those around her do not notice her, even her husband Alexei Karenin (Igor Tsvirko) struts by in a gilded uniform.
At this moment, Anna is picked up by stokers smeared with soot. They offer her a black cloak that looks like a shroud. But she doesn't want to accept it. Anna exists on stage in a detached way, apart from everyone else — she desperately wants to get out of the control of fate.
In a second, everything changes: a lady and a young officer get off the train, and the action is transferred to a shining ballroom. Among the dancing couples, Karenina recognizes Alexei Vronsky (Vladislav Lantratov), who arrived with his fiancee Kitty Shcherbatskaya (Ulyana Moksheva). Vronsky quickly switches his attention, and Anna is already in his arms. But the idyll does not last long — the stokers again lower the heroine from the fantasy world to the ground.
Anna's son Seryozha is waiting for her at home, whom her father no longer trusts his frivolous mother. Karenin demands an explanation for her behavior in the salon of Betsy Tverskaya (Margarita Shriner). An attempt to get closer to her son turns into disappointment: the mother is haunted by visions. In her mind, the image of Seryozha is tripled — other boys run out from behind the scenes, who are intercepted by a strict governess. The roles of the children were played by MGAKH students Evgeny Kupyansky, Peter Andreikin and Egor Kazin.
Annina's grief
The second act begins with Karenin's torment. Here, the choreographer gives him both an actor's self-expression and a plastic battle with Vronsky.
Anna gives birth to a daughter and leaves with her lover for Italy. The couple rents an old palazzo. Here she feels love and freedom. The experiment of the directors is the appearance of singers: Valeria Tereikovskaya and Nursultan Anuarbek perform the aria of Romeo and Juliet.
However, the separation from her son, whom her husband forbade her to see, breaks Anna's heart. Feelings of guilt and longing destroy inner peace.
The stokers are driving on stage again. Bowing to Igor Gorelkin, Georgy Gusev, Filippo Ferdinando Pagani, Pavel Smirnov, they deservedly shouted "Bravo!". The choreographer came up with a complex drawing for the four dancers. These characters are solved like devils from hell. They not only turn Anna's mind around, but also slip Vronsky a gun, inciting him to kill Karenin.
When this does not help, they find justice in the person of the Emperor (Nikita Yelikarov). Because of the shame, Karenin loses his bureaucratic grip, and the Autocrat publicly tears off his ribbon with orders. At this moment, he is accompanied by stokers with hammers — it seems as if demons are subjugating the ruler, bringing the dignitary to his knees.
In the penultimate scene, Anna reunites with her family. All of them, as if in a waiting room, are sitting on chairs in the center of the stage. But tragedy is inevitable, and now Anna, in a scarlet velvet dress, takes a fatal step in front of a train.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
