Less than a week to go!

It's hard to believe that we'll be on our way in less than a week. Unfortunately, the most recent terrorist attempt will make the travel much more difficult. We will all need to be at the airport by 8 AM (in Minneapolis). I was going to be there then anyway - now everyone will just have to join me! But then we're off (hopefully) to frigid Moscow. Actually, they've been a few degrees warmer than us, but the forecast for next week when we arrive is -13. Then it's supposed to warm up a bit - to negative 4 or 5 for the next few days. We'll stay nice and toasty in our Hostel. Judging from the emails, everyone's getting excited. I know I am as well - can't wait to get back onto the streets of Moscow and Petersburg. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends as well.

Now's the actual countdown. Students, feel free to blog some on your thoughts looking ahead to the trip.

A month from now we'll be in Moscow!

Actually, we'll have almost six plays under our belts by this time next month.  We've got 15 plays for sure and 5 more tentative - so we've reached the minimum of 20 plays.  Hooray!!! Look at the websites - most have pictures or videos from the productions.

In Moscow we'll be seeing:
Romeo and Juliet at the Pushkin Theater
Iolanthe at the Bolshoi
The Tsar's Bride at the Bolshoi
Gulliver's Travels at the Puppet Theater of Obraztsov
The Secret of the Old Cupboard (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) at the Theater on Maloj Bronnoj
Uncle Vanya at the Moscow Art Theater - the Theater Studio of Oleg Tabakov
Prince Caspian at the Theater on Maloj Bronnoj
He Was a Titular Counsellor (The Diary of a Madman) at the Peter Fomenko Studio
Master and Margarita at the Taganka Theater
K.I. from Crime at the Moscow Youth Theater
Salome at theТheater of Dramatic Art
The Black Monk at the Moscow Youth Theater
The Hairdresser at the Theater Praktika
The Blue Monster (The Green Bird) at the Satirikon

In St. Petersburg we'll see:
The Marriage at the Aleksandriinsky Theater
Chicago at the St. Petersburg theater of Musical Comedy
Moscow Choir at the Maly Drama Theater of Lev Dodin
Man Equals Man at the Aleksandriinsky Theater
Sadko at the Mariinsky Theater
Oedipus the King at the Theater on Liteiny
Scapin at the Priut Kommedianta

We're on our way....

Greetings everyone.  We have our first two shows:  "The Secret of the Old Wardrobe" ("The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe") and "Prince Caspian".  We saw "The Secret of the Old Wardrobe" two years ago for the interim and it was wonderful.  We will probably start with a New Year's celebration for the kids of the audience and then the play.  They're going to give us a back-stage tour after the show.  For the next show, we're going to get to talk with the cast afterwards.

«Тайна старого шкафа», Театр на Малой Бронной

Beyond this, I suspect that the January shows at the Bolshoi will go on sale toward the end of this next week.  As soon as they do, I'll probably purchase tickets for us to see Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tsar's Bride".  It's a full-blown Russian opera with Russian subject matter at the Bolshoi.  Should be a memorable evening.That will probably be on January 6th.

So far those are the scheduled events.  Some other things we'll be doing, visiting Mosfilm, the All-State Cinematography Institute, etc. will happen, but we just don't know the dates yet.

Stay tuned for coming attractions!