Moscow Choir

Hello again!

This past Sunday we went to the Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg. This theater is one of a number of "Theatres of Europe." These theaters receive funding for supertitles (translations projected above the stages) and frequently tour to other Theatres of Europe. Unfortunately, the supertitles for the production we saw at the Maly, Moscow Choir, were in Italian. This did not detract at all from the experience, however, as the Maly is supposed to be one of the best theaters in Russia-a reputation it certainly deserves.

Moscow Choir is set in Moscow in the mid-1950s. During the 1950s, Russia underwent major political changes as a result of Stalin's death. These changes originated primarily from Nikita Krushchev's "Secret Speech," delivered at the 20th party congress. In his speech, Krushchev denounced the "cult of personality" that surrounded Stalin, as well as other practices of Stalin's regime. The play takes place not long before the 20th party congress in a communal apartment. Most of the action is centered around a single family. The grandmother is schizophrenic, her son is having an affair, and his teenage daughter is likely pregnant with an illegitimate child (a few months go by between the two acts, during which she gives birth to a son). In the midst of all of this turmoil, the grandmother's brother-in-law is trying to run rehearsals with his amateur choir for an all-USSR competition.

The set looked to me to be a multi-story rendering of a single-story apartment. It appeared that the designer had taken the posessions that might have been in a 1950's Soviet communal apartment and rearranged them vertically. The result was a multi-tiered assortment of furniture that vaguely resembled an apartment. This description comes nowhere close to giving it justice, but I found the set to be very effective. For one thing, it allowed the entire cast to be seen during the rehearsals, when between 15 and twenty people crowded into a rather small space. It also gave the impression of an incredibly claustrophobic space that was preventing the characters from thriving.

The acting was some of the most emotionally powerful we have seen. As always it was difficult to tell exactly what was going on, but the acting style was highly realistic and emotive. The woman who played the part of the grandmother was exceptionally talented and her performance was met with much enthusiasm by both the audience and the cast. For me one of the most moving parts was at the end of the play, when the choir came on for the last time (they sang six times in all, at the beginning, middle and end of each act). The piece they were rehearsing this time was a movement of Bach's c minor mass. The grandmother had not sung in any of the other sections, but this time she joined the rest of the cast in singing. To me this was pointing out the healing power of music. Despite her psychological illness, she was somehow able to be brought out of that by the act of singing.

While they were lacking in technique, I enjoyed the choir's performance far more than the production of Sadko we saw at the Mariinsky earlier in the day. The timing of when the music was used in the play as well as the extremely emotional acting truly enhanced the performance a great deal. Each of the pieces was well suited to the mood at the time and they broke up the action nicely by breaking some of the tension.

Certainly another of my favorites!