Boris Godunov hits Athens like a meteorite

I admit that I ‘m not really into Russian opera. I know Onegin, I have heard/seen Pikovaya Dama and the Maid of Orleans a couple of time, I’ve watched live Lady Macbeth Von Mtsensk and the Liceu dvd of the same opera once but I never felt enchanted by Russian opera whatsoever. I have been trying haaaaaard to listen to the whole Godunov and the whole Khovanshchina but never did. Yes, I know I sound narrow but hey! I have my limitations and that’s just me.

Last night I had the chance to complete what I had started a hundred times but never finished: Listen to Boris Godunov! Not only listen but also watch! Watch and enjoy one of the most spectacular productions one could possibly see.

I suppose we ‘ve all more or less read about the hype that this new production of the Bolshoi Opera had caused a year ago (April 2007). The new Alexander Sokurov production was then greeted by the critics as a masterpiece. And I think this is exactly what the audience of the opening night at the Megaron of Athens thought about it. Extraordinary sets and costumes by Yuri Kuper and Pavel Kaplevich respectively, an interesting stage direction, a good cast (not excellent though) and uber alles (for me at least), the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra (and chorus) under the direction of Alexander Vedernikov.

Sokurov while rehearsing.

Ok, I know, some may say that the production was very conservative, very oldie, very typical Bolshoi, that the sets were ugly and looked cheap and that it looked like a performance of the Bolshoi in the 70's but hey! I ‘d rather see that than a production of a Godunov holding a dildo.

Almost all members of the cast were impressive. Big voices, typical Russian, by the tradition of the Bolshoi, beautiful and expressive.

Boris Godunov: Mikhail Kazakov

Xenia, his daughter: Anna Aglatova
Fyodor, his son: Sergey Belyaev / Alexandra Trubitsina
Xenia's Nurse: Evgenia Segenyuk
Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky: Maxim Paster
Andrei Shchelkanov, secretary to the Duma: Yuri Laptev
Pimen, hermit chronicler: Alexander Naumenko
Pretender, the false Dimitri, Grigory Otrepiev: Vsevolod Grivnov
Marina Mnishek, daughter of the Sandomierz commander: Elena Manistina
Varlaam: Valery Gilmanov
Missail: Alexander Zakharov
Innkeeper: Oxana Kornievskaya
Simpleton: Vitaly Panfilov
Nikitich: Vladimir Krasov
Mityusha, a peasant: Nikolai Kazansky
Police officer: Vladimir Ognev
Rangoni: Pyotr Migunov, Vadim Lynkovsky
Court Boyar: Alexander Arkhipov

Kazakov, an excellent Boris, a bit strange looking (youngish) but majestic and imposing. Elena Manistina also a good Marina (a mediocre actress though), Vitaly Panfilov as the Holy Fool (or Simpleton) was impressive, same for Valery Gilmanov as Varlaam and Alexander Naumenko as the Pimen. I didn’t particularly like Vsevolod Grivnov as the false Dimitri/Grigory but who am I to judge.


Fotos from the curtain calls:

These were the PROS, let’s move to the CONS (that have nothing to do with the excellent performance of the Bolshoi Theatre)

The Alexandra Trianti Hall of the Athens Megaron was the REAL Siberia! Ok, Athens is hot and the temperature yesterday rose to 40 °C degrees, but hey! Would it be possible for us not to leave with a gangrene the next time? Thank you!

The Alexandra Trianti Hall was full and both nights are sold out. But I ‘d rather enjoy an opera of this magnitude in a half empty Hall than live again what I lived last night. I won’t speak about the coughing. I won’t say about the sneezing (I assume that it was due to the a/c in the Hall). I won’t even complain about people dropping stuff the whole time. Books, cell phones or whatever these f*&^%& things that were sliding off all night long were!

I hate it when people have the mentality “I have paid for a ticket and therefore I can do whatever I fancy”. No you stupid b&tch! You can’t zip and unzip your handbag every 30 seconds, you can’t take your filthy bottle of water out of a scritch-scratch plastic bag and make all this noise every 5 minutes, pretending that nobody is annoyed and above all: you cannot stretch your legs on the back of my sit and give me little earthquakes every single minute of the 4 f******** hours of the opera. Ok? Now that I wrote all these I feel really relieved.

ps. Who gave the permission to the stupid ushers to let people in 15 minutes after the performance had begun? Grrrrr....