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[<< Begin] [<< Prev] 3 4 5 6 7 [Next >>]Nord-Ost: 100 performances - a record, but not a limit!February 01, 2002The 100th performance of the Nord-Ost musical will take place in Moscow on February 1, 2002. Unprecedented for the Russian theatre is the fact that a performance has been running daily for more than three months with the house full night after night. Over 100 thousand viewers have seen the musical since it premiered on October 19, 2001. During the winter school holidays Nord-Ost broke an absolute record in the number of shows a week: it ran 10 times instead of 6. The public's unfailing interest to this project has shattered the view that western theatre management technologies are not appropriate for Russia. The results of the public-opinion poll conducted in December among the Nord-Ost audience exceeded the producers' boldest expectations. The survey has revealed that 95% of the respondents are so much satisfied with the performance that they are going to recommend it to their relatives and friends. Moreover, 40% of the participants in the poll would like to attend the musical again. It should be noted that the spectators answered this question before they were able to see the culmination moment of the performance - the plane landing on the stage. Almost half of the respondents state that in their decision to visit the musical they were influenced by the advice of their friends or relatives or by the invitation to keep company. For comparison: only 30% of the respondents consider that in making a decision they can be induced by advertising. One of the basic principles underlying the economic strategy of a daily-running performance is the creation of the show that can boast of such a high quality that gives rise to the chain reaction of positive references and recommendations among potential viewers. This ensures a long life for the performance. We see that the social-economic model which became the classics of the western theatre management works in the Nord-Ost case as well.What is attractive for the public in Nord-Ost? 40% of the participants in the survey state that they enjoyed absolutely everything in Nord-Ost. 38% of the visitors were especially impressed by the scenery, 36% liked music, 33% - staging, 32% - the performance of the actors (the respondents were allowed to choose several options simultaneously). One of the "production" effects of daily-running shows is the on-going perfection of the musical. The 100th performance differs essentially from the premiere. This does not only concern the actors' work, but also the search for more expressive mises en scene, light adjusting, and video projections. Since the premiere performances the scheme of placing the sound amplifiers has been changed essentially to improve the quality of sound. The work on the musical score is continued, the pauses for changing scenery sets are decreased. Every show is thoroughly analyzed, and improvements introduced constantly. Is the price for Nord-Ost tickets restraining for the public? On the average, the Nord-Ost tickets are priced higher than those to the drama theatres and lower than the tickets to the Bolshoi Theatre. According to the results of the survey, most of the respondents (79%) consider that the impression made by the show is worth the money spent on the tickets. Thus, not only Nord-Ost achieved a new level of theatre performance, but also formed the effective demand for this kind of entertainment. In Moscow today there are already more than 200 points of sale, where you can buy or book tickets for the Nord-Ost musical. These are not only traditional theatre tickets distribution networks but also the trade chains "Soyuz" and "Uzel Razvlecheniy" and the network of the "1st O.V.K." bank offices. A special box office for selling Nord-Ost tickets was opened in the center of Moscow on Pushkin Square. In the future, this point of ticket sale can become similar to the box office on Times Square in New-York, where tickets for all Broadway musicals are sold. What are the actors' plans? Nord-Ost created a new generation of synthetic-type actors in the Russian theatre and trained new speciality performers - "swings", i.e. versatile actors capable of performing more than 20 roles and replacing other actors any moment when required by circumstances. Performing in Nord-Ost allowed all the actors to reach a new level of theatre skill. The performers of principal roles (Ekaterina Guseva, Andrey Bogdanov, Yuriy Mazikhin, Oleg Kuznetsov, etc.) who were not very well-known to the wide audience before the Nord-Ost premiere have become top stars. The original cast contracts expire on March 31, 2002. Then the actors will have to make a choice - if they are staying in the company for another half a year. Still, whatever decision they make, the show must go on: intensive casting and training of the new actors are under way. When is the CD expected to appear? Though there are numerous requests from the audience regarding the audio and video versions of the musical, they have not been issued yet. Three musical numbers from Nord-Ost will be broadcast by radio soon. In spring-summer this year the company plans to release two CDs which will present music from Nord-Ost in two different interpretations. Meanwhile, Nord-Ost chose an unusual way of popularizing the melodies from the musical: small musical pieces were issued as signals for mobile phones (see the musical's web-site www.nordost.ru). Is Nord-Ost attractive for young people? The musical based on the classical Russian novel "Two Captains" by V. Kaverin met response from various sections of the public. From the very beginning this theatre performance was conceived as a "family entertainment". It attracts the modern public by chastity and purity which, strange as it may seem, meets unanimous positive response from the spectators of various ages. According to the results of the survey, 36% of the audience is represented by young people not older than 22 (this information is trustworthy and confirmed indirectly by the fact that 34% of the respondents state that they are pupils or students). It turned out that there is no need to simplify music or reduce the whole variety of life to just a few "hot" topics like crime or drug addiction in order to attract young people to the theatre. Nord-Ost as a new symbol of Moscow The Nord-Ost musical is already becoming a new Moscow place of interest which the guests of Moscow can visit any time irrespective of the season or day of the week. At present over 1/4 of the Nord-Ost audience are people living in the Moscow Region and other regions of Russia or visitors from abroad. 100 performances of Nord-Ost shown on a daily basis have not just become the cultural phenomenon in Russia but also vividly illustrate the current status of economy and public mood in the country. On the one hand, the full house during the Nord-Ost performances shows that the public can afford buying tickets, that people are ready for entertainment not just on the weekend but also during the working week and they are ready to spend a considerable part of their family budget. On the other hand, the full house at Nord-Ost proves that the spectators enjoy the musical, that the eternal human values and the traditions of our culture on which the musical is based find accord with the present day audience. If at the Nord-Ost premiere it was possible to take the words of the musical's creators just as promises, today after three months of successful shows these words have turned into deeds and facts. We do believe that the future plans of Nord-Ost will become facts as well! For further information, please, contact the "Link" production company at tel. 270-76-04 or e-mail: info@nordost.ru Contacts: Elena Shmeleva, Elena Malenkina, Dariya Morgunova [<< Begin] [<< Prev] 3 4 5 6 7 [Next >>] |
