#russian theater

[vintage-russia]

Play "The Human Comedy" (1935)

[regina-del-mare]

Praskovya Kovalyova-Zhemchugova, born a slave of counts Sheremetyevs, she was chosen to join a troupe of her owners' private serf theater and became its star. Family's heir fell in love with her, freed her and they married despite all obstacles. Praskovya died of tuberculosis and complicated childbirth of their first son. According to legend Praskovya was the author of folk song "Late evening I walk from the forest..." in which slave girl meets handsome nobleman and they start romance.

[thefugitivesaint]

Vladimir Petrovich Drittenpreis (1878-1915), 'ку́кольный теа́тр' (Puppet Theater), ''Весы'', #12, 1908 Source

[thecreaturecodex]

Alkonost

Image © Eugenia Vi, accessed at her ArtStation here

[After a whole bunch of reruns of CR 12 magical beasts, here's a brand new one! This is, in fact, the first in a miscellaneous world folklore set, one inspired in large part by my girlfriend, @abominationimperatrix. The alkonost is a monster I was first introduced to in a wild way, in The Magic Voyage of Sinbad, a Roger Corman produced dub of the Soviet epic Sadko that appeared on Mystery Science Theater 3000. And so learning that it wasn't originally "the bluebird of happiness", and had its own tradition behind it, took a while. This art is my favorite because it incorporates the monster's origin. "Alkonost" is a Cyrillic adaptation of "Alcyone", the woman turned into the first kingfisher in Greek mythology. One of the few remaining tidbits of that story actually gets inverted in the Slavic version; instead of laying their eggs when the storms of winter are unnaturally calm, they lay straight into stormy water! So I had to incorporate that into my version, and wanted to make an alkonost in kingfisher colors.]

Alkonost CR 12 CG Magical Beast This creature has the body of a bird, with ochre and blue feathers, and the head of a human woman. Both aspects are beautiful. She has an expression of serene grace on her features.

An alkonost is sometimes called a bird of happiness or a bird of paradise. They are goodly kin to the sirens, and use their magical music only in defense or to aid others. They are incorrigible optimists that see the beauty in everything and are certain that good will ultimately prevail over evil. They are by no means naive, but assume good intentions until demonstrated otherwise. Alkonosts may deliver messages of hope and joy for goodly gods or nature spirits, and they are sometimes mistaken for angels. An alkonost is a purely mortal creature, albeit one with a lifespan measurable in hundreds of years.

It is rare that an alkonost starts a fight, but they can certainly end them. The song of bliss sung by an alkonost fills those that hear it with an overwhelming euphoria and saps them of their will to fight. Anyone who resists this effect will be targeted with the alkonost’s other magic, at first to try to convince them to lay down their arms. The talons of an alkonost are relatively weak, but the birds can create magical gusts of bludgeoning wind to fight creatures that resist their compulsions. If accompanied by allies (charmed or otherwise), alkonosts fill a support role, using bardic magic to bolster their strength.

Alkonosts tend to live on islands, tropical mountaintops and other remote locations. This is partly because they value sites of natural beauty and partly because they value solitude. The song of bliss is so beautiful that it can induce feelings of worship and dependence in those who hear it, and the goodly birds do not particularly want to have armies of devoted thralls. If their homes or persons are threatened particularly dangerous monsters, they may use diplomacy and enchantment to recruit other creatures to assist them. In these cases, alkonosts go their separate ways when their goals are accomplished.

Most alkonosts are female, but males and members of other genders do exist. Alkonosts are poor parents, but make up for it with their magical abilities; an alkonost mother lays her egg in stormy seas, whereupon it is incubated by the rocking waves and blowing winds. When it washes up on a shore, the egg hatches into a Tiny alkonost with a fully mature mind, which goes about finding itself a territory and learning new things to find wonder in. Alkonosts feed on fresh fruit and nectar as well as fish and insects; one of the ways to curry an alkonost’s favor is with finely cooked foods (since cooking without hands is very difficult).

Alkonost CR 12 XP 19,200 CG Medium magical beast Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +20

Defense AC 26, touch 23, flat-footed 20 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural, +7 deflection) hp 161 (14d10+84) Fort +14, Ref +14, Will +11 Immune charm and compulsion effects; Resist cold 10, sonic 10; SR 23 Defensive Abilities resplendent feathers

Offense Speed 20 ft., fly 80 ft. (good) Melee 2 talons +15 (1d6+1) Ranged air blast +19 (6d6+5) Special Attacks bardic performance (43 rounds/day, Will save DC 24; countersong, dirge of doom, distraction, fascinate, frightening tune, inspire competence +4, inspire courage +3, inspire greatness, soothing performance, suggestion), song of bliss Spell-like Abilities CL 14th, concentration +21 At will—calm emotions (DC 19) 3/day—charm monster (DC 21), quickened mental block (DC 19), modify memory (DC 21), shout (DC 21), suggestion (DC 20) 1/day—break enchantment, cloak of dreams (DC 22), geas/quest, heal (DC 23)

Statistics Str 12, Dex 21, Con 21, Int 18, Wis 24, Cha 25 Base Atk +14; CMB +15; CMD 38 Feats Dodge, Extra Performance, Flyby Attack, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quicken SLA (mental block), Toughness Skills Bluff +18, Diplomacy +18, Fly +22, Knowledge (nature) +15, Perception +20, Perform (sing) +26, Sense Motive +18, Stealth +18; Racial Modifiers +8 Perform (sing) Languages Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Common

Ecology Environment warm mountains and islands Organization solitary Treasure standard

Special Abilities Air Blast (Su) As a standard action, an alkonost can fire a gust of powerful wind, acting as a ranged attack with a range of 60 feet. A creature struck takes 6d6 points of bludgeoning damage plus the alkonost’s Constitution modifier (6d6+5 for an average specimen), and must succeed a DC 22 Reflex save or be pushed 10 feet away from the alkonost. The alkonost can use this ability at will. The save is Constitution based. Bardic Performance (Su/Sp) An alkonost can use bardic performance as if she were a 14th level bard. She does not get other bard class abilities unless she takes levels in the bard class. Resplendent Feathers (Su) An alkonost gains a deflection bonus to its Armor Class and CMD equal to its Charisma modifier. Song of Bliss (Su) An alkonost can sing a supernaturally soothing song as a standard action, affecting all creatures in a 60 foot radius. Creatures in the area that can hear the alkonost’s song must succeed a DC 24 Will save or be effected as by a euphoric tranquility spell that lasts for as long as the alkonost concentrates on the song and the creature can hear the song, and for 1 minute thereafter. Creatures that succeed their save are immune to the song of bliss of that alkonost for the next 24 hours. This is a mind-influencing, compulsion and emotion effect, and the save DC is Charisma based.

[aglaiamanno]

home theater in the yusupov palace, st. petersburg

[saganshy62]

B-24M Mad Russian by TK622 Via Flickr: B-24M S/N 44-41846 of the 65th Bomb Squad, 43rd Bomb Group, 5th Air Force. The Mad Russian artwork was commissioned by Pilot and later the Squadron's Operations Officer 1/Lt Andrew Burochonock, a New Yorker with Russian roots, who went by that nickname himself. The artwork was designed by S/Sgt Sarkis E. Bartigan and painted Sgt Enoch H. Wingert. The aircraft was assigned to the 65th BS on 20 January 1945. It survived the war and returned to the US in November 1945. Eventually scrapped at RFC Kingman, Arizona. Photo taken on Ie Shima, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan in October 1945.

[depravednotdeprived]

Hellfest 2025

[toontimetheater]

Toon Time Theater presents... ONLY ONE U-PICK POLL

It seems Gabriel Ramos is busy with More One Night recently... I checked the lineups for Toon Time Theater's Saturday Morning Animation Cram Session, but the choices were lackluster, as it was mostly reruns of FLCL Shoegaze and SWORD ART ONLINE. So I, SUPER HERO PICK BOY II (pronounced soo-pur-hee-row-pick-boi-too), present you my one and only U-PICK poll. Should I rebrand Toon Time Theater's Saturday morning lineup, or not? If most of you vote "yes", then I will rebrand it with most of the programs as shown on the April 1 broadcast, but it depends on your genre preference. If most of you vote "no", I'll leave Gabriel alone and let him schedule the Saturday morning cartoon lineup to his liking. You have until April 5 at 6:30 AM / 5:30 AM Central / Pacific to cast your votes, and when the time is up, the poll results will be revealed at said time during the live-stream. Not only that, there will be a peepshow that will open up 30 minutes prior, so make it your wake-up alarm, get your dose of caffeinated liquid, and groove along to the peepshow's music so you can be awake enough to catch the U-PICK results narrated by the boy himself, SUPER HERO PICK BOY II.

If this is your first time reading this post, that means I have something to explain to you all. Every Saturday morning, the New Gabe Order hosts a five-hour cartoon block on their Twitch channel. The block's purpose is to primarily serve as a tribute to the Saturday morning cartoon blocks of the past, which we lost since 2014. The New Gabe Order block's specialties include educational and informational (E/I) programming, action cartoons, toons for millennials, and some sports toons along the way. You can check it out by clicking here.

In case you forgot, programming on April 1's broadcast of Toon Time Theater included (not counting E/I programming):

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian

Girlfriend, Girlfriend

Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!

OSHI NO KO

Harukana Receive

HAIKYU!! (Season 3)

[ballet-symphonie]

I think the new Mariinsky of Coppelia is one of the most beautiful productions to come out recently! I'm really curious what you mean by stolen Pharaoh's Daughter! Please give me all the drama and tea. Also, what are they using of Ratmansky? I thought they went back to that grigorovich production of Sleeping Beauty? I'm so confused can you explain what is happening? Also, don't they still do Jewels? Isn't that Balanchine? are they even allowed? Sorry if i sound like I'm rambling but I'm so confused

Pharoah's Daughter

Here is an from NYT interviewing Ratmansky where he discusses the situation in depth but I will summarize it. NYT Article

The Phraroah's Daughter is a whole big drama. Alexei Ratmansky was creating a new reconstruction at Mariinsky before the war broke out.When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ratmansky canceled the premiere in May 2022. Fateev (then director of MT) hired Toni Candeloro to finish the reconstruction.

Fateev said the whole ballet was re-choreographed by Candeloro but this is blatantly not the case. Ratmansky and his wife had spent 2 years going through the old notations and documents to create this restoration, the idea that Candeloro could create a brand new 3.5-hour ballet (yes it is that long) in a fraction of the time is frankly a tragic comedy on the level of Shakespeare. And of course, Ratmansky's name is nowhere in the credits.

Russians have also claimed that no prior knowledge or access to any of Ratmanksy's work was available, but I find that hard to believe considering there are clips of Ratmanksy rehearsing the ballet at MT still chilling on Mariinksy's Youtube.

Here you can read Ratmansky’s statement on Instagram on the matter, accompanied by Antonio Casalinho performing the famous act 2 pas d��action variation from Pharoah’s Daughter.

Here is a video of Kimin Kim in the same variation from the actual MT production. The two videos are nearly identical, this is clearly theft of Ratmansky’s work.

Copywright/ Theft

Ratmansky's name has been removed from all credits of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky. Yet his work, such as Flames of Paris, and The Bright Stream, and others, have been performed since he withdrew his work from Russia without Ratmanksy's name attached - which means he's not receiving royalties for these.

Licenses of Productions

Generally, to perform works by other companies, you need a license from either the company, the choreographer, or the choreographic trust (think the Balanchine Trust or John Cranko Trust). You negotiate fees for a stager/repetiteur to come and oversee the teaching of the repertory, and check-ins to make sure that rehearsals are going well, the style is being adhered to, and that the intentions of the choreography is correct, as the original choreographer intended. The license also covers costume details (are you making your own according to the style? Buying or renting from someone else?), staging requirements (tech, music, sets, lighting etc), how many performances, and with what types of credits.

Many of the Bolshoi/Mariinsky licenses to perform ballets by foreign choreographers have expired/are expiring. Western arts organizations are mostly not renewing them given the circumstances. Therefore BT/MT no longer have the rights to program those ballets and cannot do so without a high probability of facing legal ramifications.

For example, The Bolshoi no longer can perform their semi-recent premiere, Orlando by Christopher Spuck, these rights expired in March 2024. Similarly, their contract for Jewels is up as well as Nureyev created by Possokhov-Serebrennikov. Mariinsky's Jewels is said to expire in 2025. You can read more details here.

[nevui-penim-miruvorrr]

Why is Rostislav Kolpakov so Beautiful i'm cryinggg

Rosti as Herbert von krolock and Graf Von Krolock in Bal Vampirov

[vintage-russia]

Russian actress V.Istomina as Vasilisa Melentyevna in the play of the same name,Saint Petersburg

[regina-del-mare]

Ivan Mozzhukhin in "Queen of Spades"

[thefugitivesaint]

Sergei Lodygin (1893-1961),''Театр и искусство'' (Theater and Art), #52, 1916 Постановка а а ьердслзй или режиссеръ безъгоиовы “шуточиая фантаэія" (<---my inadequate translation is something like, "A production or a director without a head, humorous fantasy") Source

[laferelady]

Anne of Austria & brilliants/pendants

[monkeyssalad-blog]

B-24M Mad Russian by TK622 Via Flickr: B-24M S/N 44-41846 of the 65th Bomb Squad, 43rd Bomb Group, 5th Air Force. The Mad Russian artwork was commissioned by Pilot and later the Squadron's Operations Officer 1/Lt Andrew Burochonock, a New Yorker with Russian roots, who went by that nickname himself. The artwork was designed by S/Sgt Sarkis E. Bartigan and painted Sgt Enoch H. Wingert. The aircraft was assigned to the 65th BS on 20 January 1945. It survived the war and returned to the US in November 1945. Eventually scrapped at RFC Kingman, Arizona. Photo taken on Ie Shima, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan in October 1945.

[huariqueje]

Chinese Theater - Alexander Evgenievich Yakovlev

Russian , 1887-1938

Watercolor and gouache on paper , 21.3 x 34 cm. 8 3/8 x 13 3/8 in.