Fellini and Maybe: Lenkom has assembled the entire troupe in a new production

Seeing the rehearsal of the play is the dream of many viewers. At the end of the year, the Lenkom Theater gave its fans just such a gift. There are 126 people in the production: the entire troupe and about 20 invited musicians. National, honored and very young artists appeared on the same stage in Vladimir Pankov's first performance as artistic director, Orchestra Rehearsal. The play is based on the film of the same name by Federico Fellini and the creative biography of Mark Zakharov. Many artists agree that this project is a kind of litmus test. What exactly she should show is in the Izvestia material.

A symphony of people

It is difficult to find a more appreciative material to declare yourself as the new artistic director of a theater with a century-old history. The play is based on Federico Fellini's Italian pseudo—documentary late masterpiece Orchestra Rehearsal (1978), a portrait of an orchestral rehearsal where musicians become not just objects of observation, but a metaphor for society — with its conflicts, ambitions, disagreements and attempts to find harmony.

It's no secret that after Mark Zakharov's death, the theater found itself in a state of natural turbulence for such a moment. Having lost its leader, the renowned Lenkom orchestra has largely lost its former integrity. That is why the theatrical community places special expectations on Vladimir Pankov, who is well known to the public from his work at the Center for Drama and Directing.

Directed by Vladimir Pankov

Photo: press service of the Lenkom Mark Zakharov Theater

Pankov emphasizes that the performance is only remotely related to the film. First of all, this is the form that most accurately describes the current reality of Lenkom. 126 people are employed in the production. Of course, there are fewer on stage at one time: there are two compositions. But this very sight makes a strong impression.

Assuming the position of artistic director, Pankov could have chosen a safe path: a classic drama, a musical, a proven format. According to actor Ivan Agapov, up to this point, not all the participants in the process were even familiar with each other.

— Artists of all generations are employed here — and very young ones. But the main thing is that they all appear on stage at the same time. Try to release more than ten people in any theater today — disputes will begin, division into groups, as once in the Moscow Art Theater. And here, in an amazing way, everyone coexists peacefully. Moreover, they look into each other's eyes, know and recognize each other, and finally get to know each other. And this applies not only to the artists, but also to the orchestra and the staff — everyone who works in the theater. Now everyone knows each other by their first names and patronymics," Agapov said.

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Bullfighter-pianist and "crazy" flutist

There are dozens of chairs and music stands on the stage. Above them are minimalistic decorations of strict geometric shapes, imitating the arches of an ancient church, in which, in fact, the orchestra is rehearsing.

Actress Anna Yakunina

Photo: press service of the Lenkom Mark Zakharov Theater

As in the film, in the play each character gets a solo part in an interview with a TV journalist (Ivan Agapov), who came with a cameraman to film the rehearsal. The camera actually works live and transmits the image to two screens on the stage, stylized as lamp TVs. Attention is focused on the orchestras: each proudly talks about his instrument, about his sound — and gradually the ensemble turns from a well-coordinated team into a field of contradictions.

Here is Anna Yakunina (as Olesya Zheleznyak), an imposing woman with exaggeratedly voluptuous forms, passionately throwing herself at the piano like a bullfighter at an angry bull. She's a tamer, hitting the keys with Rachmaninoff power. Next to him is Maxim Averin's narcissistic and arrogant first violin (played by Sergei Piotrovsky). If the conductor leads the orchestra down the wrong path, who better than the first violin will take the lead. The violinists here are diverse: the tremulous Elena Stepanova, the wise Lyubov Matyushina, the shy Anastasia Marchuk, and even the drinking Anna Bolshova, who sings beautifully in several vocal numbers.

There is also a "slightly crazy" flautist Tatiana Kravchenko. When she appears, the musicians rush in all directions, someone literally climbs the wall out of fear. But behind the image of Grom baba, with a Rostov accent and a California education, there is a subtle, vulnerable soul — almost like a flute, with which she identifies herself.

Or Andrei Leonov's first clarinet, which can't figure out where it belongs — not only in the orchestra, but also in life.

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A litmus test for the troupe

For almost two hours, the performance goes on without intermission, the musicians are on their own. They flaunt their position in the orchestra in front of the journalist, discuss everyday problems: former lovers, alcohol, frozen feet, union strikes. Everything changes with the appearance of the conductor Dmitry Pevtsov (in the double — Alexey Sokolov and Igor Mirkurbanov).

— One of the key thoughts of the play is that without love it is impossible to do even good things — in music and in art in general. When love goes away, the breath and the reverent attitude disappear. Then nothing happens. I'm playing a conductor who's lost that love. He's pining for her, looking for her. And yet, it seems to me that by the end of the play, love appears, even if only as hope," Dmitry Pevtsov noted.

Photo: press service of the Lenkom Mark Zakharov Theater

According to him, he did not know in advance that he would play the conductor. And Alexey Sokolov even watched Valery Gergiev's rehearsals in order to learn the style.

Another conductor is invisibly present in the performance — the former head of the orchestra. The transcriber of the notes performed by Alexander Sirin speaks about him breathlessly (Alexander Zbruev will play this role when he recovers from his illness). The audience easily understands: we are talking about Mark Zakharov. They wore ties with him, held their backs, and he could tap his fingers with a baton, and everyone was just waiting for this gesture. The era has passed. Now the new conductor has to tame the orchestra and not lose his love for art.

According to Pevtsov, the performance will be a serious test for the troupe, a kind of litmus test.

— There are actors who play roles. And there are those who play performances. Those who want to play only roles are unlikely to fit into the new life of the theater," he believes.

Photo: press service of the Lenkom Mark Zakharov Theater

And yet "Orchestra Rehearsal" is not an attempt to copy Fellini or Zakharov. This is a conversation with the heritage, a rethinking of the relationships within the team, the relationship to the theater, to art, to the common cause. The conversation is passionate, noisy, musical and vibrant.

In the words of the youngest participant in the play, Pankov asks the audience the question: "Where does the music disappear when it stops playing?" — and suddenly he shows a possible future: a robot conductor who goes on stage alone and, waving a wand, callously distributes commands to the orchestra. It's another matter who will be in the audience at the same time — maybe robots too.