The sale of tickets for the ballet "The Nutcracker" at auction may lead to the loss of the understanding audience of the Bolshoi Theater (GABT). This opinion was expressed by theater critic, rector of the Russian Institute of Theater Arts (GITIS) Grigory Zaslavsky.
He is sure that the production should be accessible not only to wealthy viewers, but also to those who can appreciate its artistic component.
"The production should be accessible not only to the richest viewers who are ready to play the auction and win it, but also to those who have the ability to appreciate its artistic component. It is very important that the Bolshoi Theater does not lose an audience capable of distinguishing good from bad. Sometimes financial and expert opportunities diverge," TASS quotes the rector of the university.
Zaslavsky believes that paintings, sculptures, objects of decorative and applied art can be exhibited at the auction, but not tickets for theatrical productions.
"Keeping the possibility of purchasing tickets for The Nutcracker on the Pushkin Map would personally reconcile me with such a decision of the Bolshoi Theater. Because the Bolshoi Theater is not a private shop, it is the state theater of Russia, which has a separate line in the budget of the Russian Federation, which corresponds to the position and status of the main theater of the country," he stressed.
In addition, the existence of a Large One on taxpayers' money imposes substantial and organizational functions on the theater.
"No one has canceled the social function of the theater. It is very important that not only representatives of the royal family, but also students went to the Bolshoi and Maly Theaters, as well as to other imperial theaters. The fame of the great artists of the Maly Theater, who periodically played at the Bolshoi venues, was made up of success and authority, first of all, among the student audience," the critic recalled.
Zaslavsky expressed the hope that "the secular nature of The Nutcracker ballet will not destroy the artistic significance of this New Year's tale."
As EADaily reported, earlier the Bolshoi Theater, which had been tormenting fans for an unusually long time in anticipation of the New Year's "Nutcrackers" poster, announced that tickets for this ballet would not be sold at the theater box office.
In total, 18 performances of the fairy-tale ballet on the historical stage were announced in December, the poster of the January Nutcrackers has not yet been revealed. The start of sales is announced on December 2 — on this day tickets for the performance on December 17 will be sold online, then similarly: the last day of sales is December 14 for the ballet on December 31.
"Some of the tickets will be available for purchase at auction," Bolshoy was also pleased.
None of the announcements disclose the approximate prices of tickets that will be sold both on the theater's website and as part of the auction, however, in the video with instructions for bidders, you can see that the price of the lot — a set of two tickets to the stalls — starts from 100 thousand rubles.
The auction was invented "due to the enormous popularity of The Nutcracker ballet."