“Nureyev” Finally Opens At Bolshoi
Roslyn Sulcas writes: ‘“A country that does not value its heroes is such a shame.†That’s a line spoken late in the Bolshoi Ballet’s “Nureyev,†the much anticipated, gossiped about, postponed and rescheduled new ballet about the great Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev that opened at the Bolshoi Theater amid intense speculation and rumor here on Saturday. Crowds thronged around security guards zealously manning the entrances. Sequins and blingy jewelry, supernova heels and pouty lips made their way into the Bolshoi’s gold and red interior. A who’s who of Muscovite society, including Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitri Peskov, and the film
producer Alexander Rodnyansky (“Leviathanâ€), turned up. So did Sergei Filin, the former Bolshoi Ballet director who was the 2013 victim of an acid attack, his severely injured eyes covered by dark glasses. One man was notably absent: Kirill Serebrennikov, the production’s director, who has been under house arrest since Aug. 22, on suspicion of embezzling more than $1 million in government funds through the Gogol Center, the progressive theater he runs.’
