Musical Comedy Theater (Kharkov): history, address and repertoire

Kharkiv Musical Comedy Theater is one of the most famous cultural institutions of the second largest city in Ukraine.

Base

In 1929, the government of the Ukrainian Soviet Union issued a decree on the creation in Kharkov of the Ukrainian State Musical Comedy Theater.

The troupe was based on the pupils of the famous director Les Kurbas Boris Balaban, Bogdan Kryzhanovsky and Januarius Bortnik. It was these actors who laid the traditions of the operetta in Kharkov.

The first director of the theater was Boris Balaban, who created the premiere performance based on the plot and music "Orpheus in Hell" by Jacques Offenbach. A new libretto was written by Ostap Cherry, and the composers A. Ryabov and Yu. Meitus supplemented him with new dance numbers and melodies. Design for the performance was created by artists S. Ioffe, P. Pogorely, A. Scheglov, N. Petrenko and B. Chernyshov.

The festival on the occasion of the opening of the theater and the premiere of the operetta "Orpheus in the Heat" was held on November 1, 1929.

History of the theater before WWII

In the 1930s, the Musical Comedy Theater (Kharkov) was engaged in "modernizing" classical pieces, such as Zaporozhets for the Danube, Roz-Mari, etc., introducing the traditional operetta repertoire (Kalman, Legar, Strauss, etc.) to the viewer. , As well as the creation of entirely new performances.

A real blow for the theater was a governmental decree to deprive Les Kurbas of the title of People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. In addition, all his disciples were removed from leading posts, and a "struggle against formalism" began.

Formation of the repertoire

After the removal of Les Kurbas, the chief director of the musical comedy was Mikhail Awakh, who, among other things, had to fight bourgeois nationalism.

Contrary to the expectations of the powers that be, he began his work as head of the theater with the productions of the "neo-classical classics". Awash produced performances "Silva", "Maritsa", "Merry Widow" and "Bayadere". He attracted his more experienced colleagues D. Giusto and V. Rapoport to work.

The collaboration of Avach with the chief conductor of musical comedy by composer Alexei Ryabov was fruitful. In 1935, they began to work on a performance based on the Sorochinskaya Fair, in which Gogol himself was brought to the stage as a character. The performance was a huge success and forever entered the history of Ukrainian theatrical art.

Another loud success awaited the Musical Comedy Theater (Kharkov) in 1937, when the audience was introduced to the production of the May Night.

However, the real triumph was the premiere of the performance "Wedding in Malinovka", which for more than 70 years has not left the scenes of musical theaters throughout the Soviet Union.

During the war

Shortly before the occupation of the city, the Musical Comedy Theater (Kharkov) was evacuated to Central Asia. Thanks to the dedication of Lesya Ivashutich, Isaac Radomyssky, Semyon Ioffe, Naum Sobol, Savva Solyashchansky and other members of the troupe, he continued to give presentations to refugees and military in cures in hospitals.

In Uzbekistan, based on local folklore, the performance "Khoja Nasreddin" was created. The theater performed in Bukhara, Ashkhabad, Termez, Fergana and in Frunze. However, the most fruitful were the tours in Samarkand, where they were visited by about 100 thousand spectators. Despite this, the collective eagerly awaited return to their native city. And it was triumphal!

After the war

In the 1950s, performances were staged "The Daughter of the Field Marshal", "The Maiden Trouble" "Viy", "May Night", "Sorochin Fair", "Swatland at Goncharivtsi", etc.

The premiere of V. Mayakovsky's comedy "Klop" to the music of G. Yudin thundered throughout the Soviet Union, and the theater of musical comedy (Kharkov) became famous in 1964.

Of great interest was the production of the musical "Raymond Pauls" "Sister Carrie", which was directed by Alexander Barseghyan in the early 80's. Critics noted the innovation of the play, in which for the first time in the "frivolous" genre there were tragic features.

Among the unconditional achievements of the theater of the 8090's are the productions "Rhythm-ballet", "Bambi", "Juno" and "Avos", "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Monarch, harlot and monk", etc.

Repertoire of the Musical Comedy Theater (Kharkov) in the 21st century

The beginning of the new millennium was marked by the production of the cult musical "My Fair Lady" directed by Arkady Klein. He also breathed new life into the comedy of the Sorochinsk Fairs by A. Ryabov, returning it to the repertoire of the collective for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Gogol.

The Kharkov public enthusiastically met performances in the format of gala concerts "Vivat, Kalman!" And "All secrets of the operetta", as well as a children's revue "Visiting a Tale" by Alexander Drachev.

The Musical Comedy Theater (Kharkov), whose playbill always attracts interest from operetta fans, is proud of its talented lead singer-songwriters Inga Vasilieva, Natalia Koval, Tatiana Gypsy, Eleonora Djulik, Alexei Andrenko, Irina Potolova and many others.

To date, viewers are invited to watch performances with their participation:

• "Merry Widow";
• "Beautiful Galatea";
• "The Mystery of Juan's House";
• "The tricks of the khanum";
• "Adventurers";
• "Matchmaking on Goncharovka";
• "The Princess of the Circus", etc.

Musical Comedy Theater (Kharkov): address

To see the operettas and musicals, the list of which is presented above, you should buy tickets at the ticket office of the institution. It is located in the building of the theater, located at Blagoveshchenskaya Street (formerly Karl Marx), 32. You can get there, for example, by metro, after reaching the station at Privokzalnaya Square.

Now you know what is known and where the theater of musical comedy (Kharkov) is located. Tickets for his premieres are recommended to be ordered in advance, as in such cases there is always a sold-out.