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14 October 1898

The Moscow Art Theatre opened

This year Moscow Art Theatre celebrates its 120th anniversary. Since the theatre was established it brought together many people of art - actors, directors, artists, composers. Despite the fact that it once has been “split” in two parts, its connecting function Moscow Art Theatre performed in many periods of its existence. Recently, it was especially noticeable during the period of Oleg Tabakov's artistic leadership... The very first performance was “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich” by Alexei Tolstoy; a joint production of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. It began with words that seemed prophetic to its creators: “I hope for this affair very much!” The eponymous part was played by 24-year-old Ivan Moskvin, who became famous after more than a successful premiere. Tsarina Irina was played by 30-year-old Olga Knipper. By the way, almost a year later it was at this performance that her future husband, the writer Anton Chekhov, saw her for the first time and immediately fell in love with her.

Other dates

  •
    16 January 1934
    85 years ago

  • Mikhail Bulgakov read his play “Zoyka’s Apartment” to Vakhtangov Theatre company
    11 January 1926
    93 years ago

    Mikhail Bulgakov read his play “Zoyka’s Apartment” to Vakhtangov Theatre company

    It was there that a comedy was ordered to the playwright, and in September 1925, Bulgakov received his royalties for it...
  • Valentina Sperantova died
    7 January 1978
    41 year ago

    Valentina Sperantova died

    All her life she worked for youth theatres: first for State Youth Theatre, then for Central Children's Theatre. In her youth, she played parts of boys...
  • Tatyana Shmyga was born
    31 December 1928
    91 year ago

    Tatyana Shmyga was born

    Her father was a deputy director of a large factory in Moscow. The family loved theatre and ballroom dancing, and the daughter attended piano classes at music school...
  •
    24 December 1948
    71 year ago

  •
    19 December 1933
    86 years ago

  • Premiere "The Lower Depths" at Moscow Art Theatre
    18 December 1902
    117 years ago

    Premiere "The Lower Depths" at Moscow Art Theatre

    Maxim Gorky finished his play in early 1902. It first was staged at Art Theatre, and only then, in 1903, was released in print. The production was staged by Konstantin Stanislavsky...
  • Leonid Bronevoy was born
    17 December 1928
    91 year ago

    Leonid Bronevoy was born

    He was born in Kiev, lived in Khreschatyk. In his childhood, he learned to play violin at a music school under the conservatory of music...
  • Mikhail Zharov died
    15 December 1981
    38 years ago

    Mikhail Zharov died

    The 82-year-old actor died of peritonitis in hospital, at home he had left a note on his desk: "Do not touch anything, I will be back soon..."
  • Michael Tsarev died
    10 November 1987
    32 years ago

    Michael Tsarev died

    The actor lived a long life - 83 years. In the 30s, he played Chatsky and Arman Duvall in Meyerhold’s productions...
  •
    23 October 1973
    46 years ago

  • Evgeny Evstigneyev was born
    9 October 1926
    93 years ago

    Evgeny Evstigneyev was born

    he future artist was born in Nizhny Novgorod, his father was a metallurgist, and his mother was a milling machine operator...
  •
    21 September 1868
    151 year ago

  •
    15 September 1904
    115 years ago

  • Sulamith Messerer was born
    27 August 1908
    111 years ago

    Sulamith Messerer was born

    A Bolshoi Theatre star and ballet instructor, a two-time USSR swimming champion.
  • The birth of Prov Sadovsky
    9 August 1874
    145 years ago

    The birth of Prov Sadovsky

    The boy was named after his grandfather, a distinguished actor of the Maly Theatre, where Prov’s father and mother also performed...
  • The death of Zinaida Sharko
    4 August 2016
    3 years ago

    The death of Zinaida Sharko

    Sharko called her work at the BDT under Georgy Tovstonogov thirty-three years of happiness.
  • The birth of Maris Liepa
    27 July 1936
    83 years ago

    The birth of Maris Liepa

    The future dancer was born in the capital of Latvia. His father was a singer in his youth and then, when he lost his voice, he began working as a stage master at the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Riga...
  • The premiere of the concert play “The Seagull”
    20 July 1944
    75 years ago

    The premiere of the concert play “The Seagull”

    The production was created for the 40th anniversary of the death of Anton Chekhov. Nina Zarechnaya was played by Alisa Koonen...
  • The birth of Vera Maretskaya
    18 July 1906
    113 years ago

    The birth of Vera Maretskaya

    She was born in Barvikha but grew up in Moscow, where, starting in 1912, her father began renting a concession stand at the Nikitin Brothers Circus that used to occupy the location of the current Satire Theatre...
  • The death of Rostislav Plyatt
    30 June 1989
    30 years ago

    The death of Rostislav Plyatt

    Plyatt’s colleague Sergei Yurski called this actor’s talent voluminous and all-encompassing: a comic, and a neurotic, a romantic, and a tragedian...
  • The premiere of the production “D.E.”
    15 June 1924
    95 years ago

    The premiere of the production “D.E.”

    Ilya Ehrenburg’s fantasy novel “Trust D.E. History of the Death of Europe,” published in the summer of 1923, became the basis of this production...
  • “War and Peace”
    12 June 1946
    73 years ago

    “War and Peace”

    World premiere of Sergei Prokofiev’s opera “War and Peace” at the Leningrad Maly Opera Theatre.
  • The birth of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya
    26 May 1938
    81 year ago

    The birth of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya

    She spoke about things that were simply not talked about from stage in Soviet times: about illnesses, alcoholism, poverty, loneliness...
  • Elina Bystritskaya was born
    4 April 1928
    91 year ago

    Elina Bystritskaya was born

    The future actress was born in Kiev, in the family of a military infectious disease doctor. Parents dreamed that their daughter would also be a doctor.
  • Alexander Zbruev was born
    31 March 1938
    81 year ago

    Alexander Zbruev was born

    The actor was born in a dramatic time for his family - his father, Deputy People's Commissar for Communications of the USSR was arrested few months prior to the birth of his son.
  • Rudolf Nuriev was born
    17 March 1938
    81 year ago

    Rudolf Nuriev was born

    He was born on a train traveling through Irkutsk to Vladivostok. Such a beginning of life, as it were, predicted the importance of a long way in Nuriyev’s destiny.
  • The premiere of the play “Woe to Mind” at Meyerhold Theatre
    12 March 1928
    91 year ago

    The premiere of the play “Woe to Mind” at Meyerhold Theatre

    In his production, Vsevolod Meyerhold introduced inserts from its original versions into the text of Alexander Griboyedov's play.
  • Mikhail Bulgakov completed his novel “Moliere”
    5 March 1933
    86 years ago

    Mikhail Bulgakov completed his novel “Moliere”

    This book was ordered to the writer for the series “The Life of Remarkable People” in the summer of 1932.
  • “Swan Lake” premiere at Mariinsky Theatre
    15 January 1895
    124 years ago

    “Swan Lake” premiere at Mariinsky Theatre

    This was the first successful staging of the legendary work of Pyotr Tchaikovsky
  • Director Nikolai Okhlopkov died
    8 January 1967
    52 years ago

    Director Nikolai Okhlopkov died

    Over the last 20 years of his life, he headed Mayakovsky Theatre
  • Eugene Schwartz began to write “The Ordinary Miracle”
    10 December 1944
    75 years ago

    Eugene Schwartz began to write “The Ordinary Miracle”

    The work lasted for 10 years
  • Ballerina Mathilda Kschessinskaya died in Paris
    6 December 1971
    48 years ago

    Ballerina Mathilda Kschessinskaya died in Paris

    The legendary prima of the Mariinsky Theatre died just a few months short of her 100th birthday
  • The birthday of the 3rd studio of the Moscow Art Theatre
    13 November 1921
    98 years ago

    The birthday of the 3rd studio of the Moscow Art Theatre

    The birthday of the 3rd studio of the Moscow Art Theatre, later renamed as Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre
  • “Pieretta’s Wedding Veil” at the Free Theatre
    4 November 1913
    106 years ago

    “Pieretta’s Wedding Veil” at the Free Theatre

    The premiere of “Pieretta’s Wedding Veil” at the Free Theatre. In 1913, Alice Koonen left the Art Theatre for the Free Theatre, founded by Konstantin Mardzhanov...
  • Alexandra Yablochkina was born
    3 November 1866
    153 years ago

    Alexandra Yablochkina was born

    Her parents were actors Alexander and Seraphima Yablochkina. At the age of six, the girl played on the stage for the first time in a play staged by her father's friend.
  • Nikolai Khmelyov died
    1 November 1945
    74 years ago

    Nikolai Khmelyov died

    Khmelyov suffered paralysis, and then cardiac arrest in Moscow Art Theatre, during the dress rehearsal of the play “Hard Days” where he played Ivan the Terrible.
  • The premiere of the “The Lower Depths”
    12 October 1987
    32 years ago

    The premiere of the “The Lower Depths”

    This was the last play staged by Georgy Tovstonogov at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre with Alisa Freindlich, Oleg Basilashvili, Evgeny Lebedev, Kirill Lavrov, Vladislav Strzhelchik...
  • Alexander Ostrovsky wrote “The Storm”
    9 October 1859
    160 years ago

    Alexander Ostrovsky wrote “The Storm”

    The prototype of the main character became the actress Lyubov Kositskaya, towards who Ostrovsky himself felt the affection
  • Oleg Yefremov was born
    1 October 1927
    92 years ago

    Oleg Yefremov was born

    He was born in Moscow, grew up in a communal apartment in the Arbat. Together with his cousin, the boy constantly played theatre, was cutting out paper dolls and decorations.
  • “The Minor” comedy was shown
    24 September 1782
    237 years ago

    “The Minor” comedy was shown

    “The Minor” comedy was shown for the first time on the stage of the Free Russian Theatre
  •
    30 August 1756
    263 years ago

  •
    16 July 1992
    27 years ago

  •
    10 June 1972
    47 years ago

  •
    25 May 1985
    34 years ago

  •
    21 May 1842
    177 years ago

  •
    15 May 1925
    94 years ago

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