AN EVENING AT THE OPERA
I read in one of the newspapers that a member of the American Commission in Berlin reasoned from the fact that the Germans were crowding to theatres and spectacles that they could not be hungry. There can be no question about the hunger of the people of Moscow, but the theatres are crowded, and there is such demand for seats that speculators acquire tickets in the legitimate way and sell them illicitly near the doors of the theatre to people who have not been able to get in, charging, of course, double the price or even more. Interest in the theatre, always keen in Moscow, seems to me to have rather increased than decreased. There is a School of Theatrical Production, with lectures on every subject connected with the stage, from stage carpentry upwards. A Theatrical Bulletin is published three times weekly, containing the programmes of all the theatres and occasional articles on theatrical subjects. I had been told in Stockholm that the Moscow theatres were closed. The following is an incomplete list of the plays and spectacles to be seen at various theatres on February 13 and February 14, copied from the Theatrical Bulletin of those dates. Just as it would be interesting to know what French audiences enjoyed at the time of the French revolution, so I think it worth while to record the character of the entertainments at present popular in Moscow.
Opera at the Great Theatre.—"Sadko" by Rimsky-Korsakov and "Samson and Delilah" by Saint-Saens.
Small State Theatre.—"Besheny Dengi" by Ostrovsky and
"Starik" by Gorky.
Moscow Art Theatre.— "The Cricket on the Hearth" by
Dickens and "The Death of Pazuchin" by Saltykov-Shtchedrin.
Opera. "Selo Stepantchiko" and "Coppellia."
People's Palace.—"Dubrovsky" by Napravnik and "Demon" by Rubinstein.
Zamoskvoretzky Theatre.—"Groza" by Ostrovsky and
"Meshitchane" by Gorky.
Popular Theatre.—" The Miracle of Saint, Anthony" by
Maeterlinck.
Komissarzhevskaya Theatre.—"A Christmas Carol" by
Dickens and "The Accursed Prince" by Remizov.