The Russian Lesson

“Shagom Marsch”

The first rehearsal in the opera house on November 10 brought all of the supers together for the first time. Following a last-minute audition for more bodies to fill out the ranks we were divided up into four regiments (Grenadiers, Izmailovskys, Chasseurs, and Cossacks) of what will eventually be about 40 people each. When Irkin Gabitov, a stage director from St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre and an assistant director for this production, took over the rehearsal, it was like the first day in a Russian boot camp—at times exciting and at others humiliating. “Kru-gum!” Gabitov barked right off the bat, but only to be faced with a hundred blank stares. He frowns. Undeterred, he says again, but louder and more emphatically (obviously we are hard of hearing, otherwise we would have gotten it right), “Kru-gum!” and he snaps into a sharply executed about face. “Kru-gum!” and again and he was facing us with that stern look but with a hint of a smile. We got it, “Krugum!” and we all snap around more or less together. So far, so good. With “Shagom Marsch!” We are off marching about the large rehearsal room in our separate regiments. Over the next few hours, our Russian language skills, and our hearing, improved somewhat:
“Rav-nais!” (eyes left)
“Smirno!” (eyes right, and always sounding to me like “Smirnoff!”—sadly, it has nothing to do with vodka)
“Na pravo!” (right turn)
“Na levo!” (left turn)
“Na mesto!” (march in place)

The second rehearsal on the 14th of November picked up where we had left off the weekend before. At this rehearsal there were also 12 members of the Met Ballet who play the officers and flag-carriers for each regiment. Since they’ll be leading each group, hopes are high that we’ll have someone to follow. “Shagom Marsch,” and we are off around the room. All goes well until it is time to stop: “Stoy ras da!” (“Stop, right left”) and we come to a halt, eventually. Big frown from Gabitov, then in broken but very clear English he says: “Stop!, two steps, one, two.” We all try it again, and again. Almost perfect, but then when you don’t stop on time you get the look. Finally, he says “Five dollars.” I think to myself, “Huh?” As he walks off he says, ”Every mistake—five dollars.”

This entry was posted by Charles Sheek on Friday, November 23rd, 2007 at 9:22 am and is filed under 2007–08 Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.