Chapter 4 the Russian Cabaret in Exile It Is Ironic That Cabaret, with Its Slyly Subversive Content and Connections to the Avant
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CHAPTER 4 121 Chapter 4 The Russian Cabaret In Exile It is ironic that cabaret, with its slyly subversive content and connections to the avant garde, would be considered to be a bourgeois institution by the new regime. Even though Anatolii LuncharskiFR8 was very supportive of avant garde experiments in theater; it was clear that by 1920, there was no place for variety theater in Russia- the tastes of Lenin and his Bolsheviks ran by turns- more traditional- Ostrovskii, Chekhov, Gorkii- or proletarian-the Blue Blouse289 and workers clubs. Cabaret was a vestige of the old empire and its actors and directors were out of place in the new Russia. In fact, Balieff and Jascha Juschny290 both recounted unpleasant meetings with Soviet officials which prompted their abrupt departure. They were not alone- many of the actors, writers, and artists who worked in the various cabarets ended up in the capitals of Europe. While some of them were well educated with a proficiency in another language, this was not the norm, presenting an almost insurmountable problem for actors and directors. Even the artists, ostensibly working in a "universal" form, lacked connections, name recognition, and negotiating skills to function in the West. Entrepreneurs, like Boris Romanoff and Alexei Nagomoff,291 (figs. 34, 35) were faced with difficult choices in trying to attract patrons to their cabarets, especially given the fact that their troupes were, by and large; Russian: they could focus on the burgeoning Russian populace in Europe and draw upon their Russian repertoire; they could also translate existing works; or they could utilize non-verbal forms- pantomime, expressive dance, living paintings, clowning, and acrobatics. The first option, Russian cabaret for an emigre audience, could only really be successful on a small scale; as with any displaced population, the problems of poverty, assimilation, and dispersal almost guaranteed a dwindling patronage. The second option provided its own challenges to success: it is very hard to induce people to see unfamiliar works with actors speaking heavily accented lines in any case (however, the notable exceptions were Stanislavskii's Moscow Art Theater Aleksandr Tairov's292 Kamemyi Theater) immensely successful tour of Europe and New York in 1922-1923, which was organized by Morris Gest, 293 the impresario who also brought Russian ballet companies to the West in the 1920s as well as Balieff's Chauve Souris). The third option- the variety show, was the most practical and popular option, allowing the cosmopolitan audiences of Europe and New York to enjoy the spectrum of genres provided by the cabaret. 122 EXPERIMENT Vol. 12 Juschny, who began his career on the stage in Odessa, and was the master of ceremonies at the Blaue Vogel in Moscow in the years immediately preceding the 1917 Revolution. Russian cabaret in Berlin was an interesting phenomenon: there was a large community of Russians who had fled the civil war and starvation which was a result of the political turmoil, but existence in Berlin was a tenuous situation for the Russians, most of whom had no permits to live in Germany or passports to travel to other countries. The German government was extremely nervous about having so many potential communist agitators mixing with the proletariat in an already restless country. So Juschny was careful to be very apolitical in his program; as Julius Meier-Graefe294 notes in his praise of Der Blaue Vogel, 295 During the whole evening in the "Blaue Vogel" not a single allusion to the condition of Russia! By the way not one slippery remark, not the slightest one! 296 Juschny, who was accustomed to the oversight of an authoritarian government, knew that in order to run his business he would have to censor himself in a way that no German cabaret was forced to do. However, even working under such restrictions, he was able to produce magnificent works and even surprise the jaded Berlin cosmopolitans. Oliver Sayler,297 who wrote several books devoted to early Soviet theater, wrote in his program notes for the Chauve Souris' New York season of 1922 The Chauve Souris . is Russian and at the same time it is universal.. It is amusing and at the same time it is charming and exhilarating. Its purely Russian numbers run the range from the quaintly sentimental ballades of Glinka and the aristocratic restraint of the Ballets Russes to the wild Romany abandon of gypsy melodies and the richly- flavored folk tunes and tales of the muzhik. Its borrowings from the musical and artistic treasure houses of other lands-all presented through a Russian prism-vary enough to include an exquisite Louis Quinze interpretation of "Sur le Pont d' Avignon" a hilarious burlesque on Italian grand opera, and a very up-to-date travesty on Man Homme, not to mention numerous other appropriations from history and literature and music, ancient and modem, occidental and oriental. Even though the source be as familiar as that of The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, (fig. 55) the material is treated with an originality and a perfection which make it novel and irresistible.298 .