“Vysotsky. Birth of a Legend”

On 25 January 2019, Vladimir Vysotsky’s birthday, the Kremlin Palace will host a performance “Vysotsky. Birth of a Legend” directed by Sergey Bezrukov. The play is based on the memoirs of Vysotsky’s contemporaries, some little known facts from his life, excerpts from letters and diaries. The authors of the performance are far from the idea of presenting a theatrical biopic on Vladimir Vysotsky’s life. They are attempting to answer the question: How is a legend born?

“This performance is a tribute to the memory of Vladimir Vysotsky and his confessional work,” explains the Director of the play, Sergey Bezrukov, “These may sound pretentious, but he is a real legend now. My and older generation grew up listening to his songs. In my childhood, everyone has his records at home. If felt kind of weird if somebody did not know or love Vysotsky. A lot of things depend on us, whether our children remember him, as well as those who come later. Most people who sing Vysotsky’s songs in our play represent a later generation. They are young people, who were born after Vysotsky’s death and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. For, me it is important that they should feel Vysotsky’s songs: his amazing sincerity, the energy and emotional intensity in his songs and poems”.

The role of Vysotsky in the performance is not assigned to a specific actor. His image is played on the stage through the stories of his life, confessional poems and songs. Vysotsky’s famous tweed cap, guitar and cigarette have become the attributes that are passed from actor to actor, who seem to try his image on.

Like in the case of many other poets, Vysotsky’s biography is written in his songs and poems. Performed by the actors of Moscow Regional Governor’s Theater, the spectators will listen to the most famous songs, which tell about the notable periods of his life: “I don’t like it when...”, “My gypsy song”, “Love Ballad”, “My Black Man”, “Lyrical”, “I carried my trouble”, “07”, “Fastidious Horses”, “On Bolshoi Karetny Street” and many others. Vysotsky’s songs will be performed in the play using different genres: from classical bard performance with a guitar and orchestral arrangements in the style of 1970s to a brand-new rock style performance.

“Singing his songs is not easy, because the author’s performance is terrific, – says Bezrukov. – The most important thing is to live his songs, because Vladimir Vysotsky was an artist. He did not just sing them – he lived them. In the same manner, you cannot merely recite his poetry. The poet’s monologue is extremely confessional, sometimes explosive. I think, his songs will sound new in our performance. In the end, several of his songs will be performed in a rock style. It was very important for me to have Vysotsky sound as if he were our contemporary. That is where his greatness is. His songs are always contemporary”.

Director – Sergey Bezrukov
Assistant Musical Director - Svetlana Medvedeva
Assistant Director - Evgeny Gomonoy 
Script Writer – Andrey Schetkin
Lighting Designers – Taras Mikhalevsky, Lora Maksimova
Choreographer – Anna Gilunova

Actors:
Sergey Bezrukov, Karina Andolenko, Alexander Tyutin, Dmitry Kartashov, Sergey Vershinin, Anton Sokolov, Vera Shpak, Mikhail Shilov, Elena Doronina, Andrey Isaenkov, Stepan Kulikov, Sergey Kunitsky, Yulia Pilipovich, Andrey Soroka, Alexander Frolov, Gregory Firsov, Natalia Shklyaruk, Victor Shutov, Alexander Belyaev.

Moscow Region Governor’s Orchestra.
Chief Conductor – Sergey Paschenko.

The play was created with the participation of Vysotsky’s House on Taganka.
Duration: 4 hours (with one intermission).