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Mikhailovsky Theater is one of the oldest theaters in St. Petersburg. Located in the Arts Square, in the very heart of the city, it is one of the three Imperial Theaters along with Mariinsky and Alexandrinsky. Today Mikhailovsky Theater is getting a new lease on life and having a worldwide repute for its stage productions.
The Theater Building
The historic theater building was designed by architect Alexander Brullov, the brother of the famous Russian painter. Inside the theater, the visitors cannot help but admiring abundant gilding, luxurious velvet armchairs, numerous mirrors, and the stage, of course.
Named after Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, the Mikhailovsky Theater was a chamber stage at the Mikhailovsky Palace and was often attended by the imperial family and foreign guests of the royal couple.
History of the Mikhailovsky Theater
Before the revolution, the Mikhailovsky Theater did not have its own troupe, but had regular performances anyway. Theatrical companies invited from France and Germany constantly performed here, whereas the troupe of the Imperial Theaters did not stage their own performances very often at the Mikhailovsky Theater.
The theater got its own acting troupe not before 1918. It was with this troupe that the then leader Samuel Samosud staged the operas The Nose and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Dmitry Shostakovich and the innovative Queen of Spades by Vsevolod Meyerhold. After the Great Patriotic War, Sergei Prokofiev’s War and Peace was first staged here.
Performances at the Mikhailovsky Theater were often held under the conductorship of Johann Strauss himself. At different times Matilda Kshesinskaya, Tamara Karsavina, and Fedor Chaliapin appeared on stage here, and Sarah Bernhardr with her team toured here. Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and other great Petersburg dwellers frequented the performances.
The Mikhailovsky Theater Today
Nowadays the troupe, which has gained rich experience from such leaders as Farukh Ruzimatov, Nacho Duato, Elena Obraztsova and Vasily Barkhatov within just a few years, is the strongest team that can handle any performance.
At the theater there is the Mikhailovsky Friends Club, which can be joined by anyone. Here you can learn interesting things from the history of the Mikhailovsky Theater and go behind the theater’s scenes.
Where: the Mikhailovsky Theater at the address 1, Arts Square, next to Gostiny Dvor metro station, Saint Petersburg.
Official site of the Mikhailovsky Theater
The Best Russian Opera and Ballet Theaters
Author: Vera Ivanova
