America has given the world McDonald’s and musicals, among other things. But unlike crispy chicken nuggets, extravagant music shows awash with special effects don’t sell that well in Russia, where Hollywood musicals have been around for a decade.
Beauty and the Beast, Zorro, Cats, Mamma Mia, to name just a few… Although blockbuster shows are well adapted to the Russian stage with lavish costumes and stunning sets, they are not on friendly terms with the country’s traditional repertory theater system.
The world’s most successful Broadway practice suggests staging a performance each day of the week, with up to eight shows a week, for the investment to pay off and profit to be made.
This enables Americans, notorious for their penchant for fast money and fast food, to create lucrative productions that bring big bucks and large audiences for a certain amount of time.
According to Dmitry Bogachev, head of the Stage Entertainment company in Russia, whose Beauty and the Beast sold 300,000 tickets over 5 months, it takes just 20 weeks for a $5-million musical to pay off, with 34 shows a month and 80-90 percent of tickets sold.
The Sound of Music (photo by RIA Novosti / Grigory Susoev)
However, theater bosses in Russia are trying to sit on two chairs at once, often wasting the little money – and energy – they have, on outdated performances, some of which can weigh down on the theater’s repertoire for thirty years. To make a profit, many have to rent out theaters to independent impresarios, who are often looking for a venue to stage a Hollywood musical.
The creator of the first Russian rock opera Orpheus and Eurydice, who has worked in America, believes Russians “haven’t mastered musicals yet.”
“But we will. Like we did with ATMs, computers and the stock exchange,” Aleksandr Zhurbin says. “Americans have been creating musicals for 120 years, that’s their national treasure,” the Russian composer added.
With musicals playing in Russia for just 10 years, it’s not surprising that they haven’t yet found their place under the rare Russian sun.
But after the recent success of timeless Broadway classics The Producers and The Sound of Music in Russia, it seems the chances are that the public will be basking in the musical sunshine sooner or later.