Stills from the performance. Photo – video Pavel Onoiko.
Greek premiere of the legendary play “Leap into Freedom. The Story of Rudolf Nureyev” was held on Monday, February 19, at the theater of the Greek World cultural center (Θεάτρων Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ελληνικός Κόσμος). The Athens News did a report on this.
The play “Phenomenon” about the life of Rudolf Nureyev, which has more than a million spectators around the world, came to Athens as part of its pan-European tour, with the participation of leading soloists of the Czech National Ballet.
The performance was sold out. The large hall of the cultural center “Greek World” (Θεάτρων Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ελληνικός Κόσμος) with 1,500 seats was packed to capacity.
The main role of Rudolf Nureyev was played by actor Sergei Yankovsky. The performance is unique in its genre: Yankovsky’s acting skills of the highest level are incredibly intertwined with ballet numbers. There is subtle humor, and dance, and moments of complete silence, and anguish, and tears of happiness. Here is the entire spectrum of feelings that the human soul can accommodate in one evening! The main theme of this performance is the magnitude of the personality, which does not lose its dignity and strength even five minutes before death.
Since 2007, the performance has gained numerous enthusiastic spectators around the world. This is a story about a long creative journey, about the formation of a great artist, about the last appearance on stage of a super star.
Sergei Yankovsky brings back to life the greatest dancer of all time, Rudolf Nureyev, for two hours. The geniuses of the past and present clashed in this performance, giving the audience an amazing opportunity to learn the innermost secrets of the most elegant of arts – ballet.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
While watching the play, we witnessed the thorny path to fame, which began for Nureyev in a God-forsaken village near Irkutsk and culminated in the best theater stages in the world.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
We will see different Nureyevs: an inexperienced and young boy, a brilliant dancer of the Kirov Theater and a great artist whose popularity was compared to the popularity of the Beatles.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
His name never left the front pages of newspapers; he became the first Russian dancer to direct the national theater of France, the Grand Opera.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
The play “Leap to Freedom” is a story about the futility of wealth and fame in the face of death. At the dawn of his strength, the actor falls ill with a serious and incurable disease.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
I would like to note that, despite the not very well readable subtitles in Greek, which are difficult to convey a live voice, the Greek audience understood everything that the actor said in Russian, thanks to Yankovsky’s excellent stagecraft:
– I’m surprised at the places where there was humor, because humor is always more difficult to convey. And here are subtitles, and in many places there was a connection. That is, they laughed where they needed to.
– They were Russian-speaking [зрители]?
– No, not only. I know how to improve it further and it will be even better. But overall it’s very cool, I like the Greek audience.
“Even my jokes were accepted,” Sergei noted in an interview with Athens News. For this work, the performer was awarded a special prize “For performing the role of Rudolf Nureyev” at one of the largest festivals in Russia “Amur Autumn”.
Greek premiere of the legendary play “Leap into Freedom. The Story of Rudolf Nureyev” was held on Monday, February 19, at the theater of the Greek World cultural center (Θεάτρων Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ελληνικός Κόσμος). The Athens News did a report on this.
The play “Phenomenon” about the life of Rudolf Nureyev, which has more than a million spectators around the world, came to Athens as part of its pan-European tour, with the participation of leading soloists of the Czech National Ballet.
The performance was sold out. The large hall of the cultural center “Greek World” (Θεάτρων Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ελληνικός Κόσμος) with 1,500 seats was packed to capacity.
The main role of Rudolf Nureyev was played by actor Sergei Yankovsky. The performance is unique in its genre: Yankovsky’s acting skills of the highest level are incredibly intertwined with ballet numbers. There is subtle humor, and dance, and moments of complete silence, and anguish, and tears of happiness. Here is the entire spectrum of feelings that the human soul can accommodate in one evening! The main theme of this performance is the magnitude of the personality, which does not lose its dignity and strength even five minutes before death.
Since 2007, the performance has gained numerous enthusiastic spectators around the world. This is a story about a long creative journey, about the formation of a great artist, about the last appearance on stage of a super star.
Sergei Yankovsky brings back to life the greatest dancer of all time, Rudolf Nureyev, for two hours. The geniuses of the past and present clashed in this performance, giving the audience an amazing opportunity to learn the innermost secrets of the most elegant of arts – ballet.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
While watching the play, we witnessed the thorny path to fame, which began for Nureyev in a God-forsaken village near Irkutsk and culminated in the best theater stages in the world.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
We will see different Nureyevs: an inexperienced and young boy, a brilliant dancer of the Kirov Theater and a great artist whose popularity was compared to the popularity of the Beatles.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
His name never left the front pages of newspapers; he became the first Russian dancer to direct the national theater of France, the Grand Opera.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
The play “Leap to Freedom” is a story about the futility of wealth and fame in the face of death. At the dawn of his strength, the actor falls ill with a serious and incurable disease.
Stills from the performance. Photo by Pavel Onoiko.
I would like to note that, despite the not very well readable subtitles in Greek, which are difficult to convey a live voice, the Greek audience understood everything that the actor said in Russian, thanks to Yankovsky’s excellent stagecraft:
– I’m surprised at the places where there was humor, because humor is always more difficult to convey. And here are subtitles, and in many places there was a connection. That is, they laughed where they needed to.
– They were Russian-speaking [зрители]?
– No, not only. I know how to improve it further and it will be even better. But overall it’s very cool, I like the Greek audience.
“Even my jokes were accepted,” Sergei noted in an interview with Athens News. For this work, the performer was awarded a special prize “For performing the role of Rudolf Nureyev” at one of the largest festivals in Russia “Amur Autumn”.
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