The Red Poppy
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The Red Poppy (Russian: Красный мак or Russian: Красный цветок) is a ballet with music by Reinhold Glière and a scenario by Mikhail Kurilko.
This ballet was created in 1927 as the first Soviet ballet with a modern revolutionary theme.
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[edit] Versions
There have been three main versions:
- 1927 - Choreography by Lev Lashchilin (1st and 3rd Acts) and Vasily Tikhomirov (2nd Act). First performance on 14 June 1927 in the Bolshoi Theatre.
- 1949 - Choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky. Scenario was rewritten by Yermolayev. First performance on 30 December 1949 in the Bolshoi Theatre.
- 1957 - Choreography and scenario by Tikhomirov and Kurilko. The ballet was renamed The Red Flower, the number of scenes was increased from 8 to 13 and the first performance was 24 November 1957 in the Bolshoi Theatre.
[edit] Characters
- Tao Khoa (Yekaterina Geltzer (1927), Viktorina Kriger (1927), Galina Ulanova (1949 and 1957), Olga Lepeshinskaya (1949)).
- Soviet Captain (Alexey Bulgakov (1927), Alexander Radunsky (1949 and 1957)).
- Ma Lichen, introduced in the staging of 1949. (Yury Kondratov (1949 and 1957), Mikhail Gabovich (1949)).
- Li Shanfu (Ivan Smoltsov (1927), Sergey Koren (1949 and 1957), Alexey Yermolayev (1949)).
- Chinese prestidigitator (Asaf Messerer (1927)).
- Harbormaster (Ivan Sidorov (1927)).
[edit] Other performances
- 1929 in Leningrad by Leningradsky Theatre of opera and ballet and in 1949 and 1958 by Kirov Ballet;
- 1943 by Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo;
- 1928 and 1930 in Sverdlovsk;
- 1928, 1949 and 1958 in Saratov;
- 1941 and 1950 in Gorki;
- 1949 in Perm;
- 1950 and 1961 in Kuybyshev;
- 1950 in Novosibirsk;
- 1962 in Volgograd.
