After feting the men in your life — or being feted by the women in your life — on Defender of the Homeland Day, aka Men’s Day, don’t sit at home and watch reruns. Get out to see some fabulous theater and musicals, or dance back in time at a rock concert. Have you ever seen a film from Yakutia? Well, this is your lucky weekend. Check out a cool festival of Yakutian film.
The Circus
Feb. 23-25
One of the most exciting premieres of the last season was the musical “The Circus” at the Theater of Nations. “The Circus” is directed by Maxim Didenko, best known for his unorthodox productions, including the immersive theater hit“Black Russian.” “The Circus” is a cross between a musical and a circus clown performance. Based on the famous 1936 Soviet film of the same name, “The Circus” reimagines the Soviet Union as a utopian paradise with a colossal “Palace of the Soviets” that was never built in reality. In the Didenko version, the role of the American femme fatal is played by Ingeborga Dapkunaite. Didenko’s regular collaborator, composer Ivan Kushnir, is very much in his element here.
3 Petrovsky Pereulok. Metro Chekhovskaya. +7 (495) 629 3739. theatreofnations.ru
Prose
Feb. 23-24
The Stanislavsky Electrotheater is famous for its post-modernist productions, but “Prose” is truly like nothing you’ve ever experienced. Officially an “opera” by one of Russia’s foremost academic composers, Vladimir Rannev, it consists of two parts played simultaneously on stage. One is Anton Chekhov’s prose from his novella “Steppe,” which is sung by an A Cappella group. The other is the short story “Groom” by Yuri Mamleyev, a prominent metaphysical fiction writer of the latter half of the 20th century. The text of “Groom” is projected in comic-strip format on a screen superimposed over the stage. The comic-strip bubbles are dubbed in English, so you will be able to enjoy this production to the fullest.
23 Tverskaya Ulitsa.Metro Tverskaya.+7 (495) 699 7224. electrotheatre.com
Reverse
Feb. 23-24
“Reverse” is probably the most experimental production at the rather young Moscow Theater of Musicals. Directed by Andrei Koltsov and Irina Drozhzhina, “Reverse” is about human behavior in extreme circumstances: its characters find themselves locked in a closed space. The performance is a combination of acrobatics, physical theater and dance so it’s only fitting that the production’s choreographer is Canadian Debra Brown, who is best known for her work with Cirque du Soleil. The original music for “Reverse” was composedby up and coming academic composer Misha Mishchenko.
2 Pushkin Square. Metro Pushkinskaya. +7 (495) 797 6300. teamuz.ru
Depeche Mode
Feb. 25
The greatest synth-pop band of all time, Depeche Mode, will once again perform this weekend at the Olimpiisky Sports Complex. This will be Depeche Mode’s second Moscow stop on its “Global Spirit Tour” in support of the album “Spirit,” released in 2017, but the Essex trio’s strong Russian fan base guarantees that the stadium will be packed. Depeche Mode is a band that doesn’t need a new album to justify a tour — they’ve got enough mega hits under their belts, including “Just Can’t Get Enough” and “Enjoy the Silence.”
16 Olimpiisky Prospekt. Metro Prospekt Mira. +7 (495) 786 3333. olimpik.ru
Yakutian Film Weekend
Feb. 23-25
This weekend Karo chain of movie theaters is giving a rare chance to see Yakutian films in Moscow. Yakutiya (or Sakha) is an enormous republic in the Far East of Russia, known around the world for its diamond deposits. But in recent years it also developed a viable cinema industry, and some of its films have been shown and even awarded at international festivals.This weekend three movies will be shown at Karo Atrium. The first is “Fire on the Wind” by Dmitry Davydov, a tragic tale of two old men in a Yakutianvillage, who both lost their sons. “Fire in the Wind” received the Best Drama award at ImagineNATIVE festival in Toronto. The other two movies are “Kerel: Invisible Beauty,” a film by Ilya Portnyagin and Valentin Makarov, which was the top blockbuster at the Yakutian box office, and “His Daughter” by Tatiana Everstova.
33 Zemlyanoi Val (Atrium shopping mall). Metro Kurskaya. +7 (903) 622 2355. karofilm.ru/art?&event=121
