Red poppy (ballet)

• Tao Hoa , actress
• Li Shang Fu , her fiancé
• Chief overseer , her father
• Hips , Englishman, Port Director
• Captain of the Soviet ship
• The owner of the restaurant and cigar opium
• Two Chinese conspirators
• Old man , magician
• Magician assistant
• Theater Herald
• Coolie
• Police officers , overseers
• Chinese women
• English officers
• Kokotki , Malay dancers
• Soviet and foreign sailors , battles
• Phoenixes , gods , goddesses
• Flowers , butterflies , grasshoppers
• European ladies , footmen

A Soviet ship came to the Chinese port. Unloading in progress. Chinese coolie workers carry heavy bales of goods. Overseers oversee their work.

Near the port is a restaurant, a favorite place of Europeans. The coolies bring in a palanquin , Tao Hoa - the famous actress, the favorite of the city - comes out of it and dances a welcome dance with a fan. Some young sailor invites Tao Hoa to dance a foxtrot . A young Chinese man, Li Shang Fu, approaches the restaurant. He traveled to Europe and perceived there only the negative aspects of bourgeois civilization. Under his gaze, Tao Hoa is embarrassed. Restaurant guests have fun. Exhausted from work coolies move with difficulty. One of the coolies, exhausted, falls. Taskmaster hits him, but he does not rise. Comrades are trying to intercede for coolies. Police come to the aid of overseers.

The coolies flee on a Soviet ship and ask the sailors to intercede for them. The commander of the port of Hips comes to the noise. He offers the captain of the Soviet ship his assistance: in his opinion, it is necessary to act here by force. But the captain holds a different look.

After talking with the sailors, the captain decides to help the coolies. At the whistle of the Captain, the sailors line up, forming two living chains on the gangways of the ship, and pass the bales from hand to hand.

The noble act of the Soviet sailors impressed not only the coolies, but also struck Tao Hoa. She wants to express her enthusiasm to the captain with something, and she showers him with flowers. Li Shang Fu rudely intervenes in this scene: Tao Hoa should not flirt with the " Bolshevik ". He beats her. The captain stands up for the offended woman. In gratitude, Tao Hoa, putting on his fingers long gilded tips, performs a Siamese dance, imitating the poses of the statues of old Buddhist deities .

The evening is getting dark. Rested coolies also dance. They are joined by the Malays and sailors from the coaster . Among them are Japanese , Negroes , Norwegians , Americans , sailors from the Malay Islands . Soviet sailors can’t stand it. They pull off the ropes from the ship and dance to the music of the sailor song " Bullseye ".

The censer of opium . Artful fights fuss before receiving visitors. Hips appears. Fearing the "evil influence" of the Bolsheviks, he intends to get rid of the Soviet Captain. Everything is considered: he needs to be lured into a stash , from where he will not come out alive. Li Shang-fu will do this, and Tao Hoa should lure him. Having agreed on everything, Hips goes to a restaurant to wait for a denouement.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Captain, suspecting nothing, walks along the embankment with his sailors. Tao Hoa, not knowing the purpose of the conspirators, invites him to enter the censer. She was entrusted with captivating a young Russian sailor. This coincides with her own desire.

The conspirators pretend that they are casual visitors to the censer. But Li Shang-fu has no excuse to attack the Captain first, and he expects that having hit Tao Hoa, he will force the Soviet sailor to intercede for her. The calculation is correct. The captain throws Li Shang Fu away from Tao Hoa. Then the conspirators, as if standing up for a comrade, rush at the Captain with knives. Tao Hoa blocks the sailor, and he manages to whistle to call sailors walking nearby.

The captain is saved. Hips appears. He does not reveal his chagrin: the attempt was not succeeded, but there is still time to put it into effect. Noticing the figure of a European, the conspirators again clutch at the knives. But Hips hints that he has another way to send the Captain to the next world. The conspirators disagree. An old Chinese actor calms the weeping and frightened Tao Hoa. He orders the owner of the censer to bring the pipe with opium. Tao Hoa and the old man smoke opium and fall asleep.

Son Tao Hoa. Her first visions are vague. It seems to her that she is immersed in water, then she sees an old temple with a colossal image of the Buddha , on the sides - statues of goddesses. They go off the pedestals and dance. A procession of men and women. They carry on their shoulders an image of a giant dragon . Tao Hoa sees himself. She is carried on a stretcher. The steps of the procession participants are becoming faster and faster. Men begin a warlike dance with swords. But gradually everything darkens, merges, and Tao Hoa sees a different picture. She dreams of a land where people are happy. Fairies live there in the “moon houses” near the “jasper lakes”. She is not far from the kingdom of happiness. One after another, the legendary birds of ancient legends - phoenixes - sweep before it. They block the path of Tao Hoa to happiness. And yet, the girl manages to get into the cherished kingdom. She finds herself in a magical garden in which the gods and goddesses are surrounded by flowers of different colors, butterflies, grasshoppers. Poppies and lotuses grow from the earth and, coming to life, turn into girls. Tao Hoa does not find peace here either. Phoenixes fly here after her and threaten her. Only red poppies sympathize with her, all the other flowers on the side of the phoenixes. Fantastic visions surround Tao Hoa. It seems to her that she is flying into a bottomless abyss.

Evening in the palace of the chief of the port. Smart ladies dance with Charleston officers. To entertain the guests invited European and Chinese artists. On a huge platter, servants bring in a dancer. She performs a dance that delights everyone. The ball is in full swing. Guests are now dancing the Boston Waltz . Gradually they disperse in other rooms. Hips is caught up with Li Shang Fu to poison during the treat of the Soviet Captain invited to the ball. Tao Hoa hears all this. She is horrified. When her father and groom say that the poisoned tea should be brought to the captain Tao Hoa, the forces almost leave her. There is a painful struggle between the habit of obeying and the feeling for the person whom she managed to love. Hips explains her vibrations in her own way. He shows her a precious ring, which she will receive for the provided "service." He puts a precious ring on the finger of an incomprehensible Tao Hoa. The girl mechanically accepts the gift. The conspirators are convinced that they managed to lure her to their side.

Soviet sailors appear, led by the captain. Recognizing Tao Hoa, the Captain greets her friendly and wants to go to another room, but Tao Hoa begs him to leave the evening. She tells the Captain about her love, kneels before him, prays for him to take her with him from China. The sailor is sorry for her as a child.

Meanwhile, preparations for the tea ceremony begin. The famous dancer should bring tea to the captain, as an honored guest. In China, Hips says, this is a very complicated procedure.

The captain, suspecting nothing, is following Curiously the movements of Tao Hoa. She coquettishly dances in front of the Captain, either holding out a cup to him or pulling it as soon as the Captain tries to pick it up. The girl is trying to postpone a decisive minute. The conspirators are satisfied, smiling, although they see that the ceremony has clearly dragged on. Finally, Tao Hoa hands the cup over to the Captain, and when he brings it to his lips, he knocks the cup out of his hands. Li Shang Fu, seeing that the assassination failed, shoots the Captain, but misses.

Among the guests is a commotion. Everyone runs away. Meanwhile, the “red peaks” penetrate the palace, while the Chinese poor are Chinese partisans. Tao Hoa, climbing the balustrade , looks at the sea. She sees how in the raid the Soviet ship is anchored and goes into the open sea.

Tao Hoa is happy that the Captain escaped death and was saved. At this moment, Li Shang-fu notices her. Enraged with rage, considering her the culprit that the attempt on the Captain failed, he shoots her and mortally wounds.

The conspirators are running. Only father Tao Hoa stays with her. Hips Palace in the hands of the Chinese poor. The Red Peaks lift Tao Hoa's body and lay it on a stretcher covered with a red banner. Children surround the stretcher. Having regained consciousness, Tao Hoa hands over the scarlet poppy flower presented to her by the Captain.

Apotheosis . A huge red flower lights up in the sky. To him goes the poor, freed from the power of Europeans. Countless red poppy petals are strewed onto a stretcher with dead Tao Hoa ^[3] .

• 1928 - Opera House named after A.V. Lunacharsky , Sverdlovsk

• Bogdanov-Berezovsky V.M. Red poppy . - L .: LGATOB, 1937 .-- 24 p. - 3000 copies.
• Levin S. Two ballets by R. M. Glier. “Red Flower, The Bronze Horseman” // Music of Soviet Ballet . - M .: State. muses Publishing House, 1962. - S. 126-162. - 256 s. - 5500 copies.

• A detailed history of the ballet "Red Poppy". (inaccessible link)
• The film ballet "Red Poppy" of Czechoslovak television in 1955.
• The text of the program about the premiere of ballet in Rome on the channel "Culture" on February 13, 2010.
• Video clip of the premiere of the ballet in Rome on February 12, 2010.
• A short video clip of the premiere of the ballet in Rome on February 12, 2010.
• Interview with prima ballerina of the Roman opera Carla Fracci on the successful staging of ballet in Italy, with a large number of photographs.
• Interview with V. Vasiliev about the alleged multimedia staging of ballet in Krasnoyarsk in November 2010 .
• Report from NTV video about the premiere in Krasnoyarsk.
• Critical reporting of the Kommersant newspaper about the premiere in Krasnoyarsk.
• An article in the Izvestia newspaper about the premiere in Krasnoyarsk.