Lady with a dog (ballet)

After the creation of the ballet The Seagull , neither Maya Plisetskaya nor Rodion Shchedrin thought about continuing the Chekhov theme. The idea was put forward by a Swedish journalist with whom Rodion Shchedrin spoke in Gothenburg in 1985 , when Maya Plisetskaya and Viktor Barykin carried The Seagull to the stage of the local theater.

Plisetskaya herself recalled this:

“One of the music journalists - by the name of Borg - interviewed Shchedrin. Suddenly, the Borg pressed the “stop” key of his “Sony” and interrupted the conversation:

- Why none of the Russian composers, Mr. Shchedrin, have so far addressed Chekhov's “Lady with a Dog”? In my opinion, this is a great story for both opera and ballet ...

“Indeed, why?” I do not know. I will have to re-read the story, thought Shchedrin. ”

- Maya Plisetskaya ^[1]

The composer really thought about it and a one-act ballet was born very quickly, a compact and laconic performance for two dancers. "Lady with a Dog" was the last work of Maya Plisetskaya on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater .

1. Yalta

2. Moscow

3. City S.

Bolshoi Premiere

The premiere took place on November 20, 1985 at the Bolshoi Theater.

Production designer Valery Leventhal , costume designer Maya Plisetskaya Pierre Cardin , conductor Alexander Lazarev

Characters

• Anna Sergeevna - Maya Plisetskaya
• Gurov - Boris Efimov

The performance took place 31 times, the last performance was on December 23, 1989 .

Performances in other cities

• June 15, 2003 - Samara Opera and Ballet Theater

Choreographer and libretto author Nadezhda Malygina, production designer Teymuraz Murvanizde

Characters

• Anna Sergeevna - Maria Tarnogradskaya
• Gurov - Alexander Turdiev
• The husband of Anna Sergeyevna - Sergey Vorobyov
• Gurov's wife - Alla Novoselova

• January 20, 2010 - New York City Ballet

Choreographer and author of the libretto, Alexei Miroshnichenko, costume designer Tatyana Noginova

Characters

• Anna Sergeevna - Sterling Hyltin
• Dmitry Dmitrievich - Andrew Veyette

• Dashicheva A. Variations on the theme of love // Soviet Culture . — 1985. — November 26
• Plisetskaya M. My ballets (continued) // Me, Maya Plisetskaya . - M .: News, 1994. - S. 401-402. - 496 p. - 50,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7020-0903-7 .
• Yakovleva Yu. Chekhov for legs // Kommersant . — 2003. — July 14
• Ivanov V. Premiere take // Ballet . — 2003. — No. 4-5
• Ilyicheva M. Samara premieres: [Shchedrin’s ballets “The Lady with the Dog” and “Carmen Suite” at the Samara Opera and Ballet Theater] // Musical life: magazine. - M. , 2003. - No. 12 .

• "Lady with a Dog" (inaccessible link) - on the website of the Samara Opera and Ballet Theater
• "Lady with a Dog" - on the website of the New York City Ballet