Among the just announced Golden Mask winners in various categories, there are so many St. Petersburg residents that the city can be congratulated: ballet, puppets, musicals, drama - everything, as it turns out, is the best here. But the nuances of the preferences of the high jury make us wary and think about the future with some anxiety. The results are so predictable and understandable from the layouts that it is obvious: the winners were not chosen by the jury as such, but by its “internal censor”, who did not make strategic mistakes in the first place.

First, let’s name (and congratulate) those who are bringing the “Golden Masks” to the city. In fact, the Grand Prix in the “Puppet Theater” section went to the play “Kolino’s Work” by St. Petersburg director Yana Tumina, which appeared as a project of the independent production company “KontArt” (for which we should be especially happy) with the support of the “Puppet Format” theater (to which we have special respect) . This performance is not only excellent in terms of the quality of production and the level of theatrical text, it is also, as they say, socially responsible: it is based on the book by artist Sergei Golyshev “My Son is Down,” but without a single sentimental note, without bad pathos and opportunistic pedaling the theme of “special people/children”. This is high lyricism for family viewing. Participants in the play Anna Somkina and Alexander Balsanov were separately awarded as best actors.

Things weren’t going well with the opera today—Moscow and Perm shared the prizes. But in the field of ballet, we are still the best and still thanks to the efforts of the Mariinsky Theater: the director of the ballet “Violin Concerto No. 2” after Prokofiev, Anton Pimonov, was named the best choreographer, and the impeccable Victoria Tereshkina was named the best ballet actress.

As for the music/musical performance nomination, the St. Petersburgers have two prizes: Andrei Alekseev was named best conductor, and Viktor Krivonos was named best actor. Both - for their work in Gennady Trostyanetsky’s play “White. Petersburg" of the St. Petersburg Theater of Musical Comedy.

As for the dramatic nominations, they are, as usual, the most intriguing and populous. Here among the winners is the artistic director of the Bolshoi Drama Theater. G.A. Tovstonogov Andrey Moguchiy, for the second year receiving an award as the best dramatic director: now - for “The Thunderstorm” according to Ostrovsky, cleared of vulgar social “school” interpretations of the characters, turned into a terrible fairy tale told through the means of folklore fair theater - homage a century later, the innovator Meyerhold was noted by all critics without exception.

Also among the laureates in the “Drama” section is Nikolai Roshchin, an artist and director of the play “The Raven” in Alexandrinka. Awarded as an artist and on merit. In this yet another terrible fairy tale (this time Italian, in Gozzi's adaptation), Roshchin drew everything - and even the new faces of the actors: similar gutta-percha masks change the performers beyond recognition, actually depriving them of individual facial expressions (the totalitarian world demands this). But you can’t hide Elena Nemzer under any guise, whose sharp, grotesque gift (she played the female version of Pantalone - Signor Pantalone) manifested itself here almost more strongly than in other performances - so “The Mask” turned out to be her as the best dramatic supporting actress where it suits you.

Two more “Masks” also went to Alexandrinka. One is a special jury prize for the “love triangle” Vershinin - Masha - Kulygin from the play “Beyond the Curtain” (an extreme fantasy by Andriy Zholdak based on “Three Sisters”, requiring courage and dedication from the actors): respectively, Igor Volkov - Alena Vozhakina - Vitaly Kovalenko . The second, out-of-competition, goes to Nikolay Marton “For his outstanding contribution to the development of theatrical art” (we recall that a year ago this phenomenal actor took the stage for “The Mask” in the nomination “Best Dramatic Supporting Actor” - for the role of the Unknown, played with skill and scale and , God willing, will rise again and again).

The Third Federal Drama Theater also did not go without an award: the only “Mask” was awarded to the play “Hamlet”, and it was received not by director Lev Dodin, but by the performer of the title role, Danila Kozlovsky. And this is precisely an example of the cunning of judges who had to pronounce a verdict in troubled times. In general, it was obviously impossible for the jury to ignore Dodin’s performance, and, it seems, awarding the main artist is not a bad idea. But the problem is that Dodin designed the play so boldly and according to such radical laws that it can either be completely accepted or completely rejected. This is a world invented to the last nail by Dodin in counterpoint with Shakespeare, this is harsh anti-humanism - a value system in which the artist Kozlovsky, like all other actors, perform the tasks of a master, precise to the millimeter, on the verge of a foul. Perhaps this is not Dodin’s best performance in terms of integrity and perfection of form, but it is fully “a journey into the unknown,” a search for something new, without which no creativity can be called such. But the fact of the matter is that the new, radical, extreme, provocative (and “Hamlet” from beginning to end is a desperate provocation, blows to the gut and other pain points in a maddened world) is not in trend today. Today, in order to avoid troubles from one or another “watcher of culture,” it is necessary to reward something that is understandable, transparent, and decent, at least in appearance (cultural ministers-administrators are not much of a reader of hidden meanings, so the front in an aesthetic package is passing for now).

By and large, three performances could compete for the main prize in drama - “Best Performance” - in terms of scale and level of understanding of the existential problems of our time: “The Thunderstorm” by Moguchy, “Hamlet” by Dodin and “Three Sisters” by Timofey Kulyabin. At the same time, it was clear that Kulyabin with “Tannhäuser” had a history of being a bad match for the main “Mask” of the season. I even imagined a wonderful picture - how Moguchiy or Dodin, having received the Grand Prix (and each of these masters of “Masks” already has more than five), solemnly transfers his award to a younger comrade, while the audience gives a standing ovation. Actually, after Kulyabin’s “Three Sisters”, where the sisters communicate in the language of the deaf and dumb (today’s society does not hear educated and cultured people, you can’t argue), were selected for the program of the Vienna Theater Weeks and experienced a real triumph among the sophisticated public there, “The Mask ” could be given to this young theater author without looking. But the only thing the jury was able to do for Kulyabin was to offer a special prize, and even then not to him, but to the acting ensemble of the play (Kulyabin’s name is not in the wording of the special prize, you can check on the “Masks” website). And this is another decision behind which there is iron calculation. And the Grand Prix went to a performance that was not so much outstanding as correct: “Russian Novel” by Mindaugas Karbauskis - a story about Leo Tolstoy with the main character Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya performed by Evgenia Simonova. Here we must admit that the Lithuanian playwright Marius Ivaskevicius wrote an elegant, intelligent play about the characteristics of the national family (Russian, of course), and his personal “Mask” is the only award in this case that does not raise any questions.

However, it was not possible to keep what is called a “good face” everywhere. The Golden Mask looks like a real embarrassment to Bob Wilson, a director from the USA who had a reputation as one of the best directors in the world, when not all the jury members were even born. So Wilson (attention) managed to be awarded as “Best Lighting Designer in Musical Theatre.” For those who are not in the know: working with light, which Wilson spends more than 300 hours on for each new production, is one of the key substantive discoveries of his directing, but he made it several decades ago. Last year, let me remind you, Wilson staged “Pushkin’s Tales” at the Theater of Nations with Yevgeny Mironov in the role of Pushkin. And how right the theater was when it refused on principle to be nominated for “The Mask.”

However, the list of nominated directors this year reached almost thirty people. And this, on the one hand, greatly increases the rating of the winner, Andrei Moguchy, and on the other hand, it smacks of absurdity. There was a place for almost everyone more or less worthy, but there was no place for Kirill Serebrennikov and Konstantin Bogomolov. Well, if you, gentlemen, have nominated so many young people, then let the public learn at least one new name. Well, yes, let’s say that there are few performances that can compare with “The Thunderstorm” - and the furor of the performance during the capital’s showings confirmed this. But the jury could have disposed of the special prizes differently. It could, but walking along the beaten paths is, of course, safer. Safer.

And, of course, this “Mask” revealed not only nationwide diseases, but also the problems of “our Vasyuki”. With all due respect, facts are stubborn things. Federal theaters operating in St. Petersburg bring a harvest of “Masks” every year, and for all the city’s seasons the Musical Comedy is in charge (other theaters not only did not become laureates, but were not even nominated). Apparently, without tangible changes the situation in theatrical St. Petersburg cannot be changed for the better.

Zhanna Zaretskaya, Fontanka.ru

This year a record number of performances of all genres competed for it. The final list of nominees included theater productions from different cities of Russia: 28 dramatic performances, 13 operas, 5 ballets and 9 modern dance performances, 4 performances in the operetta/musical genre, as well as 8 puppet shows.

Danila Kozlovsky was recognized as the best dramatic actor for the role of Hamlet at the Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg. Actress Evgenia Simonova, who played Sofia Tolstoy in the play “Russian Novel” at the Mayakovsky Theater, also received recognition. The same performance received the third “Mask” as the best performance of a large form, and in the “Small Form” section the performance “Magadan/cabaret” of the Moscow theater “Near the Stanislavsky House” was noted.

The best director in a drama, as last year, was Andrei Moguchiy - he received an award for the play “The Thunderstorm” at the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater. The prize for best supporting actress in a drama went to Elena Nemzer from the Alexandrinsky Theater for the role of Pantaloon in the production of “The Raven”, and for best male role went to Holger Münzenmayer (Deacon in the play “Once upon a time” at the Sharypovo Drama Theatre).

The best performance in the operetta-musical was “The Binder and the King” of the Krasnoyarsk Theater for Young Spectators, Roman Feodori was awarded as the best director for this performance. For the best actress in a musical operetta, Maria Biork, who played Sonya in the play “Crime and Punishment” (Musical Theatre), received the award.

The award for best actor in this category went to Viktor Krivonos for his role in the play “White. Petersburg" (Musical Comedy Theatre, St. Petersburg). The best supporting role in the operetta-musical was played by Vladimir Galchenko from the Drama Theater in Samara.

Golden Mask Award. Photo: mdt-dodin.ru

Golden Mask Award. Photo: justmedia.ru

Golden Mask Award. Photo: kino-teatr.ru

Romeo and Juliet, staged at the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater, was recognized as the best ballet performance. The award for best actor was given to Igor Bulytsyn, who danced in the play Mercutio. The best conductor was Pavel Klinichev - he received a prize for his work “Ondine” to the music of Hans Werner Henze (Bolshoi Theater). Victoria Tereshkina played the best female role in the Mariinsky Theater performance “Violin Concerto No. 2”. For the same performance, Anton Pimonov was also awarded in the category “Best work by a choreographer/choreographer.” The award in the category “Best Performance in Contemporary Dance” went to the work “All Roads Lead to the North” (Ballet Moscow Theatre).

The best conductor in opera was Theodor Currentzis with the performance of “La Traviata” at the Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theater in Perm. Richard Jones was recognized as the best director (opera Rodelinda, Bolshoi Theatre). The award in the category “Best Opera Performance” also went to “Rodelinda”. The award for best actress in opera was given to Nadezhda Pavlova (Violetta in La Traviata at the Perm Opera), and the award for best male role went to Liparit Avetisyan (Chevalier des Grieux in Manon at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater in Moscow). In the nomination “Best Work of a Composer in Musical Theatre” the award was won by Eduard Artemyev for “Crime and Punishment” of the Moscow Musical Theater.

In the “puppet” nominations, the best work of the director was recognized as the play “Hedgehog in the Fog” by the Moscow Puppet Theater, staged by Natalya Pakhomova, and the best production was “Kolino’s Work” by the St. Petersburg Center “CounterArt”.

At the end of the ceremony, awards “For Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Theater Arts” were presented - they were received by

More than fifty winners were awarded the “Golden Masks” in Moscow. The list of theater award nominees includes all types and genres of performing arts: ballet, musical, drama, puppet theater. To select the best, this season experts looked at almost a thousand performances staged in more than a hundred Russian cities.

This was the largest theatrical marathon in the entire history of the Golden Mask. Over two and a half months, audiences saw 74 performances. The creators of the best of them took part in the last and most unpredictable presentation of this festival - the award ceremony. According to tradition, it takes place on the stage of the Musical Theater named after. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. Only the names of the laureates in the nomination “For Contribution to the Development of Theater Art” were known in advance. This year's winners include Vladimir Etush, Rezo Gabriadze and Oleg Tabakov. The audience greeted them standing.

“You know, for almost 60 years I’ve been going on stage and I haven’t said anything yet, and people are applauding. So I’m used to it,” says People’s Artist of the USSR Oleg Tabakov.

For the first time in the history of “The Mask,” the applicant in the “Work of a conductor in ballet” category did not have to worry. The intrigue here was not who would receive the award, but for which particular performance. After all, all three nominations belong to one person, Pavel Klinichev. The jury recognized the ballet “Ondine” at the Bolshoi Theater as his best work.

“It’s nice to go to the ceremony knowing that you will still receive the Mask,” the conductor said.

By the way, the Bolshoi is the absolute record holder of this award. Six of his performances competed at once, and they were presented in 25 nominations. The result is three awards. In addition to Klinichev, Richard Jones, director of Handel's Rodelinda, celebrated the triumph. It was also recognized as the best opera. But the opera conductor of the year, as expected, was the conductor, artistic director of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater. Tchaikovsky Teodor Currentzis. He is called a musical genius. This is the sixth Golden Mask to his name - this time for La Traviata.

“If you take some modern opera, about which you have absolutely no idea what this opera is about, you go inside, you research. And the operas that we think we know well, we don’t pay as much attention to them, think about it,” he says.

On the stage there is a black and white kingdom, but the guests have the whole palette of emotions. Some even ran around the stage, danced and sang with happiness.

But this holiday has sad notes. In February, the permanent president of the festival, Georgy Taratorkin, passed away. His memory was honored with a minute of silence. Igor Kostolevsky was unanimously elected as the new president.

“The festival is unique. There is no such festival in any country in the world. He demonstrates a very high level of both directing and acting. And what’s nice is that there are a lot of theaters from the provinces,” says Igor Kostolevsky.

In addition to Moscow and St. Petersburg, there are 23 more cities. For the first time, groups from Kemerovo, Naberezhnye Chelny, Norilsk, and Tver participated. The theater from the town of Sharypovo is also making its debut; there are only ten actors in this troupe. And immediately Holger Münzenmayer won the nomination “Supporting Actor” in the drama “Once Upon a Time.”

To be or not to receive an award for Danila Kozlovsky is not a question for the jury. They recognized his Hamlet as the best male role.

“I want to say thank you to my family - both my parents and my mother, who quite often asked me, where is her “Mask”? And today, finally, I can answer this question,” said the actor.

The toughest competition is in the Best Director in Drama category. There were 28 names on the shortlist for the award. Lev Dodin, Mindaugas Karbauskis, Timofey Kulyabin, Dmitry Krymov... remained sitting in their chairs. And the artistic director of the Bolshoi Drama Theater took the stage. Tovstonogov in St. Petersburg Andrey Moguchiy. He won this category for the second year in a row. His “Thunderstorm” is by no means another attempt to update Ostrovsky.

“We looked more at folk roots, parable roots, fairy tale roots. The question of the archaic interested me more than the question of adaptation or connection to modernity,” explains the director.

The main prize for the best large-scale performance went to “Russian Novel” of the Mayakovsky Theater. The life story of Leo Tolstoy is shown through the eyes of his wife Sophia. For this role, Evgenia Simonova received the “Mask” as the best actress. Playwright Marius Ivaskevicius also received the award. The creators of the production jokingly revealed the secret of success: when you take on the biography of one of the greatest writers, you simply have no right to do anything bad.

You can see some of the Golden Mask nominees and winners in the best Russian films and TV series on the website

The 2017 award was the largest in terms of the number of participants

Actor Danila Kozlovsky, who became a laureate in the Drama/Male Role category, at the Golden Mask awards ceremony

Moscow. April 19. website - Andrey Moguchy, Danila Kozlovsky, Teodor Currentzis became laureates of the 23rd Russian National Theater Award "Golden Mask", the award ceremony of which took place on Wednesday at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre.

“For 23 years, this was the largest “Mask” - in more than three months we had more than 220 performances, including all projects, competitive and non-competitive programs. The main purpose of “Mask” is to update the theatrical space throughout Russia,” noted the director festival Maria Revyakina.

She also remembered Georgy Taratorkin, who died in February 2017, who headed the Golden Mask for more than 20 years. “Georgiy Georgievich knew exactly what dedication to one’s work means, what it means to understand and accept the people of the theater, to forgive and love them. He watched with equal interest both the capital’s performances and productions from the regions. There was such an award - “For Honor and Dignity.” And truly, Georgy Georgievich was a man of honor and dignity, inner aristocracy,” Revyakina said.

Chairman of the jury of the Drama Theater and Puppet Theater, artistic director of the Russian Academic Youth Theater (RAMT) Alexey Borodin told Interfax that the trend of searches can be seen in the works presented this season. “This is a search in different directions. And I think that’s good,” he said.

Answering the question whether discussions about censorship had an impact on the atmosphere in the theatrical environment, Borodin noted that, in his opinion, such discussions only liberate people. “Everyone is now reacting to this (discussions about censorship - IF) absolutely calmly and even, perhaps, to some extent, all these conversations provoke some kind of creativity, which is free,” the artistic director of RAMT expressed confidence.

The "Golden Mask" in the nomination "Best Performance in Drama. Large Form" was awarded to "Russian Novel" of the Vl. Mayakovsky Theater, and Andrei Moguchiy ("The Thunderstorm" of the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after G.A. Tovstonogov) became the best dramatic director.

For the best male role in a drama, the jury awarded Danila Kozlovsky ("Hamlet" of the Maly Drama Theater - Theater of Europe), and for the female role - Evgenia Simonova (Sofya Tolstaya in "Russian Novel" of the Moscow Vl. Mayakovsky Theater).

The best opera production was "Rodelinda" of the Bolshoi Theater, and Teodor Currentzis was named the best conductor in opera ("La Traviata" of the Perm Theater and Ballet named after P.I. Tchaikovsky).

"Romeo and Juliet" of the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater was recognized as the best ballet performance, and Pavel Klinichev became the best conductor. Three works were presented in this nomination, each of which Klinichev worked on. The jury noted his "Ondine", presented at the Bolshoi Theater.

The first in the Operetta/Musical category was “Bindyuzhnik and the King” of the Krasnoyarsk Theater for Young Spectators.

The winners of the Union of Theater Workers (UTD) award for outstanding contribution to the development of theatrical art were Aigum Aigumov, Irina Bogacheva, Andrey Borisov, Rezo Gabriadze, Georgy Kotov (who died in March 2017), Nikolai Marton, Oleg Tabakov, Vladimir Etush.

The Golden Mask was established in 1993 by the Union of Theater Workers of the Russian Federation as a professional award for the best works of the season in all types of theatrical art.

In total, more than 900 applications were submitted to participate in the 23rd “Mask” - 130 cities, 614 dramatic performances and 325 musical performances took part in the selection.

On April 19, 2017, the winners of the 2017 Golden Mask Award were announced in Moscow. We supplemented the official verdict of the jury with an informal vote and are ready to sum up the results.

In general, it was relatively easy to predict the official results of the next “Mask”. Nevertheless, the results of the audience vote, from our point of view, could add interesting details to the picture.

We, of course, were only interested in nominations related to musical theater - there were 11 of them.

Voting began quite late, on the night of April 17, 2017, which may have been our mistake: it was worth starting the process a few days earlier so that everyone interested in the results of the “Golden Mask” would certainly know about it. Then there would be more votes, and the results would be more legitimate. On the other hand, the late start allowed us not to make any extraordinary efforts to protect against cheating.

The results of this voting may be of some interest with one amendment: the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater shared our publication on its VKontakte page, and therefore almost all of the first places in the opera categories of our voting were given to Astrakhan residents. The only thing we can regret in this regard is that other theaters did not follow the example of Astrakhan: in this case, our voting would also turn out to be a competition for the number of subscribers on social networks.

In the “Opera – Performance” nomination, the first place in the audience voting was taken by the production of “The Damnation of Faust” by the Astrakhan Theater, which received 701 votes, and the second place was taken by “The Maid of Orleans” by the Bashkir Theater (395 votes). “La Traviata” by the Perm Theater, which many considered the favorite of the race, received only 289 votes from the audience.

But the jury of “The Mask” recognized the best performance in the opera “Rodelinda” from the Bolshoi Theater (which was transferred to the Bolshoi stage from the English National Opera). In the audience voting, “Rodelinda” received 54 votes, surpassing only other Bolshoi Theater performances – “The Damnation of Faust” (46 votes) and “Katerina Izmailova” (44 votes).

In the “Opera – Conductor’s Work” nomination, the audience’s first place was Valery Voronin from Astrakhan for the performance “The Damnation of Faust” (530 votes), and the second was the official winner of the “Golden Mask” Teodor Currentzis with 315 votes.

The audience considered Konstantin Balakin (Astrakhan, “The Damnation of Faust”) the best work of the director in the opera - 432 votes, the second was Robert Wilson (210 votes) for his performance “La Traviata”. The official “Mask” in this category went to Richard Jones for “Rodelinda” at the Bolshoi Theater, and Robert Wilson, unexpectedly for many, turned out to be the best lighting designer.

Probably, only this result of the current “Golden Mask” caused excitement in the discussions. Yulia Bederova, in an article about the results of the competition, described this moment as a “playful decision of the jury,” and Vadim Zhuravlev (a regular author of the site and once a member of the Golden Mask jury) in his post on Facebook simply called it a “slap in the face” to Robert Wilson.

In the “Opera – Female Role” category, Evgenia Afanasyeva from MAMT won the first place among the audience for her role as Manon in Massenet’s opera of the same name (383 votes). The official jury recognized Nadezhda Pavlova from the Perm Theater as the best for the role of La Traviata in the play by Robert Wilson. In the audience vote, Nadezhda Pavlova received 221 votes for this role.

Audience choice for the best male role in an opera was given to Valery Fomin (Young Haaz, Doctor Haaz, Helikon Opera Theater - 120 votes). The real “Mask” in this nomination went to Liparit Avetisyan for Chevalier des Grieux in the operetta “Manon” at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre. In the audience vote, this singer was in fourth place on the list with 78 votes.

The audience voted “Romeo and Juliet” from Yekaterinburg (366 votes) as the best ballet performance, and the audience agreed with the Golden Mask jury.

The best work of a conductor in ballet was Pavel Klinichev’s work on the play “Ondine” at the Bolshoi Theater. He was the only nominee this year, and the audience felt that his work in Yekaterinburg on “Romeo and Juliet” deserved “The Mask” more: Klinichev with “Romeo” received 204 audience votes, and Klinichev with “Ondine” - 41.

According to the audience, the best choreographer was Vyacheslav Samodurov (“Romeo and Juliet, Yekaterinburg - 248 votes”), but the jury recognized the performance “Violin Concerto No. 2” by Anton Pimonov at the Mariinsky Theater as the best work by a choreographer/choreographer in ballet and modern dance. The audience voted for this production 25 times.

The audience considered Ekaterina Sapogova (“Romeo and Juliet, Yekaterinburg” – 214 votes) the best ballerina, and the jury considered Victoria Tereshkina (“Violin Concerto No. 2”, Mariinsky Theater). The audience put Tereshkina in third place (48 votes).

The best dancer according to the audience was Igor Bulytsyn (Mercutio, “Romeo and Juliet, Yekaterinburg” - 759 votes), and this is the second time this year when the opinion of the audience coincided with the opinion of the Golden Mask jury.

In the category “Composer’s Work in Musical Theatre”, the audience’s first place was Georgiy Firtich (the play “White. Petersburg – 84 votes”), but the jury recognized Eduard Artemyev first for his work on the play “Crime and Punishment” at the Moscow Musical Theater. Viewers voted for this work 66 times.