New Bolshoi Theater

[MeMyselfAndI]

As you may know, Bolshoi Theater was recently reopened, after many years of restoration, renovation, and reconstruction.
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During the re-opening ceremony, on October 28th, Guards of the Presidential Regiment were lined up aroud the Theater
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President Medvedev himself was in attendance
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There were celebrities too, including foreign, like Monica Belucci
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The most interesting thing to me, however, was the new special flooring, with a acoustic "air pillow".
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You see, Zamoskvoretskaya and Teatralnaya Metro lines, the two busiest lines in the whole system
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which people from the outskirts use to commute to work or school in the Center are literally right underneath the Theater. When the trains rolled through the tunnels, in the past, the Theater's walls shook. Obviously, this does not help actors trying to perform on the stage. Sometimes, when particularly big plays and such were put on, the authorities even shut down Metro service in the vicinity of Bolshoi, which, of course, greately inconvenienced and irritated the non-ballet watching public.

Well, with this new flooring, they say they solved the problem. The passing of the trains below will no longer affect so building so much, apparenty.

[NickKIELCEPoland]

Wow! Very impressive indeed. That's the Russia I know and love! Theatres, culture.

Indeed, since it was you that had posted this, I found myself looking for the inevitable link with violence and aggression, but no, none was forthcoming. Are you feeling all right? ;)

I know absolutely jack shite about interior design or architecture, but it certainly looks mighty fine!

[MeMyselfAndI]

Wow! Very impressive indeed. That's the Russia I know and love! Theatres, culture.

Indeed, since it was you that had posted this, I found myself looking for the inevitable link with violence and aggression, but no, none was forthcoming. Are you feeling all right? ;)

I know absolutely jack shite about interior design or architecture, but it certainly looks mighty fine!

I write about what happens. A lot of violence happens in Russia, and I happen to write about it. That does not mean I am prone to violence myself.

As a matter of fact, I was teased by my older brothers after we all went hunting when I was a child, and I could not make myself finish off a wounded boar... I had to cut its throat, and I could not do so. They all thought I was weak for that. Even now they still sometimes jokingly remind me of it when I visit...

[Donkey]

Gorgeous. They are in the process of quite a few years of renovating some of the huge, impressive theaters we have in Cleveland. Theater is a wonderful thing to invest in.

[Michael]

Gorgeous. They are in the process of quite a few years of renovating some of the huge, impressive theaters we have in Cleveland. Theater is a wonderful thing to invest in.

I strongly disagree. Opera, ballet and symphony orchestras are massively subsidized by the taxpayer since none of them can survive five minutes in the private market without government subsidies. How could that kind of investment good if it is a 100% guarenteed money loser. The ticket revenues will NEVER pay for the building. The ticket revenues won't ever even pay for the cost of the production itself! It is all just one big subsidy sucker forever.

The fact that the average audience for these type of arts productions is typically very elite, you have average working class people paying to subsidize the private entertainment of millionaires. I object to that. Let the freakin' rich pay for their own entertainment.

[Donkey]

I strongly disagree. Opera, ballet and symphony orchestras are massively subsidized by the taxpayer since none of them can survive five minutes in the private market without government subsidies. How could that kind of investment good if it is a 100% guarenteed money loser. The ticket revenues will NEVER pay for the building. The ticket revenues won't ever even pay for the cost of the production itself! It is all just one big subsidy sucker forever.

The fact that the average audience for these type of arts productions is typically very elite, you have average working class people paying to subsidize the private entertainment of millionaires. I object to that. Let the freakin' rich pay for their own entertainment.

1. I think that the theater audience is broader than you suspect.

2. I think that a strong arts community is a benefit for society, though I think a lot of it is intangible benefit that is hard to quantify.

3. This. (http://www.denverpost.com/theater/ci_19360388)

[Michael]

1. I think that the theater audience is broader than you suspect.
That's shifting the goalposts. This thread is about a ballet/opera house, not a general purpose theater. There is a huge difference.

2. I think that a strong arts community is a benefit for society, though I think a lot of it is intangible benefit that is hard to quantify.

Strong arts communities exist where there is a private market to support them. I have no problem with that.

3. This. (http://www.denverpost.com/theater/ci_19360388)

See 'goalposts' above. Your link is about community based non-profit theater groups - the kind that put on plays in tiny neighborhood theaters, high school auditoriums and Church basements.

Btw, the article doesn't mention how many millions in tax subsidies those groups get and therefore doesn't deduct that from the total. That's called PR spin. I'd like to see an independent audit of their asserted value. Heck, the spin off value from mailing out welfare checks is enormous. Wanna bet the spin off value from tax subsidies to non-profit theater groups is smaller than the spin off value from welfare checks? In other words, one can get a much greater economic spin off value from just mailing checks to the citizenry than paying subsidies to Opera companies.

Bottom line is that opera, ballet and symphony orchestras do not exist without massive taxpayer subsidies. Cut off their subsidies, and they all are instantly bankrupt.

[Donkey]

^ Fair points. Same argument can be made for the military, at many times the cost, though. I tend to prefer to err on the side of the arts.

[Michael]

3. This. (http://www.denverpost.com/theater/ci_19360388)

NEA (alone) gives away $190 million a year to these groups.

[Michael]

^ Fair points. Same argument can be made for the military, at many times the cost, though. I tend to prefer to err on the side of the arts.

The military serves a good other than entertainment of rich people. :shrug:

That's a notable difference. Subsidies for ballet/opera companies are subsidizing entertainment for the top 10% of the economic strata.

[Donkey]

The military serves a good other than entertainment of rich people. :shrug: Heh.

Less convinced than you of that, for sure. Like the blue water navy of Canada?


That's a notable difference. Subsidies for ballet/opera companies are subsidizing entertainment for the top 10% of the economic strata.

And whose interests are the military protecting?

[MeMyselfAndI]

Well, the one biggest problem with Bolshoi and ther theaters here is the illegal ticket speculation. And not just theaters, sports events too. And rock concerts. Etc. But with theaters it is especially well-known and infamous.

There is a "ticket mafia" at Bolshoi and elsewhere. They deliberately hold off a certain number of tickets until the sell-out date, and then sell them illegally, for cash, for 3 or 4 or even 5 times the regular amount. Or, if you don't want to do that, you can pay your way in through the back entrance. You meet with a guy before, pay him; he gives you a password. You come to the back entrance when your act is starting, ring the bell, another guy opens the door, you tell him the password, he leads you inside. This is a good thing, in a way, so that most people who want to go see an act can go and see it one way or another. But... it is corruption. Of course, corruption is everywhere here.

[Michael]

Heh.

Less convinced than you of that, for sure. Like the blue water navy of Canada?

Remember WW2? Canada has a bluewater navy for damn good reasons.

Indeed, I should think the Haitians might disagree with you. According to US Navy reports I read when the earthquake hit, they were most impressed with the speed and facility which which the Canadian navy arrived and was engaged in relief even before US equipment arrived. One Canadian destroyer set itself up as the air-traffic control tower for Haiti's main airport to enable emergency aid to fly in. This was operating 24 hours after the earthquake hit.

[Americano]

Well, the one biggest problem with Bolshoi and ther theaters here is the illegal ticket speculation. And not just theaters, sports events too. And rock concerts. Etc. But with theaters it is especially well-known and infamous.

There is a "ticket mafia" at Bolshoi and elsewhere. They deliberately hold off a certain number of tickets until the sell-out date, and then sell them illegally, for cash, for 3 or 4 or even 5 times the regular amount. Or, if you don't want to do that, you can pay your way in through the back entrance. You meet with a guy before, pay him; he gives you a password. You come to the back entrance when your act is starting, ring the bell, another guy opens the door, you tell him the password, he leads you inside. This is a good thing, in a way, so that most people who want to go see an act can go and see it one way or another. But... it is corruption. Of course, corruption is everywhere here.

It's the same in the US. I haven't been to a top Broadway show in New York City since 2002, and we paid four times the ticket price to see what we wanted. Supply and demand.

[Michael]

It's the same in the US. I haven't been to a top Broadway show in New York City since 2002, and we paid four times the ticket price to see what we wanted. Supply and demand.

Big difference. That's a Broadway show. It is financed entirely by private money and it has a successful market.

That's totally different than Opera and Ballet. There are no scalpers for those tickets.

Ballet and Opera (and symphonies) are always financed by taxpayer subsidies - and they still can't make money even pretending their taxpayer built rent-free building is actually free. Opera and Ballet companies are just a sinkhole for taxpayer subsidies.

[Americano]

Big difference. That's a Broadway show. It is financed entirely by private money and it has a successful market.

That's totally different than Opera and Ballet. There are no scalpers for those tickets.

Ballet and Opera (and symphonies) are always financed by taxpayer subsidies - and they still can't make money even pretending their taxpayer built rent-free building is actually free. Opera and Ballet companies are just a sinkhole for taxpayer subsidies.

Agreed, I was referring to the scalping process. That doesn't benefit any type of production.

[Donkey]

Agreed, I was referring to the scalping process. That doesn't benefit any type of production.

Scalping is just readjusting an artificial price to the market price. Market oriented capitalists should be overjoyed.

[Americano]

It's might be difficult for anyone who hasn't been involved in the construction of a private entity business plan to understand, but few investors plop their money down to back a Broadway show unless defined revenue projections by a respected producer offers a desired potential return on their investment. Ticket scalping has nothing to do with those projections or actual production revenue.

As has been stated, there's no financial reality in government or charity sponsored artistic productions at any level due to subsidization. That includes ticket scalping, even in Russia.

In the US, at least in my experience, subsidization of some of 'the arts' extends into the private sector. Corporations have long cut checks for season tickets to community efforts promoting the arts to facilitate political affiliations. For other than opening nights with press coverage where a corporate officer was forced to attend, those tickets were most often distributed to employees. No one could scalp most of that dreck.

[Michael]

Scalping is just readjusting an artificial price to the market price. Market oriented capitalists should be overjoyed.

I have no problem with ticket scalping. As you have pointed out, it is a rational endeavor that plays to the market.

Just try to go see a Maple Leafs hockey game sometime. They've been pretty much permanently "sold out" going for about 30 years plus, with about 1/2 of all seats going to season ticket holders. And the retail price of tickets starts at about $85 for the cheap seats and hits $225 for the best seats. Leaf season ticket holders leave these tickets in their wills here and pass it down to the next generation.

Standard Saturday night scalper prices are about double the retail price. Sales are brisk. If the Montreal Canadians are in town, the price will hit $1000 a seat if they are even available from the scalpers (usually not). If the Leafs ever make it to the playoffs, I can't imagine what the scalper prices would be! :lol: