Outlandish, Masterful Parody of Soviet Life

Avid supporters and grimacing critics of "What A Lovely Sight" at the Theater Na Maloi Bronnoi will surely agree on one thing: This exercise in florid nostalgia is hands down the weirdest show of the season. And the view from here says that weird is good.Moscow has probably never seen such an inflated look at the excesses -- and the undercurrents -- of the official image and droning monotony of the Brezhnev years. Once it gets over an irritatingly feeble start, "What A Lovely Sight" goes bursting past parody and careening beyond burlesque. Ultimately, it is a wicked travesty of clich?s about youthful hope, familial duty and social commitment.But don't go searching for arrogance or cynicism. What makes it click is its affection for the life it ridicules so relentlessly.Director Artyom Khryakov fearlessly rips back the fa?ade of Alexei Arbuzov's play, written early in the so-called era of stagnation. The story centers around the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed Vasya, a "wonderful young man" with a weakness for women named Milochka. He lives in a happy community of loving friends and family, all of whom wish everyone the best.Arbuzov, until his death in 1986, was one of the finest official Soviet writers. And he knew well the deceptive nature of fairy tales, as a bare recounting of his play's plot reveals.When Vasya's second wife, Milochka II, dumps him for his best friend Seva, his father refuses to take him back in. Vasya then rudely brushes off the teenaged, crush-stricken Milochka III, and accepts a transfer suggested by his cloying boss. He finally abandons Moscow for the far-flung town of Ustegorsk.It is a strikingly desolate picture, really. But Arbuzov managed to camouflage it masterfully with an odd menagerie of dauntless, militantly positive heroes.Khryakov adds a lethal dose of poison to the author's pen, turning irony to mockery. He does it by changing expected intonations in speech, shifting pauses, inserting pantomimes, rearranging actors' entrances and exits, and cutting two minor characters. Couples engage in hilarious, acrobatic sex as they spout highfalutin speeches about social duty.Deadly serious, the entire cast oozes a sticky, inspired optimism that both sends up and celebrates the youth-oriented Soviet culture of the 1950s and 1960s.Khryakov has coaxed fine performances from everyone. Olga Sirina is gracefully silly as the superficial Milochka II. Tatyana Oshurkova is perky and sympathetic as Milochka III, whom Vasya not only rejects, but even abuses when he takes illicit advantage of her willingness to please. Ivan Shabaltas plays Seva with winningly pompous macho, while the orange-haired Antonina Dmitrieva is delightful as the nosy elevator operator who is mother to all.Vladimir Yavorsky labors to hold Vasya's plaster-cast smile in place in the first act, but eases into things thereafter. His smoothly enthusiastic acceptance of "exile" is effectively double-edged.Konstantin Kravinsky is superb as the television announcer who is literally trapped in a television set, and who unflappably ticks off agricultural achievements, delivers poetry lectures and gives gardening lessons.The black-box set and "tasteless" period costumes by Irina Akimova create the perfect visuals. Everyone's clothing is carelessly splashed in bronze, suggesting that these are people on their way to becoming monuments or, on the contrary, that they are perhaps monuments in the process of decay.Might this be the start of a nostalgia kick? Certainly the realities of Soviet life are taking on an attractive glow for many as they fade in memory. And this production is handled so as to delight those on both sides of the divide.However, chances are that "What A Lovely Sight" is one of a kind. It would be tough to duplicate anything as outlandish as this."What A Lovely Sight" (Moyo Zaglyadenie) plays June 24 at 7 P.M. at the Theater Na Maloi Bronnoi, 4 Malaya Bronnaya Ulitsa. Tel. 290-4093. Running time: 2 hours, 45 mins.