"The Cherry Orchard" at Mossoviet
Film and theater director Andrei Konchalovsky has put on a trilogy of plays by Anton Chekhov at Mossoviet Theater, starting with “Uncle Vanya” in 2009, “Three Sisters” in 2012, and ending with “The Cherry Orchard” this year. “The Cherry Orchard” is something of a family affair, starring Konchalovsky’s wife, Yulia Vysotskaya as Ranevskaya and many of the same off-stage artists and on-stage performers that contributed to his other two Chekhov plays. As Ranevskaya, Vysotskaya plays the landowner brought home from France grieving over the death of her son as so removed from reality that she is incapable of understanding that her estate and its famous cherry orchard must be sold at auction to pay off debts. The production, designed by Rushan Ismagilov with magnificent costumes by Tamara Eshba, has been nominated for a slew of awards. Tickets are still available at some ticket aggregators. For more information in Russian about the production, see the theater site here.
Music in the Museum
This weekend you can enjoy a great piano concert surrounded by some of the greatest art on the planet. The New Tretyakov Gallery is starting up its T Festival on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. with a solo concert by Alexander Gundin. Gundin, a Tchaikovsky Competition laureate and a celebrated young Russian pianist, will play works by Alexander Skriabin, Claude Debussy, Franz List and Igor Raikhelson. Tickets are available on the museum site.
Clubs and Festivals
Like ska? You’re in luck. On Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. Club IZI is hosting the Ska All Stars with Male Factors, Faberge Eggs, Iron Bees feat Ex.t.r.a and SKAzka. Tickets here.
If you are feeling a bit down, you could go to the rapper Pharoah’s Million Dollar Depression Tour at Adrenaline Stadium on Saturday night at 8 p.m. Guaranteed to raise your spirits. Really. Tickets and information here.
And on Sunday night, end your weekend at the Kozlov Club at 8 p.m. to hear Marimba Plus. Tickets and information here.
For Kids: Robo-Dogs
If you have small people in your household who are fascinated by all things robotic, on Saturday at 2 p.m. you must be at the Robo-Station in Pavilion #2 at VDNKh Park to meet the UNI3 robo-dogs. They are arriving in Moscow from Unitree Robotics and 3Logic Group to show off some of their doggo-robo skills, which include guarding perimeters, running really fast, and dancing. They are named Belka and Strelka in honor of the first Soviet space dogs.
At 490 rubles for kids and 650 rubles for adults, it’s not a cheap treat, but on the other hand: real robo-dogs. How cool is that?
If you haven’t been to VDNKh Park lately, it is full of pavilions and activities to keep your kids entertained for hours, with plenty of kid-friendly and actually delicious cafes and restaurants. While one adult keeps an eye the little ones, the other one can check out the spring seedlings in Pavilion #57.
For more information about the robo-dogs and tickets, see the site here.
Foreign Language Movies
Feel like a movie? A proper movie on a huge screen in a theater, with popcorn and candies and a huge soda in the pull-out holder by your seat? And in your native language?
No problem. We got it. All these films are shown in their original language with Russian subtitles.
How about the Danish movie “Druk” (“Another Round”)? It’s an award-winning comedy-drama about binge drinking, which is intriguing. Showings Friday at 6:40 p.m. at the Vympel Theater (metro Sviblovo) or Sunday at 1:40 p.m. at Sputnik (metro Aviamotornaya).
“Night in Haifa” (in Hebrew and Arabic) is being shown appropriately late at night — at 11:15 p.m. — at the Illyuzion Theater (metro Kitai-gorod). It’s billed as a tragi-comedy about unexpected connections.
Spanish speakers might be interested in the Pedro Almodovar film “Julieta” at the Yunost Theater (metro Oktyabrskoye pole), the story of a woman looking for her daughter and finding her past. It's playing on Friday at 9:10 p.m.
For English speakers, Moscow theaters are running the entire "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in English with Russian subtitles. The first film, "Fellowship of the Ring," is playing in a half dozen theaters at more than 30 times over the next week, with showings from 9:55 a.m. to 9:20 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For exact times and more films in the original language, see the site msk.subscity.ru.
And for everyone curious to see a film in the newly renovated Art Theater on Arbat Square, on Saturday you can see “The Father” starring Anthony Hopkins on Saturday at 9 a.m. in the big hall for 390 rubles, 11:40 p.m. in the small hall for 700 rubles, or at 10:30 p.m. in the very comfortable, elegant chamber hall for 6,000 rubles. For more information, see their site.
