''Nord-Ost'' (, means "North-East" in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

) is a Russian

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

production that was composed by Aleksei Ivaschenko and Georgii Vasilyev, based on the novel '' The Two Captains'' by

Veniamin Kaverin Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin (; Вениами́н А́белевич Зи́льбер (Veniamin Abelevich Zilber); – May 2, 1989) was a Soviet and Russian writer, dramatist and screenwriter associated with the early 1920s movement of th ...

. It is a fictional story based around the historical events surrounding the discovery of the

Severnaya Zemlya Severnaya Zemlya (, ) is a archipelago in the Russian high Arctic. It lies off Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula, separated from the mainland by the Vilkitsky Strait. This archipelago separates two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Kara Sea i ...

archipelago in 1913. The musical was first staged on October 19, 2001 in the Dubrovka theatre, where it played over 400 performances. The play celebrates the Russian soldiers who fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Development

In the 1990s Georgy Vasiliyev saw ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'' in

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, and felt inspired to take theatre to Russia. He tried to buy the rights to ''Les Misérables'' but did not succeed, so he decided to start a homegrown Russian production. He spent funds to convert a former ball-bearing factory "culture hall" into a modern theatre. He spent , making the play the most expensive theatre project in the history of Russia. The tickets were US$15 each, making them relatively expensive. Vasiliyev showed his financiers a marketing study stating that 30% of Moscow's population fit the profile audience that would be willing to pay for the production, due to changing sensibilities and increasing incomes. The Russian theatre community had a prejudice against this kind of play. Peter Baker and Susan Glasser said that the Russian theatre community "considered the concept the thespian version of

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". Vasiliyev said "''Nord-Ost'' was a sort of protest against tarnishing our history, against not believing in your own strength, against all this pervasive, depressing, ugly stuff in mass media. ''Nord-Ost'' is the opposite. It's a romantic story about family. It's a story that elevates us and our history. It's a story that enables us to look at our history not as the history of class struggle, wars, and repressions, but a history of people and personal achievements".

Terrorist attack

On October 23, 2002 Chechen

terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

took the audience hostage in the

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

theater that was showing the production of ''Nord-Ost'', threatening to blow up the building and demanding withdrawal of Russian troops from

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

. Most of the hostages were released after the theatre was stormed by special forces. 130 hostages died from

poison gas Many gases have toxic properties, which are often assessed using the LC50 (median lethal concentration) measure. In the United States, many of these gases have been assigned an NFPA 704 health rating of 4 (may be fatal) or 3 (may cause serious ...

used by Russian special forces; ''Nord-Ost'' lost 17 members of the team, including 2 child actors aged 13 (Kristina Kurbatova and Arsenii Kurilenko) and one third of all musicians in the orchestra. The producer Georgii Vasilyev had been among the hostages. After the attack, ''Nord-Ost'' returned to the same theater stage in Moscow on February 8, 2003 and continued showing there until May 10, 2003, when the producers took it off the stage, blaming a lack of audience interest on fears caused by the attack.

References

External links

Nord-ost official site

Nord-ost official site
{{in lang, ru

- article on The Moscow Times (subscription only) 2001 musicals Musicals set in the Arctic Moscow theater hostage crisis Music in Moscow Musicals based on novels Russian musicals Severnaya Zemlya Musicals set in Russia Musicals set in the 1910s