DAY FIFTY ONE - Tuesday May 15
Day off - I was a sight-seer. And a souvenir purchaser.
I tried to go to four museums - history, mineralogical, gem and metal. Only two were open: History and Gem. Here are some photos.
First the history museum. From a mining area to one of the major locations of the uprising to an arms manufacturing center (visiting this area was prohibited until the 1990's because of all the armament plants), it is now the 4th largest city in Russia (by some accounts, third). I've included what English translations I could find about the city.
Yakov Sverdlov (after whos this city is named), Stalin and Lenin.
Nicholas and Alexandra
The five Romanov children
A grand ole' bookcase.
Ibid.
This was a moving, panoramic photo of the city from long ago.
I found a lot of the soldier's uniforms interesting - I'm guess from the 1812 era. They'll come in handy or costume research some day.
Models of canons and artillery carts.
This was a fabulous balcony railing.
This was the entrance to a very odd, interesting, cool exhibit - kind of a combination of Lady Gaga and Alexander McQueen - and a pile of mannequins.
The exhibit poster.
Here's a video:
I think this next section was about crafts and manufacturing in Ekaterinburg.
For lunch, I wnat to Mamma's Big House - a menu in English - which is rare here.
Of the many mushroom soups that are to be found in Ekateriburg, this was by far the most attractive... and the least tasty. The bread was as dense as it look. But it DID hold the soup with no leaks!
I then went in search of the gem museum - because there are supposed to be a lot of them around here. Gems - not gem museums. I followed the map to the corner where the entrance was supposed to be - but found huge temporary walls of cement. I followed the arrows around to a guarded entrance (these guards were not here for the museum), nor was the German Shepard (in a caged area) who's back was literally up to my shoulders. I found this rather creepy doorway...
Leading to an even creepier stairway and hallway - which led to the back entrance of the gift shop.
I went into the single-room exhibit - and I know it's just a room full of rocks - but nature produces some simply magnificently shaped and colored stones...
Malachite (green and black stripes) is a stone that is very popular here - and I remember Grandma Ruth had lots of Malachite jewelry.
A bone - not sure from what - but it's a big one!
Here is a sculpture of Yajov Sverdlov (a nice Jewish revolutionary) - after whom the city was (and region still is) named.
In the later afternoon, I had an interview for a website called "Orange" - or the Russian word for Orange.
In the evening, we had our first orchestra rehearsal - which I thought sounded pretty good. Here is a picture of me and one of my favorite older character guys - Alexsei Alexseyovich Shambor. He plays one of our Lloyds - Mary's father.
Here's some video of the rehearsal. Remember, most roles are double-cast - two of them are triple-cast! We are on the Fiddler on the Roof set. At the end you will see the duet between King Pankraz and Mary - but we have two Kings and three Marys - so we had to be creative about the math!
VID HERE
After rehearsal, we had a long hang with a friend of Gregg's. His name is Slava and he's here to accompany an actress from his theatre and conservatory to the competition. She's singing opera - on pointe! He directed two shows Gregg conducted here almost 20 years ago and is now the artistic director of a theatre in the south.
He is a round-ish gentleman who just turned 60 with a huge smile and warm personality - a great joke teller and raconteur. He was a race care driver before becoming an actor and then director - and won a marathon rally from the Atlantic to the Pacific - a 28 day race - in a Land Rover. He still teaches racing.
He drove 11 hours to be here. I saw a star of David hanging around his neck - which is unique because I haven't met very many Jewish people here. I'm sure they're here - just not... HERE. He was happy to meet another from "the tribe" and he told me about an city in Russia where he often directs called Kol Ima (voice of the mother) in a region called Magadan (Garden of Eden).
He asked where my Star of David was - I replied I didn't have one. He said he would have a surprise for me tomorrow. And, indeed, he did.
As we were all saying goodbye, I told him that he was the exact kind of person we traveled all the way from America to meet. And that's true. A completely open, intelligent, caring, conscientious, family-oriented human being and artist who is generous with his ideas and his smile. I'm very happy to have met him - and I know Patti and Dave share those sentiments. He's here till Friday.
Day off - I was a sight-seer. And a souvenir purchaser.
I tried to go to four museums - history, mineralogical, gem and metal. Only two were open: History and Gem. Here are some photos.
First the history museum. From a mining area to one of the major locations of the uprising to an arms manufacturing center (visiting this area was prohibited until the 1990's because of all the armament plants), it is now the 4th largest city in Russia (by some accounts, third). I've included what English translations I could find about the city.
I found a lot of the soldier's uniforms interesting - I'm guess from the 1812 era. They'll come in handy or costume research some day.
This was the entrance to a very odd, interesting, cool exhibit - kind of a combination of Lady Gaga and Alexander McQueen - and a pile of mannequins.
Here's a video:
I think this next section was about crafts and manufacturing in Ekaterinburg.
For lunch, I wnat to Mamma's Big House - a menu in English - which is rare here.
I then went in search of the gem museum - because there are supposed to be a lot of them around here. Gems - not gem museums. I followed the map to the corner where the entrance was supposed to be - but found huge temporary walls of cement. I followed the arrows around to a guarded entrance (these guards were not here for the museum), nor was the German Shepard (in a caged area) who's back was literally up to my shoulders. I found this rather creepy doorway...
Leading to an even creepier stairway and hallway - which led to the back entrance of the gift shop.
I went into the single-room exhibit - and I know it's just a room full of rocks - but nature produces some simply magnificently shaped and colored stones...
Malachite (green and black stripes) is a stone that is very popular here - and I remember Grandma Ruth had lots of Malachite jewelry.
Here is a sculpture of Yajov Sverdlov (a nice Jewish revolutionary) - after whom the city was (and region still is) named.
In the later afternoon, I had an interview for a website called "Orange" - or the Russian word for Orange.
In the evening, we had our first orchestra rehearsal - which I thought sounded pretty good. Here is a picture of me and one of my favorite older character guys - Alexsei Alexseyovich Shambor. He plays one of our Lloyds - Mary's father.
Here's some video of the rehearsal. Remember, most roles are double-cast - two of them are triple-cast! We are on the Fiddler on the Roof set. At the end you will see the duet between King Pankraz and Mary - but we have two Kings and three Marys - so we had to be creative about the math!
VID HERE
After rehearsal, we had a long hang with a friend of Gregg's. His name is Slava and he's here to accompany an actress from his theatre and conservatory to the competition. She's singing opera - on pointe! He directed two shows Gregg conducted here almost 20 years ago and is now the artistic director of a theatre in the south.
He is a round-ish gentleman who just turned 60 with a huge smile and warm personality - a great joke teller and raconteur. He was a race care driver before becoming an actor and then director - and won a marathon rally from the Atlantic to the Pacific - a 28 day race - in a Land Rover. He still teaches racing.
He drove 11 hours to be here. I saw a star of David hanging around his neck - which is unique because I haven't met very many Jewish people here. I'm sure they're here - just not... HERE. He was happy to meet another from "the tribe" and he told me about an city in Russia where he often directs called Kol Ima (voice of the mother) in a region called Magadan (Garden of Eden).
He asked where my Star of David was - I replied I didn't have one. He said he would have a surprise for me tomorrow. And, indeed, he did.
As we were all saying goodbye, I told him that he was the exact kind of person we traveled all the way from America to meet. And that's true. A completely open, intelligent, caring, conscientious, family-oriented human being and artist who is generous with his ideas and his smile. I'm very happy to have met him - and I know Patti and Dave share those sentiments. He's here till Friday.
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