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- "The artists warmed themselves with cognac": New Year's stories of the stars in the spirit of "Irony of Fate"
"The artists warmed themselves with cognac": New Year's stories of the stars in the spirit of "Irony of Fate"
Seven dwarfs breathing booze on a bee, a slip about a "bitch", a bus that left without an actor on a Siberian night, a bonfire in a forest near Moscow and a romantic flight without money — what just happens to the artists on New Year's Eve! On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the country's main festive film "The Irony of Fate, or With a light Steam!" by Eldar Ryazanov, Izvestia asked actors, directors and musicians to recall what unusual stories happened to them on the eve of January 1.
Andrey Zhitinkin, People's Artist of Russia, director:
— I was a full-time director of the Mossovet Theater for ten years. Now everything is somehow divine: there are no performances on January 1. But in our time they played. And always the children's fairy tale "The Bee" by Anatoly Franz.
Can you imagine the actors' condition on January 1st after a stormy night? Coming in the morning and playing a children's play was a challenge not only for them, but also for the audience. The children, of course, watched with delight, but for the parents it was already a feat in itself to bring them to the theater that day.
In the fairy tale, there is a bee that falls asleep, and it must be revived by seven dwarfs. At that time, the bee was played by a young actress of the Mossovet Theater, Elena Valyushkina. Today she is very famous and in demand in the cinema. And around her there were seven dwarfs — rumpled, aged, small in stature, among them were both honored and national artists.
Bee is lying in the center of the stage, near the footlights. The children are craning their necks, waiting to see how she will be revived. And in the text there is a sacramental phrase written by Franz himself, without any amateur activity: "Let's breathe on her."
And just imagine: seven dwarfs bend down and start breathing on Lena Valyushkina, and so diligently that even the men in the front row perk up because they feel a very distinct aroma of New Year's alcohol.
Actress Elena Valyushkina
Poor Lena, she can't stand it: there are seven dwarfs after all. She quietly crawls away from them closer to the ramp. But the dwarves do not let up, especially one — People's Artist Alexander Lenkov, who, unfortunately, is no longer alive. He says, "No, let's get some more air!" and suggests connecting the gym. Shouting at the children: "Children, let's say, 'Breathe!'
The children start chanting. And then Lena Valyushkina, who had been lying with her eyes closed, suddenly opens them abruptly and says to the whole hall: "I can breathe on you myself!"
What a delight my parents were! Someone even jumped up and shouted: "Bravo, honey bee!" Because Lena was, let's say, in the same state — she also celebrated New Year's Eve. The phrase instantly took on a completely different meaning.
It was pure improvisation—she just couldn't stand it. According to the stage, bee should have been lying down longer, but the children were already chanting, the adults were shouting. The audience was delighted.
Vladimir Steklov, People's Artist of Russia:
— Once we were returning at night after a performance on tour. Surgut district. It's not just cold, but the very frost that immediately gets under the skin. As usual, after the performance, the actors warmed up a little with cognac, so when everyone boarded the bus, they were instantly drowsy. The car was moving smoothly, softly, and soon the whole cabin was asleep — calmly, dully, like a road.
The bus stopped due to technical reasons. One famous artist — I won't give his last name, he still resents us — went to the toilet.
Some time passed, the bus started moving again, and suddenly the whole cabin exploded with a heart-rending scream: "There is no man! They forgot him! We forgot him in the snow!"
We woke up all at once. The realization came too late — we were already far from the stop. He jumped out in what he was wearing: his jacket was left on the bus, his phone was in his jacket. No connection, no warmth. It's just night and frost.
He was shouting after us. I'm sure it's loud and obscene. Then he just ran. I don't know how many kilometers. How he got around is also a mystery. But he ran to the nearest traffic police post.
There they looked at him like a convict: frozen, disheveled, almost unreal. They warmed him up, of course, and immediately started calling the phones he knew from memory. Everyone was really scared, no kidding. But as it turns out, this happens to artists on New Year's Eve.
Evgeny Gerasimov, People's Artist of Russia, director:
— That was about 30 years ago. One day, my friend Valera Plotnikov and I were going to my good friend's cottage to celebrate the New Year. While we were driving, he and I got lost in some kind of forest in the Moscow region, I can't remember exactly now. We took everything we had out of our car, lit a big bonfire, and started celebrating the New Year.
We even had to make a torch and climb the tree to be noticed. We also turned on the music loudly, of course. As a result, our friends saw the bonfire and came to us with the whole company. And since it was a creative holiday village, several more houses later joined us. And we celebrated New Year's Eve on the street — right in what we were wearing! Then, of course, we went home at night with torches. It was a lot of fun. From this whole situation, I came to the conclusion that life is wonderful. Everywhere and in everything. You just need to be able to enjoy it and seize the moment.
Brandon Stone, music producer, singer:
— I was about 20 years old when I just started dating my first love, and we started living together. She was from St. Petersburg, and we lived in Berlin, where our whole family moved back in the 1990s. I remember well that it was New Year's Eve. We just started dating, we had true love, and suddenly she says, "I'm going to St. Petersburg. I have studies there, I will be there all December, January and February." I'm shocked, "How? Are you leaving me alone? How will I live without you? I love you!" She replies: "But I can't stay—I have to study."
I didn't know what to do. I was a romantic, but I had no money: I was a poor student. She was going to leave Berlin for St. Petersburg. I decided to persuade all her relatives, took the last money for plane tickets and flew to her. I bought her flowers before the meeting. When she got off the bus, she was shocked to see me with flowers in St. Petersburg on December 30th. I was freezing, but I knew that I would do anything for love. She got back on the bus and couldn't get off for another 30 minutes, not believing her luck.
We spent New Year's Eve together, and then we dated for another three and a half years. She was happy with such actions. But I gradually became famous, and people started recognizing me more often, and she didn't like it anymore. In the end, she couldn't stand my success. I decided that we couldn't date anymore because jealousy would ruin our relationship. (Laughs.)
But that's not all! On the same day, December 30, we needed to stay somewhere, and we decided to spend the night with relatives because there was no money for a hotel. I had the only 500 euros that I borrowed. It was necessary to exchange them for rubles. I didn't know how things were going in St. Petersburg! I went to the first exchanger and remembered that I should get 21 thousand rubles for 500 euros.
My uncle stood in line behind me and asked: "Are you in the exchanger? I want to change the money too. Let me give you the rubles, and you give me the euros." Of course, I agreed — I was naive! I gave him the euro, and he counted out the rubles for me. I went out happy. And then I counted it — and there were only 10 thousand rubles! I was tricked! Anyway, two things happened in one day: I lost money and I found love.
Andrey Zhitinkin, People's Artist of Russia, director:
— Another story. I staged the play "My Poor Marat" at the Mossovet Theater. We played it once on New Year's Eve. Andrey Ilyin had a remark addressed to the hero of Alexander Domogarov: "And get it on your nose." But Ilyin made a slip of the tongue and said, "And fuck it."
Domogarov froze for a second. It was obvious that he did not immediately understand how to react. And then, as befits an actor of an excellent theater school, he immediately picked up and asked quite calmly: "What the fuck?"
The main character Lika, played by Larisa Kuznetsova, also participated in the scene. She immediately realized that the play was going away, and tried to save the day by adding, "Guys, don't fight, I don't know which bitch I'm on."
The dialogue threatened to drag on indefinitely. I was already getting nervous and shouted from behind the scenes: "Let's have the chimes, champagne!" Domogarov began to open the bottle, but it wouldn't budge in any way — all the laws of theatrical overlays worked. Then he held the bottle between his legs and said, "Well, that's a bitch."
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
