The Red Poppy

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The Red Poppy (Russian: Красный мак) or sometimes The Red Flower (Russian: Красный цветок) is a ballet in three acts and an apotheosis; score written by Reinhold Glière and a scenario by Mikhail Kurilko. This ballet was created in 1927 as the first Soviet ballet with a modern revolutionary theme.

1 Synopsis
2 Music Order & Versions
3 Versions
4 Characters
5 Other performances
6 External links

[edit] Synopsis

The ballet takes place at a seaport in 1930s-era Kuomintang China. A ship carrying sailors from many lands, including Russia is docked in a Chinese seaport. The captain notices a group of half-starved, overworked Coolies being brutally driven to work even harder by their cruel harbormaster. One night while dancing for the sailors aboard the ship, the beautiful Tao-Hoa notices a Russian captain trying to rescue the poor Coolies from the port commander. Impressed by the captain's act of kindness she gives him a red poppy as a symbol of her love. When Tao's employer, Li Shan-Fu learns of this, he is jealous and orders her to kill the captain. She refuses, sacrifices her life for the captain's, and is later killed by her employer when a riot breaks out on the dock. As she dies, she gives another red poppy flower to a young Chinese girl as a sign of love and freedom.

[edit] Music Order & Versions

Act One:

Introduction

Coolies' Dance

Tao-Hoa's Entrance

Restaurant Scene

Malik's Dance

Boston Waltz

Scene of European Dance

Captain's Entrance and Sailors Dance

Tao-Hoa's Scene

Variation with Gold Fingers

Coolies' Victory Dance

Dance of the Soviet Sailors:Apple

Act Two:

Introduction - Scene in the Smoking Room

Scene

Dance of the Chinese Women

Adagio of Four Goddesses

Adagio

Prelude

Tao-Hoa's Vision

Procession Scene

Sword Dance

Phoenix

Adagio

The Rose Ship

Act Three:

Charleston

Dance in the Resterant

Preparation of the Chinese Theather

Umbrella Dance

Puppet Dance

Chinese Acrobats' Dance

The Conspiracy

Scene of Confusion

Captain's Scene

Tao-Hoa's Scene: The Departing Ship

Rebellion Scene

Death of Tao-Hoa

Apotheosis

[edit] Versions

There have been three main versions:

1927 - Choreography by Lev Lashchilin (1st and 3rd Acts) and Vasily Tikhomirov (2nd Act). First performance on 14 June 1927 in the Bolshoi Theatre.
1949 - Choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky. Scenario was rewritten by Yermolayev. First performance on 30 December 1949 in the Bolshoi Theatre.
1957 - Choreography and scenario by Tikhomirov and Kurilko. The ballet was renamed The Red Flower, the number of scenes was increased from 8 to 13 and the first performance was 24 November 1957 in the Bolshoi Theatre.

[edit] Characters

Tao-Hoa (Yekaterina Geltzer (1927), Viktorina Kriger (1927), Galina Ulanova (1949 and 1957), Olga Lepeshinskaya (1949)).
Soviet Captain (Alexey Bulgakov (1927), Alexander Radunsky (1949 and 1957)).
Ma Lichen, introduced in the staging of 1949. (Yury Kondratov (1949 and 1957), Mikhail Gabovich (1949)).
Li Shan-fu (Ivan Smoltsov (1927), Sergey Koren (1949 and 1957), Alexey Yermolayev (1949)).
Chinese prestidigitator (Asaf Messerer (1927)).
Harbormaster (Ivan Sidorov (1927)).