Red Giselle. Boris Eifman Ballet presents Tickets

Stanislavsky Music Theatre, Moscow, Russia

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Available Dates: 8 - 10 Oct, 2025 (3 events)

Important Info

Type: Modern Ballet

City: Moscow, Russia

Duration: 2h with 1 interval

Acts: 2

Intervals: 1

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast

Performers

Choose the date to see the peformers

Creators

Composer: Alfred Schnittke

Composer: Georges Bizet

Choreographer: Boris Eifman

Overview

The Stanislavsky Theatre, located in XIX century historical building just 750 metres (9-minute walk) from the Bolshoi, presents Boris Eifman’s legendary ballet Red Giselle — a story of genius, passion, and destiny. Ballet at the Stanislavsky Theatre is the great and affordable alternative to the Bolshoi.

The ballet Red Giselle tells us about the fate of the Russian ballerina Olga Spessivtseva. It is a subtle and masterful interpretation by Boris Eifman of the life story of a great dancer who lived through the turmoil of revolutionary events, emigrated from Russia and, after a series of personal dramas and upheavals, ended up in a sanatorium for the insane.

Nearly thirty years after its premiere, the choreographer has reimagined Red Giselle: the choreographic score has been renewed, and the visual design now reflects the full range of contemporary stagecraft. On stage — a world of piercing emotions, where the heroine’s gift becomes both her blessing and her curse.

“Our performance is not a literal retelling of Spessivtseva’s life, but an attempt to capture the fate of many great talents forced to leave Russia and live through tragic exile. She was a brilliant Giselle — so much so that the heroine’s destiny became her own,” says Boris Eifman.

Stunning choreography, evocative sets by Vyacheslav Okunev, and powerful lighting by Gleb Filshtinsky bring to life a ballet that has already become a modern classic.

“Red Giselle” — a requiem for a ballerina, and a celebration of ballet’s limitless power to tell human stories.

Synopsis

Act 1

Revolutionary Petrograd. A lesson of classical dance at the Mariinsky Theatre. Among all dancers a strict Teacher singles out one whose perfect movements embody his ideal of beauty.

A full house applauds the Ballerina. Among her admirers is a Commissar, who personifies the new power. The Ballerina is attracted and overwhelmed by his force.

The Commissar introduces her to his world where destruction and chaos reign. However, Ballerina’s euphoria fades away. She returns to the ballet class and to the Teacher.

Within the walls of the theatre a new regime is established, with its domination over high art. The Teacher is in desperation. His world is in ruins.

The affair with the Commissar is excruciating for the Ballerina, with fear mixed with attraction.

The Commissar gives the Ballerina permission to leave Russia.

Act 2

Paris, Grand Opéra. A young choreographer introduces the Ballerina to a new plastique which is not familiar to her. He becomes her Partner. Together they achieve triumphant success.

Ballerina’s growing feeling for the Partner is not returned. Unrequited love and loneliness in the alien world push her towards a spiritual breakdown.

Ballerina seeks distraction by plunging into the atmosphere of Parisian spree. But the phantoms of the past continue to haunt her.

Even her favorite role of Giselle, Ballerina’s best part, doesn’t bring her peace of mind. The destiny of Giselle awaits herself – betrayal by the loved man and insanity. The mind of the heroine cannot cope with the upheaval. Ballerina’s image dissolves into the mirror-world.

Venue Info

Stanislavsky Music Theatre - Moscow
B. Dmitrovka, 17

The Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre is a music theatre in Moscow.

The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre was founded in 1941 when two companies directed by the legendary reformers of twentieth-century theatre — Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko — merged: the Stanislavsky Opera Theatre (established at the end of 1918 as an Opera Studio of the Bolshoi Theatre) and the Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre (set up in 1919 as a Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre).

The new theatre followed the artistic principles of its founders, who applied the system of the Moscow Art Theatre to opera and ballet. Both Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko rejected the current conception of opera as «costume concert». They wanted to bring it closer to drama and comedy, revealing the main idea of the plot through psychologically motivated action. The ballet company entered the Theatre as a part of Nemirovich-Danchenko's troupe. It was the former company of the Moscow Art Ballet, established in 1929 by Victorina Krieger, the valued ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre. She was Artistic Director and one of the principal dancers of the Moscow Art Ballet. Soon after Stanislavsky's death, Nemirovich-Danchenko took charge of all the companies (Vsevolod Meyerhold invited by Stanislavsky to work for his theatre, was arrested in 1939, and no other stage director could prove equal to Nemirovich-Danchenko). Then the theatre was given its present name.