MOSCOW, October 12, Pavel Surkov. The heritage of the Jewish people is receiving more and more attention both in the theater and in culture in general. From ancient traditions to modern creative language — this is what is actively used in art. How exactly — in the material.
Theater: fairy tales and traditions on stage
On October twenty-fifth, after many years of renovation, the Moscow Variety Theater will open and the premiere show of Alexander Zhurbin’s musical “Between Two Worlds” will take place on the famous stage. .
This is an amazing mystical and magical story based on the play “The Dybbuk” by Semyon Ansky, which has long been included in the treasury of world theatrical classics. Now composer Alexander Zhurbin has transferred the plot to the musical genre. Director Nina Chusova attracted a truly stellar cast to the production: Efim Shifrin, Lika Rulla, Valeria Lanskaya.
The audience will like the musical, producer Mikhail Sheinin is sure.
«
“One hundred years ago, in 1922, Vakhtangov, on the advice of Stanislavsky, staged The Dybbuk.” And now the Variety Theater is opening our musical based on this play. This is a story about love, fidelity — themes that everyone can understand. There are many mystical, cabalistic elements: ancient Jewish myths about the transmigration of souls, national Jewish flavor in costumes, part of the action takes place in a synagogue. The scenery is reminiscent of Marc Chagall’s paintings,” he said in a conversation with.
For Alexander Zhurbin this is not the first appeal to the culture of the Jewish people. The bright film musical “The Bandit and the King” was based on “Odessa Stories” by Isaac Babel.
The main roles were played by Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Zinovy Gerdt, Evgeny Evstigneev. And so Zhurbin continues to work with the musical heritage of one of the most important world cultures, citing traditional klezmer, folk songs and dance melodies. But at the same time framing them in a modern musical shell.
If we talk about the theater, we can recall the play based on Tom Stoppard’s play “Leopoldstadt”, staged at the RAMT by Alexei Borodin.
This is the story of the family of a successful Viennese manufacturer, which was literally and figuratively crushed by the key events of the twentieth century. The horror of World War II and Nazism brought down all prosperity and hopes — here is not only a metaphorical picture of recent history, but also a kind of reflection on the events of the past, which is extremely important in modern conditions.
«
“This is the tragedy of the minority, which always irritates the majority and always loses to it. And also thinking about how each of us can live in a changing world, withstanding all the ups and downs, without losing ourselves and our roots,” said the director.
In addition, there is the Shalom Theater in Moscow, which comes from the studio founded in 1919 by Alexei Granovsky.
There are various performances that deal with Jewish themes. Including the “Red Book” — about the tragedy of the Holocaust. “We believe that information about the resistance and struggle of Jews against Nazism should be available to anyone, so we are showing the performance for free,” the theater’s website reports.
Or “Exodus” — a kind of transfer of the legend about Moses to the modern world. 
There are also love stories. This year the premiere of the play “Tahir and Zukhra” took place.
“
“This is a fascinating story of modern slaves who, like the Jews in Egypt, are trying to break out of the shackles of slavery, drawing strength for this in the love, devotion and spirit of their people,” says the description of the performance.< /p>
Of course, one cannot fail to mention the “Funeral Prayer” restored in “Lenkom” based on the play by Grigory Gorin, written, in turn, based on Sholom Aleichem.
Once upon a time, Evgeny Leonov, Alexander Abdulov, and Tatyana Peltzer shone in this legendary production by Mark Zakharov. Today, the current stars of the theater take to the stage in a performance reproduced by Alexander Lazarev, accurate to the smallest ideas of the master: Sergey Stepanchenko, Andrey Leonov, Viktor Rakov, Olesya Zheleznyak.
Cinema: humor and famous surname
Immersion in national traditions continues in cinema, including mass cinema.
Thus, Ilya Farfel’s series “Poor Abramovichs” is successfully running on the START online platform. Four generations of a family live in the center of Moscow, long ago moving away from their national and religious roots. But everything changes overnight when the spirit of his ancestor Chaim, who once brought a curse on the entire Abramovich family, contacts the main character Borey. And now we need to somehow get rid of the terrible sin of the evil old man from the past.
This is a classic sitcom with a national flavor. Light, cheerful and bright, with memorable characters and a cascade of jokes.
All this, on the one hand, is understandable to any viewer, and on the other, it allows you to immerse yourself in Jewish traditions and learn individual features of the worldview of another people. Almost according to Makarenko: even when amusing, teach.
Museums: the influence of Jews on world culture
It is incredibly valuable when culture and heritage are combined with modern meanings. The other day, on October 11, the exhibition “The Trial: Franz Kafka and the Art of the 20th Century” opened at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.
As executive director Kristina Krasnyanskaya notes, the museum adheres to several directions when forming an exhibition plan.
“
"Blockbuster exhibitions that attract the widest audience, such as “The Trial”, because there is, of course, interest in Kafka’s work same, huge. In addition, we have exhibitions focusing on avant-garde art, curatorial projects exploring broad, intellectually rich themes, contemporary art exhibitions, and projects reflecting Jewish history and culture. So there is precisely the interpenetration of cultures and traditions — at very different levels of perception,” explained Krasnyanskaya.
And in modern conditions this is extremely important. When cancel culture continually tries to penetrate the level of everyday consciousness, it is necessary to constantly present projects that demonstrate the strong connection of cultures and traditions. As has always happened between the Jewish and Russian peoples.