Editing Nord-Ost

{{Short description|2001 Russian musical theatre production}}
{{Infobox Musical
|name= Nord-Ost
|image= Nord-Ost english promo copy.png
|caption= Moscow advertisement
|music=[[Aleksei Ivaschenko]]<br>[[Georgii Vasilyev]]
|lyrics=[[Aleksei Ivaschenko]]<br>[[Georgii Vasilyev]]
|basis=1944 novel by [[Veniamin Kaverin]] <br> ''[[The Two Captains]]''
|productions= 2001, Dubrovka theatre, [[Moscow]]
|awards= Golden Mask for Best Musical<br>Golden Mask for Best Performance by a Featured Actor
}}

'''''Nord-Ost''''' ({{langx|ru|Норд-Ост}}, means "North-East" in [[German language|German]]) is a Russian [[musical theatre]] production that was composed by [[Aleksei Ivaschenko]] and [[Georgii Vasilyev]], based on the novel ''[[The Two Captains]]'' by [[Veniamin Kaverin]]. It is a fictional story based around the historical events surrounding the discovery of the [[Severnaya Zemlya]] archipelago in 1913. The musical was first staged on October 19, 2001 in the Dubrovka theatre, where it played over 400 performances.

The play celebrates the Russian soldiers who fought in [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Badkhen |first=Anna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8s89whHhJFEC&dq=%22masked+men%22+%22Nord+Ost%22&pg=PA116 |title=Peace Meals: Candy-Wrapped Kalashnikovs and Other War Stories |date=2011-10-25 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4391-6650-5 |pages=116 |language=en}}</ref>

== Development ==
In the 1990s Georgy Vasiliyev saw ''[[Les Misérables (musical)|Les Misérables]]'' in [[New York City]], and felt inspired to take theatre to Russia. He tried to buy the rights to ''Les Misérables'' but did not succeed, so he decided to start a homegrown Russian production. He spent funds to convert a former ball-bearing factory "culture hall" into a modern theatre.{{clarify|date=February 2019}} He spent {{nowrap|[[United States dollar|US$]]4 million}}, making the play the most expensive theatre project in the history of Russia. The tickets were US$15 each, making them relatively expensive. Vasiliyev showed his financiers a marketing study stating that 30% of Moscow's population fit the profile audience that would be willing to pay for the production, due to changing sensibilities and increasing incomes. The Russian theatre community had a prejudice against this kind of play.{{clarify|date=February 2019}} [[Peter Baker (author)|Peter Baker]] and [[Susan Glasser]] said that the Russian theatre community "considered the concept the thespian version of [[McDonald's]]".<ref name="Baker158">{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRbssEu4eQMC&dq=%22A+young+entrepreneur+who+spent+the+1990s+transporting%22&pg=PA158 |title=Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2005-06-07 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-8179-9 |pages=158 |language=en}}</ref>

Vasiliyev said "''Nord-Ost'' was a sort of protest against tarnishing our history, against not believing in your own strength, against all this pervasive, depressing, ugly stuff in mass media. ''Nord-Ost'' is the opposite. It's a romantic story about family. It's a story that elevates us and our history. It's a story that enables us to look at our history not as the history of class struggle, wars, and repressions, but a history of people and personal achievements".<ref name="Baker158" />

== Terrorist attack ==
{{Main articles|Moscow theater hostage crisis}}
On October 23, 2002 [[Chechen people|Chechen]] [[Terrorism|terrorists]] took the audience hostage in the [[Moscow]] theater that was showing the production of ''Nord-Ost'', threatening to blow up the building and demanding withdrawal of Russian troops from [[Chechnya]]. Most of the hostages were released after the theatre was stormed by special forces. 130 hostages died from [[Moscow hostage crisis chemical agent|poison gas]] used by Russian special forces; ''Nord-Ost'' lost 17 members of the team, including 2 child actors aged 13 (Kristina Kurbatova and Arsenii Kurilenko) and one third of all musicians in the orchestra. The producer Georgii Vasilyev had been among the hostages.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2002-10-30 |title=Moscow musical fights back |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2376403.stm |access-date=2023-03-29}}</ref>

After the attack, ''Nord-Ost'' returned to the same theater stage in Moscow on February 8, 2003 and continued showing there until May 10, 2003, when the producers took it off the stage, blaming a lack of audience interest on fears caused by the attack.

{{Portal|Russia|Theatre
}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://english.nordost.ru/ Nord-ost official site]
* [http://www.nordost.ru/ Nord-ost official site] {{in lang|ru}}
* [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/10/28/016.html Luzhkov Says 'Nord Ost' Will Return to the Stage] - article on The Moscow Times (subscription only)

[[Category:2001 musicals]]
[[Category:Musicals set in the Arctic]]
[[Category:Moscow theater hostage crisis]]
[[Category:Music in Moscow]]
[[Category:Musicals based on novels]]
[[Category:Russian musicals]]
[[Category:Severnaya Zemlya]]
[[Category:Musicals set in Russia]]
[[Category:Musicals set in the 1910s]]