Variety Theatre (Entry)

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Stage, Cabaret, Variety Shows
VARIETY THEATRE (from the French word varietes, from the Latin varietas - mixture) is the name for leisure programmes based on uniting various genres normally demonstrated at restaurants and cafes (they were supplemented with meal), sometimes in theatres. The name originates from the name of the theatre Varietes established in Paris in 1720. The Russian tradition of variety theatres dates back to Gipsy routines in city taverns. Variety theatres appeared in St. Petersburg in the 1860s under the name cafes-chantants or chantants (already in the 1870s, the capital was called the city of chantants). Guest groups from France and individual foreign guest actors performed here, while the first Russian variety theatres appeared in the 1880s. The garden-theatre Buff, various theatres of small forms stood close to them in the genre. The programmes were mostly comprised of dancing, cancans, eccentric comperes, couplets and songs. The performances were marked by unusual splendour and brilliance, and erotica was an indispensable element. Quite often restaurants with variety theatres became unofficial hotbeds of prostitution. Actors were hired by contract and were fully under the power of the owner. The Russian Society of Actors of Variety Theatres and Circuses (ROAVIT) was established in 1914 with the purpose of defending the rights of actors. At the beginning of the 20th century, the most popular variety theatres were Aquarium, Luna Park (39 Ofitserskaya Street), Eden (23 Glazovskaya Street), Villa Rode etc. A number of talented impresarios rose at that very time (I. I. Izler, G. A. Alexandrov and P. V. Tumpakov et al.). After October 1917, all the variety theatres were closed. In the 1920s, they rose for a short while during the period of the New Economic Policy. The Leningrad Music Hall was a kind of variety theatre with popular music forming the basis of its programmes. By the 1970s, a gradual rebirth of variety programmes started at big Leningrad restaurants. The St. Petersburg Variety Theatre was established in 1976, it produced small, colourful revues. In the middle of the 1980s, Variety Theatres were established in the as part of the Intourist hotel and restaurant chain. In the 1990s, new forms of variety theatres appeared: night clubs, jazz-cafes, strip-teases etc. At the same time the variety of genres typical for variety theatres was gradually lost: the programme came to performances of vocalists, fashionable groups, and show-ballet. Forms of variety theatre are also used in drama theatres and on TV.

References: Кузнецов Е. М. Из прошлого русской эстрады: Ист. очерки. М., 1958; Клитин С. С. Эстрада: Проблемы теории, истории и методики. Л., 1987.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Alexandrov Georgy Alexandrovich
Izler Ivan Ivanovich
Tumpakov P.V.
Dekabristov St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 39
Konstantina Zaslonova St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 23
Кузнецов Е. М. Из прошлого русской эстрады: Ист. очерки. М., 1958
Клитин С. С. Эстрада: Проблемы теории, истории и методики. Л., 1987 Rhodes Villa Restaurant
Music Hall