Buff, theatre

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Theaters, Concert Organizations
BUFF, the name of several Petersburg musical theatres (from the Italian: opera buffa is comic opera). The first Theatre-Buff was opened in the garden of the Anichkov Palace (today known as the Recreation Garden) on Nevsky Prospect in 1872. The French Buff theatre group was first to perform there. Their repertoire included operettas and variety shows performed by Anna Judic, Hortenzia Schneider, Jeanne Granier, and Blanche Gandon. Cabaret songs and cancan formed a major part of performances. The theatre also had a restaurant. The Theatre Buff was the favourite meeting place of business people, promoters and the wealthy. It is often mentioned in the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, Ostrovsky, Nekrasov (usually satirically). The theatre existed until 1917. The theatre-garden Buff (commonly known as Summer Buff) provides some of the best entertainment in St. Petersburg. It was established in 1901 by Tumpakov P.V., a merchant from Yaroslavl, in the Izmailov garden rented by him and that operated from May to October. The Buff included a chamber theatre, an open entertainment platform, and a restaurant with a patio. The theatre performed classical operettas by Johann Strauss, Jacques Offenbach, Herve et al, engaging well known actors (N.I. Tamara, V.V. Kravetskaya, M. A. Rostovtsev, N. F. Monakhov et al). The theatre was directed by Alexander Bryansky; its musical producer was Wilhelm Spachek. Buff gave the Russian premieres of Lehar's The Merry Widow (1906) and The Count of Luxembourg.(1909). Performances were followed by concerts given by Varya Panina, Anastasiya Vyaltseva, among others. In 1912 the open entertainment platform added to the patio, and so variety shows were performed there, featuring French cabaret singers, black step dancers, Gypsy choruses, comic actors, and entertainers. Their shows contained a good amount of eroticism, and actresses played the roles of "women for order". In its popularity Buff matched the best variety theatres, including Aquarium, Luna-Park, and Villa Rode. Every day it had up to 4,000 visitors. In the 1920s, its performers included L. O. Utesov, L. P. Orlova, E. P. Korchagina-Alexandrovskaya, B. A. Gorin-Goryainov, and E. M. Granovskaya. The theatre garden was closed in the late 1920s; today it is the Molodezhny Theatre. In 1905 Tumpakov opened another Theatre-Buff (commonly known as Winter Buff) in the premises of the Panayev Theatre located in the Admiralty Embankment (the building is not preserved) which produced classic operettas engaging the best artistic efforts. This theatre existed until 1910. In 1880-85 The French Buff played French operettas, vaudevilles and variety shows performed by French and Russian actors in the Kaskad Garden located in Novaya Derevnya. A new youth Theatre-Buff of Miniatures was opened in 1980 (1/70 Narodnaya Street; directed by Isaak Shtokbant). The repertoire includes musicals, comedies, and "buff-style" concerts.

Reference: Кузнецов Е. М. Из прошлого русской эстрады: Ист. очерки. М., 1958. С. 123-125; Засосов Д. А., Пызин В. И. Из жизни Петербурга 1890-1910-х гг. Л., 1991. С. 116-124.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Abaza Alexander Aggeevich
Bryansky (born Brown) Alexander Alexandrovich
Gandon Blanche
Gorin-Goryainov Boris Anatolievich
Granier Jeanne
Granovskaya Elena Mavrikievna
Herve (real name Ronger Florimond)
Judic (Damiens) Anna
Kavetskaya Viktoria Viktorovna
Korchagina-Alexandrovskaya Ekaterina Pavlovna
Lehar Ferenc (Franz)
Monakhov Nikolay Fedorovich
Nekrasov Nikolay Alexeevich
Offenbach Jacques (real name Eberst Jakob)
Orlova Lyubov Petrovna
Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Panina Varvara Vasilievna
Rostovtsev Mikhail Antonovich
Saltykov-Shchedrin (real name Saltykov) Mikhail Evgrafovich
Schneider Hortenzia
Shtokbant Isaak Romanovich
Spachek Wilhelm Osipovich
Strauss Johann
Tamara Natalia Ivanovna
Tumpakov P.V.
Utesov Leonid Osipovich (real name Weisbein Lazar Iosifovich)
Vyaltseva Anastasiya Dmitrievna
Admiralteyskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Narodnaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 1/70
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city
Кузнецов Е. М. Из прошлого русской эстрады: Ист. очерки. М., 1958
Засосов Д. А., Пызин В. И. Из жизни Петербурга 1890 - 1910-х гг. Л., 1991 Anichkov Palace
Rhodes Villa Restaurant
Molodezhny (Youth) Theatre on Fontanka
Buff, theatre