Variety genre specificity. Variety history

If there is some unreasonably tall man in the chair in front of me, it begins to seem to me that I am hard of hearing. In any case, such music ceases to be pop music for me. However, it also happens that what is happening on the stage is perfectly visible, however, despite this, it does not become a fact of pop art; after all, other artists and directors concentrate all their efforts on pleasing our ears, caring little about our eyes. Especially often one encounters an underestimation of the spectacular side of pop art in musical genres, but the symptoms of the same disease can be observed in artistic reading and in entertaining.

- Well, - you say, - again we are talking about long-known things, that many pop artists lack stage culture, that their numbers are sometimes devoid of plastic expressiveness and are visually monotonous.

Indeed, all these serious shortcomings, which have not yet been overcome by pop art, often appear in reviews, problematic articles, and creative discussions. To some extent, they will be affected in this article. However, I would like to ask a broader question. The point here, obviously, is not only the lack of skill as such. This shortcoming affected even those pop genres that are addressed only to vision. Acrobats, jugglers, illusionists (even the best of them, great masters of their craft) most often sin precisely with the same visual monotony, a lack of plastic culture. All varieties of the genre are reduced, as a rule, to the alternation within the number of approximately one circle of tricks and techniques performed. Stamps that develop from year to year (for example, an acrobatic male couple, tall and small, working at a slow pace, performing power movements, or a melancholic juggler dressed in a tuxedo with a cigar and a hat, etc.) only reinforce, legitimize spectacular poverty pop genres. Traditions, once alive, become fetters for the development of art.

I will cite as an example two jugglers - winners of the recent 3rd All-Russian competition of variety artists. I. Kozhevnikov, who was awarded the second prize, is the type of juggler just described: a bowler hat, a cigar, a cane make up the palette of the performance, performed impeccably in skill. E. Shatov, the winner of the first prize, works with a circus apparatus - a perch. At the end of it is a narrow transparent tube with a diameter of a tennis ball. Keeping the balance on his head, Shatov throws the balls into the tube. Each time, the perch grows, gradually reaching almost ten meters in height. With each new section of the first, the performance of the number becomes visually sharper, more expressive. Finally, the length of the perch becomes such that it does not fit in the height of the stage (even as high as in the Variety Theatre). The juggler comes to the fore, balancing over the heads of the front row spectators. The ball flies up, almost disappears against the background of the ceiling, and ends up in a tube. This number, in addition to the extraordinary purity with which it is performed, is remarkable in that the visual scales, which change from time to time, are perceived by those sitting in the auditorium in a holistic unity. From this, the spectacular effect becomes extraordinary. Moreover, this is a specifically pop entertainment. Imagine Shatov's number on a TV screen or in a movie! Not to mention the fact that in a pre-filmed television or film plot the element of unforeseenness is excluded (because of this, the stage and the circus will never become organic to the screen!), The constancy of scale, dictated by the constancy of the size of the screen and our viewing distance from it, will deprive Shatov's number of his charms.

Shatov's art (to a much greater extent than, say, Kozhevnikov's number) loses if it is transferred to the sphere of another art. This is the first evidence of his real variety. If such a transfer can be easily carried out without obvious losses, we can safely say that the work and its author sin against the laws of pop art. It is especially revealing for the musical and speech genres of pop radio. Many of our pop singers listen best on the radio, where they are freed from the need to look for a plastic equivalent of the melody being played. In front of a radio microphone, the singer, for whom the stage is a real torment, feels great. A pop singer by nature, on the contrary, experiences a certain inconvenience on the radio: he is constrained not only by the lack of contact with the audience, but also by the fact that many of the nuances of the performance that are present in the visual side of the image will be absent in the sound side. This entails, of course, a depletion of the effect. I remember the first recordings of Yves Montand's songs brought by Sergei Obraztsov from Paris. How much deeper, more significant was the artist himself when we saw him singing on the stage: the charm of music and words was added by the charm of an actor who creates the most expressive plasticity of the human image. Stanislavsky liked to repeat: the viewer goes to the theater for the sake of subtext, he can read the text at home. Something similar can be said about the stage: the viewer wants to see the performance from the stage, he can learn the text (and even music) while staying at home. At least listening on the radio. Is it worth it, for example, to go to a concert to hear Yuri Fedorishchev, who is trying with all his might to restore Paul Robeson's performance of the song "Mississippi"? I think that in achieving his goal, Fedorishchev would have succeeded much more on the radio. Listening to "Mississippi" on the radio, we might marvel at how precisely the musical intonations of the Negro singer are captured, and at the same time we would not be able to notice the complete plastic inertness of Fedorishchev, which contradicts the original.

The directors of the program, in which I happened to hear Fedorishchev, tried to brighten up the visual monotony of his singing. During the performance of the French song “At Night Alone”, before the verse, in which the civil theme begins - the theme of the struggle for peace, the lights suddenly go out in the hall, only the red illumination of the backdrop remains. In the most pathetic part of the song, which requires vivid acting means, the viewer finds himself forced to become only a listener, for all he sees is a black motionless silhouette against a dim red background. So directing, seeking to diversify the performance for the audience, renders the performer, and the work as a whole, truly a disservice. The surprising paucity of lighting techniques, which in the case described above led to a shift in emphasis, is one of the diseases of our variety art. The system of lighting effects is built either on a straightforward and illustrative principle (the theme of the struggle for peace is associated without fail with red, not otherwise!), Or on the principle of salon prettiness (the desire to “submit” the performer, regardless of the artistic content of the performance, its style) . As a result, the most interesting lighting possibilities are still not used. The same can be said about the costume: rarely does it serve to enhance the visual image. If there are good traditions in the use of a costume as a means of emphasizing the origins of the role (say, a velvet jacket with a bow by N. Smirnov-Sokolsky or a mime costume by L. Yengibarov), then a simple and at the same time helping to reveal the image of the image is extremely rare. Recently, I happened to be a witness to how an unsuccessfully chosen costume significantly weakened the impression made by the number. We are talking about Kapigolin Lazarenko: a bright red dress with large bustles fettered the singer and clearly did not correspond to the gentle, lyrical song “Come Back”.

Lighting, costume and mise-en-scene are the three pillars on which the spectacular side of the variety act rests. Each of these topics is worthy of a special discussion, which, of course, my article cannot claim. Here I will touch only on that side of the specific stage mise-en-scene that cannot be adequately re-created on the TV and cinema screens. The stage has its own laws of space and time: close-up, foreshortening, montage in cinema (and television), which violate the unity of these categories, or rather their integrity, create a new space and new time, not fully suitable for the stage stage. Stage deals with a constant plan, since the distance from the performer to each of the spectators varies slightly, only as far as the actor can move into the depths of the stage. The same must be said about montage: it takes place on the stage (if only) within the whole, which is constantly present on the stage. This montage can be produced either by lighting (a technique successfully used in the performances of the variety studio of Moscow State University), or it takes place in the mind of the viewer. Simply put, he singles out some parts in his perception of the visual image, while continuing to keep the whole in his field of vision.

In order not to seem unfounded, I will give an example. The performance "Our Home is Your Home" by the Moscow State University Variety Studio. Very interesting searches for the expressiveness of the spectacle are being carried out in this team. At the same time, often lyrical poetry or allegory, based on the associativity of connections, turns out to be the main element of the story. But it is important to note that both poetry and allegory in the performances of the studio turn into a form of figurative, visual narrative (for example, painted geometric figures in one of the numbers help to reveal the satirical meaning of many important concepts). In a scene that tells about the organization of youth leisure ("Youth Club"), four demagogue-screamers, having mounted, as if on a podium, on four massive pedestals, utter in turn fragments of phrases that together make up an amazing abracadabra of idle talk and bureaucracy. The viewer's attention is instantly transferred from one screamer to another: the speaker accompanies his words with a gesture (sometimes in complex counterpoint with the word), while the rest remain motionless at this time. I imagine this scene shot in the film. Her text and mise-en-scène, it would seem, immutably anticipate the future montage. Each replica is a close-up. A machine-gun burst of close-ups, replicas, gestures. But there are two significant losses here. Firstly, the lack of accompaniment to each replica: the frozen poses of the other characters. And the second is the transformation of all the lines into an alternation of phrases without transferring our attention from one character to another. Counterpoint, which becomes the author's strongest weapon in this scene, inevitably disappears in the film.

It would be wrong to say that the discrepancy, the counterpoint between the word and the image, is the property of pop art only. Both the theater stage and the screen know him. But there are different ways to achieve this effect. And they are very important in the stage. Here the counterpoint is exposed, it is shown as a deliberate clash of opposites, with the aim of striking a spark of laughter. I will cite as an example performers who constantly, from year to year, improve their mastery of this stage weapon. I mean the vocal quartet "Yur" (Yu. Osintsev, Y. Makoveenko, Y. Bronstein, Y. Diktovich; director Boris Sichkin). In the song “Travelers”, the quartet sings, while the hands of the artists, meanwhile, turn into travel certificates (open palm) and institutional stamps (clenched fist), stamps are put, money is given, etc. All this does not happen in the form of an illustration -strations of the text, but parallel to it, sometimes only coinciding, but mostly being in the contrapuntal row. As a result, from an unexpected collision of words with gestures, a new, unexpected meaning arises. For example, business travelers traveling in different directions have no business, except for playing dominoes on the train. Hands stirring the knuckles are "imposed" on the text, which says that people's money is recklessly spent on reciprocal business trips. From this, the gesture of the hands, mixing imaginary bones in the air, becomes very eloquent.

The last work of the quartet - "Television" - is certainly his greatest creative success in using the means of visual expressiveness of the stage. Here, the members of the quartet act equally as parodies, as readers, mimes, and as dramatic actors. In addition, they demonstrate an outstanding choreographic skill: in a word, we are witnessing a synthetic genre in which the word, music are closely intertwined with pantomime, dance, etc. Moreover, the freedom of combination and instantaneous transitions from one medium relationship to another is as great as it can be only in variety art. During the performance in front of us pass in parody almost all the genres that exist on
television. Their change, as well as the change of means used by the artists, creates a very picturesque spectacle. Variety undoubtedly belongs to the spectacular arts. But there are a lot of performing arts: theater, cinema, circus, and now television, which reveals significant aesthetic potentials. What are the relationships within this group of arts? It seems that the variety theater still remains within the framework of theatrical art, although it has many similarities with some other forms. Naturally, the theater (understood in the broad sense of the word) is constantly changing its boundaries, which in some ways are already becoming cramped for the stage. However, some qualities of pop art, despite significant evolution, remain unchanged. First of all, they should include the principle of visual organization of the form of variety spectacle. And if we talk about form, then the image remains the main thing in the modern stage (up to some musical genres).

In this article it was not possible to consider all aspects of the topic. My task was more modest: to draw attention to some theoretical problems of variety art, which largely determine its position among other arts and explain the nature of the creative searches of our variety art masters. Theoretical rules, as you know, remain rules binding on everyone only until the day when a bright innovative artist comes and breaks the boundaries that seemed insurmountable just yesterday. Today we are witnessing the synthetic genres of pop art: the canons of the past cannot withstand the pressure of new discoveries. It is important to note that the ongoing changes have on their banner the constantly changing, but fundamentally unshakable principle of the stage as a spectacle.

A. VARTANOV, candidate of art history

Magazine Soviet circus. March 1964

Chapter V

"Form is a way of existence and expression of content... The unity of the content and form of a work of art does not mean absolute identity, but only a certain degree of mutual correspondence... The degree of correspondence... depends on... the talent and skill of the artist."

Aesthetics. Dictionary

Concert [from lat. concerto - I compete] - a public performance of artists according to a certain pre-compiled program.

Theater encyclopedia

Without deviating in this chapter from the position of exploring only what directly concerns the director's creativity on the stage, we do not need to fully disclose the features of the creativity of each of the forms of variety programs. Here, too, it is important for us to reveal only what distinguishes the work of a stage director from a stage director when he is staging a stage program.

As a rule, none of the forms of variety programs matter to the theater director, since practically he does not have to deal with them when staging a play, because they (these forms) belong only to variety art.

Before talking about this or that form of pop program:

concert, performance, it is useful to determine the meaning ...... of the word "concert" (besides the fact that this word denotes a certain stage action, consisting of the sum of the numbers that make it up).

So, the word "concert" [lat. concert] in Latin means competition, competition.

Indeed, in any concert, including a variety one, there is a kind of competition, a competition between performers and numbers in their artistic creativity: according to the skill of performance, according to success with the audience, etc. Moreover, it is in the concert (competition in front of the audience) that the variety act receives its artistic completion.

Naturally, a pop concert, like any concert, is not just a mechanical set, but a fusion of different genre numbers into a single whole action, as a result of which a new work of art is born, the name of which is the concert.

It is the creation of a concert from sometimes different genres, characters, and content of numbers that is another important difference between the work of a stage director and a theater director, who, as a rule, deals with a work (play) of the same genre, with a single plot and developing from the beginning to the end of the performance as a single through action.

A pop concert is an effective and dynamic spectacle, it is a special imaginative world in which the entertainment element prevails, clothed in a bright, sharp form, a festive atmosphere that enables the viewer to easily perceive its content.

Of course, the success of a concert depends on many factors: here are the performers, and the quality of their numbers, and their novelty, and the construction of the order of the numbers (composition), and the coherence of transitions from number to number, and its genre, and its types, etc. .

If we open page 95 of the VIII volume of the III edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, we can read: “A concert is a public performance by artists according to a specific program. Types of concert musical (symphonic, chamber, piano, violin, etc.), literary (artistic reading), variety (light vocal and instrumental music, humorous stories, parodies, circus acts, etc.) ”We can read almost the same thing and in the "Theatrical Encyclopedia": "Types of concerts: musical (symphonic, chamber, piano, violin, etc.), literary (artistic reading), mixed (musical numbers, artistic reading, scenes from performances, ballets, etc.), variety ( light vocal and instrumental music, humorous stories, parodies, circus acts, etc.)

Without disputing the opinion of two authoritative sources, we note that such a concept of the word "concert" does not reveal a very important circumstance. Namely, that all types of concerts, according to the nature and content of the numbers performed in them, according to the way they are expressed (even if we are dealing with a “mixed concert”), are divided into two main types: philharmonic and variety. We proceed from the fact that functionally and psychologically philharmonic and pop concerts are isolated from each other. Despite the fact that both functions, without deviating from the solution of some common tasks (aesthetic, ideological, educational), satisfy the various needs of the viewer (listener).

Concert venues to meet the monthly performance quota.

There could be no question of any logic of constructing such a concert. That's where the entertainer had to "get out".

Perhaps the latter circumstance to some extent played a role in the disappearance of combined concerts from the stage: leading pop artists began to prefer solo concerts or large variety performances to national teams, since with a quantitative increase in the number of ordinary concerts, their creative level was overwhelmingly lower average.

Another important reason for the disappearance of combined concerts in our days was the extremely low artistic level of people who considered themselves professional entertainers. Genuine entertainers who know how to create pop action from numbers of different genres, for various reasons, have practically disappeared. Not a small role in the disappearance of national concerts was also played by television, on the screens of which pop "stars" constantly flicker, especially in various advertising clips. Why pay a lot (not to say - a lot of money for a concert, when your favorite artists can be seen on the TV screen).

A survey of many potential viewers, conducted by the author of the work, indicates not only the coincidence of their point of view with the opinion of V. Kalisz, but also that the fashion for grandiose spectacles, no matter how show business planted it, will pass, and on the stage stage on Equal to the show, combined concerts will return, albeit in a different and, above all, in a spectacular quality, but consisting of numbers of various genres. Confirmation of this: the practice of Western pop music today and a number of past concerts at the Moscow Variety Theater, today's life of regional and regional philharmonic societies, and the fact that even in solo concerts his hero invites other performers in the genre to participate, because he subconsciously feels the inherent psychological human perception - the desire for a variety of experiences.

In recent years, on posters advertising pop concerts, we can most often come across such names as "variety", "cabaret", but most often - "show". Although each of these concerts is based on a set of performances of various genres (as in the national team), each of them has its own rather obvious features.

If we consider "variety" as a special form of variety concert, then most often this name hides a light, entertaining performance, consisting of performances by singers, dancers, musicians, parodists, acrobats, magicians, etc.

Usually a variety show program is a kaleidoscope of numbers, often with minimal participation of an entertainer, not to mention other colloquial genres.

If we talk about the difference between a variety show and a cabaret, then since the middle of the 20th century, the line between them, both in content and in form, has practically begun to blur. Today it is very difficult to catch the difference between them.

Cabaret [fr. - zucchini] - this is not so much the audience sitting at the tables, but the style, form and content of a variety concert, largely dependent on the atmosphere in which it takes place.

At its core, a cabaret program is also a set of various performances (numbers). But these programs had a number of significant features.

First, they went to taverns, coffee houses, where the audience, sitting at the tables, looked at the speakers. At first, these were a kind of artistic and literary clubs, where poets, artists, writers, artists gathered after midnight. As a rule, those who came here to relax and have fun went up to a small stage located in the middle or on the side of the hall, singing songs, reading poetry. To some extent, what was happening in such taverns was a reflection of the processes that took place in the artistic sphere.

Secondly, the spectacle was varied and had an improvisational character. The performers sought to stir up the audience emotionally. Explosions of laughter, applause, exclamations of "bravo" were the usual atmosphere for a cabaret program. Excitement and rivalry reigned in the cabaret of that time, which created an atmosphere of ease, joy and freedom of creativity, festivity. In a cabaret, the line between the stage and the auditorium seemed to be blurred.

Thirdly, a prerequisite for the activity of a cabaret was the intimacy of the situation, allowing the performers to establish close contact with the public. And although the cabaret programs consisted and consist of various humorous and lyrical songs, solo dances, satirical numbers, parodies, etc. etc., the main role in them is played by the entertainer, who cares about creating a trusting, intimate atmosphere, leading a relaxed conversation, often causing an immediate reaction (which is very important in a cabaret program)

The volume of cabaret programs has increased significantly, becoming a kind of kaleidoscope of numbers characteristic of a cabaret. At the same time, in their solution, the techniques of the grotesque, eccentrics, buffoonery, and ironic stylization were used. Parodies began to be widely used, in which performances and events that were currently taking place on the stage were ridiculed.

In Russia, the first cabarets appeared at the very beginning of the 20th century. Among them, the most famous were: "The Bat" in Moscow - at first a cabaret of actors of the Moscow Art Theater, which later became the Cabaret Theater of N.F. Baliyeva, "Crooked Mirror", "Stray Dog", "Halt of comedians" in St. Petersburg and others. Soon cabarets appeared in Odessa, in Kyiv, Baku, Kharkov. Usually they were located in basements and semi-basements with a small stage.

Already in the early nineties of the XX century, many cabarets lost their generic features: tables disappeared, the structure and content of programs changed.

Cabaret theaters began to use theatrical equipment: a curtain, a ramp, stage decorations.

Show [English] - 1. Spectacle; 2. Show] - a very common type of variety entertainment show, especially in our days, with the obligatory participation of at least one variety "star".

The show is a bright, emotionally rich pop program that does not have a solid plot, based on outwardly spectacular spectacular numbers and attractions, connected into a single whole by unexpected transitions and ligaments; built on a rapid stage action, close in nature to the music hall. With the same music hall elegance of choreographic numbers, with the same brilliance and splendor, with stunning tempo dynamics, which allows saturating the show program with a large number of various numbers, but without the obligatory for the music hall program, albeit a primitive, “dotted” plot move. At the same time, the show program does not exclude the courage to present numbers. On the contrary, the more diverse the methods of presenting the numbers included in the program, the brighter the stage form of the show.

It should be noted that the show is not only a genre category. In the form of a show, performances by a popular pop artist, various competitions, presentations, theatrical auctions, etc. can take place.

A show program is a large-scale spectacle, the scenography of which is created in a real stage space and largely depends on the technical capabilities of the stage and its equipment. The show does not limit the imagination of the stage designer. It is important that his invention be technically feasible.

And although today it is quite often possible to observe how a stage designer acts as a stage director, it seems to us that this phenomenon is the result of a shortage of genuine stage direction. We may be objected: they say, many artists subsequently became directors. For example, Gordon Craig, Nikolai Pavlovich Akimov and others. Indeed, their creative life began with the profession of an artist. But later their creative profession became directing, as the basis of their stage activities. Perhaps the same will be the creative fate of B. Krasnov, who calls himself a "stage designer".

Of course, the stage designer, to a certain extent, as a director, feels the dramaturgy in dynamics, in motion. But this means that by doing so he can replace the director-producer. Unfortunately, this is exactly what we are seeing today in the production of various show programs. Because of this, the stage look of the artist becomes dependent on the design, and not vice versa, when the artist, the content of his program, his performance determines a different scenography solution. Often one has to see how the solution of the stage, with all the modern tricks of playing with light, smoke, using electronics and other special effects, does not work for the artist, but becomes a pompous background. For example, as we said in the previous chapter, this was clearly manifested in the last production by A.B. Pugacheva "Christmas meetings" in 1998 (artist B. Krasnov).

Revue [fr. - pantomime, review] first arose in France in the first third of the 19th century (1830) as a satirical theatrical genre. Thus, the "Annual Review", popular at that time, was a topical review of Parisian life. Even then, the contents of the revue were alternating numbers of various genres. That is, in fact, the revue carried all the main features of a pop program.

Revue (review) is a form of variety performance in which individual numbers are connected by a plot move that allows, as it develops, to “change” the scene all the time. For example, the stage stage, sometimes without changing the design (using only details), becomes an underpass for one number, a bench in the park for another, a stadium stand for the third, and so on. .Most often, the plot move is based on the need that arose for the hero (heroes) to make a “journey” or “search” for someone or something, or the plot move can be the release of a stage version of a newspaper, as in the same pop review “Vechernyaya Moskva”. In the revue, each number is perceived by the viewer not as an isolated work, but as a vivid episode, a vivid action in the overall composition of the concert. In other words, a revue (review) is a pop performance on a theme conceived and expressed through the plot, made up of different numbers combined into episodes.

Music hall program"

Usually, the "Music Hall" is defined in two ways: the first definition is a type of theater that gives variety concert performances, the second is a kind of variety program, a performance whose content is built on the alternation of various numbers, attractions, demonstrations of virtuoso performing techniques, stage tricks, cemented by a plot ( "dotted") move and dance numbers of a ballet, as a rule, a female group ("girls").

From the very beginning, music hall programs, unlike cabarets, did not aim to be topical. In the foreground in such programs there was not so much relevance as the brightness of the external form, performing sophistication.

The conditions of music hall programs, their saturation with various staged effects, attractions have changed the nature of the behavior of the public. "Instead of the role of an accomplice (as in other forms of variety art), in the music hall the audience became, as in the theater, an audience of spectators."

The fate of the Moscow Music Hall was rather difficult. Either it was persecuted and ceased to exist, then it arose again. In the early twenties, the theater did not have a permanent troupe. Guest performers, including foreign ones, who came almost on the day of the performance, performed on the programs. Naturally, the directors rarely managed to create a single, united by a common idea.

But the more significant were the successes that required an abyss of invention and skill.

The music hall program is a kind of staged bright, colorful, sometimes eccentric review-spectacle, consisting of enchanting pictures quickly replacing each other, full of variety and circus attractions; a review-spectacle in which first-class numbers and episodes with the participation of pop "stars" are connected by the so-called "dotted" storyline. A very significant place in the music hall programs is occupied by ingeniously staged mass dance numbers "girls" with perfect synchronization of movements. This is a program in which a variety orchestra participates, usually located on stage. These are always bright, catchy costumes of performers (especially ballet ones). This is the brilliance of colors, the play of light and shadows. This is a design transformation. For example, during the course of the program, ice stalactites suddenly turn into flowers; or a spaceship flies across the hall to the stage and lands (as in the Alcazar in Paris); or suddenly a huge glass pool rises in the center of the stage, where girls in bathing suits swim together with crocodiles, performing a number of sports synchronized swimming (“Friedrichstatpalas”) underwater. These are various kinds of stage effects. This is the use of a wide variety of modern technical means of design.

In the art of variety there is such a form of variety performance as the “teamp of miniatures”.

In our understanding, the word "theater" emphasizes its creative and organizational beginnings, since in this case the word "theater" is not equivalent to the concept of "Theater", when we understand this word as a creative organism, the repertoire of which is based on dramatic or ballet performances. On the other hand, in theaters of miniatures, their programs are based on the same pop numbers, which differ from variety shows and cabarets only in the scale of the numbers that make them up. As for the division in theaters of miniatures of spectators and performers (separation of spectators from the latter by a ramp and other elements of the stage) and the disappearance of tables from the hall, the appearance of a ramp, tables also occurred in later cabarets.

The theater of miniatures is not only a certain form and a certain content, but also a special style and way of thinking, a way of life.

This is what frightened those in power, who saw in him (especially in the 1920s and 1930s) bourgeois art alien to the proletariat. Such an attitude towards the art of small forms could not but hinder the development of pop art.

Unable to forbid it (for reasons that are not the subject of our study), they only tolerated it. It was out of the question that on the posters announcing pop concerts, the words “variety show”, especially “cabaret”, appeared. The way out was found, as it turned out, acceptable to everyone: the art of small forms began to be called "variety", although before that the word "variety" meant a stage, stage stage, and theaters of small forms - theaters of miniatures, which did not have a stationary full-time troupe and but essentially served as a rental site.

Miniature [fr. miniature] - a word that once meant only a painted and painted decoration in ancient handwritten books (these drawings were named so after the paint prepared from the mini), has a figurative meaning: something in a reduced size. The latter determines the repertoire of the Theater of Miniatures. Here you can see various variety performances: a short play-joke, and vaudeville, and a sketch, and a choreographic miniature, and a pantomime scene, and even cinema. That is, as they say, - works of small forms.

In the post-war years, the Moscow Theater of Miniatures under the direction of Vladimir Polyakov, the Saratov Theater of Miniatures (artistic director Lev Gorelik) and, of course, the Leningrad Theater of Miniatures under the artistic direction of the unique artist Arkady Raikin were the most famous for many years.

But in addition to the types of programs that we are talking about, in pop art there are such forms of variety performance that differ from those we have considered. This is a pop performance, a performance.

While retaining all the main features of a pop and variety program, and above all the presence of different genres in them, these works of art to a certain extent synthesize in themselves the signs of theatrical action. At the heart of the dramaturgy of a variety performance, a variety performance is a detailed plot move with role-playing personification and the fate of the characters. They widely use the expressive means inherent in the theater: stage action, mise-en-scene, stage atmosphere, etc.

Variety performance, variety performance is not accidentally singled out by us from the general concept of "variety concert". If the concept of "performance" does not need to be disclosed (perhaps, there is not a single work on theatrical art where this concept has not been thoroughly investigated), then "performance" has many, sometimes contradictory, definitions. Often, before the word "performance" they write or pronounce the word "theatrical", that is, in essence they call oil oil, because the concept of "performance" in itself is identical to the concept of "theatricalization".

Since this concept (“theatricalization”) is interpreted differently to this day, we consider it necessary in this work to reveal it from the perspective of practitioners who have staged more than one variety performance, especially since a theatrical concert is the forerunner of a variety performance, in our understanding. the last one. The concept of "theatricalization" in relation to a concert means that when staging such a concert, in addition to all those pop expressive means that we spoke about when analyzing the features of a combined concert, expressive means characteristic of the theater, theatrical action are used in a theatrical concert. Namely: stage action (as is known, the main expressive means of the theater), mise-en-scène (when such a combination of poses of performers’ movements is introduced into the statics inherent in the genre of the performance, which at the moment express the essence of the content of the performance and the relationship between the performers), stage atmosphere (for its creation, as in the theater, playful light, noises, background music and other elements are used to create a certain environment in which the action of the performance develops), costume and design.

Watching various variety performances, one can easily find that the plot move in such a performance forces the audience not only to follow the development of the plot, but also to understand and accept the logic of constructing the performance, and sometimes perceive one or another number (or all numbers) in an unexpected light.

A variety performance, unlike a theatrical concert, is characterized by the role-playing personification of the entertainer (leader or presenters). That is, he or they, endowed with certain character traits and characteristics (profession, age, social status, habits, etc.), become an active character in the performance, because it is he (they) who embodies the movement of the plot.

In the process of performing the performance, the director does not think about what "conditions of the game" - theatrical or pop - determine his director's decision of one or another moment of the performance. The synthesis of these "conditions of the game" for the director occurs on a subconscious level, and at the time of rehearsals the director does not realize what is currently coming from the stage, and what - from the theater. This skill, albeit unconsciously, relies on two different types of performing arts.

As we can see, even in such a performance, seemingly close to the genres of theatrical art, as a variety performance, a variety performance has its own specifics, its own methods of directing creativity. And yet, despite the complexity of this pop program, according to our understanding, confirmed by modern practice, the future of pop music is connected with plot performances. When a performance is created by means of variety art, in which everything - entertainment, stage effects, the play of light and color, scenography, and most importantly, the selection of numbers - are subordinated to the thought, plot, conflict, and most importantly - the artistic image of the performance. Suffice it to recall some of the latest programs carried out on the stage of the Rossiya Concert Hall.

Of course, the performance is the most complex type of variety program, since, as the outstanding director Fyodor Nikolayevich Kaverin wrote: “there is a certain textual material, with its own plot, with some, even if a very small number of characters, and their characters and destinies (most often their comedic adventures) become the inevitable focus. Purely pop numbers are interspersed at certain moments in the course of the play... Developing the idea of ​​such a performance in action, the director meets with completely special tasks, completely different from what determines his work in the theater in general. He needs to establish the principle by which numbers are introduced into such a play-program, to find and establish the correct proportions in their number relative to the plot, to determine their character .... When working on such a performance, the director's special concern is to find and determine the style of the entire performance, the manner of acting, which, next to conditional pop pieces .... it also requires its own internal course and a clearly established correlation (whether it is consistent or consciously contrasted) within the performance.

Variety has taken an important place in the mass culture of Russia, and the events of recent decades show that variety, as the most popular form of art, plays an important role in public life, becoming a popular means of expressing cultural needs and value orientations of various strata of society. In view of the fact that variety art is one of the most socially responsive and mobile art forms, the study of this phenomenon will help to better understand the spiritual processes taking place in society.

At the beginning of the last century, the gramophone business in Russia was gaining strength - the number of factories and plants producing records was growing, their quality was improving, and the repertoire was expanding. In fact, a new industry was emerging, unlike any of the known industries. It tightly intertwined problems of a technical and creative, commercial and legal nature. Composers, poets, singers, orchestras and choirs, coupletists and storytellers took part in the recording of records, organized by gramophone dealers. Studios with their atmosphere resembled the backstage of a theater with all theatrical attributes. Famous singers - proud and impregnable, knowing their own worth - contracts were offered with the courtesy inherent in any entrepreneur-entrepreneur, who anticipates success with the public and a good collection. Stars of the second magnitude and half-starved guest performers were met differently. Passions were seething near the mouthpiece and intrigues were woven - such was the wrong side of the gramophone business.
Collecting records began to come into fashion: in the homes of wealthy citizens there were record libraries with a hundred or more numbers.

The most common term, which appeared long before the emergence of the concept of variety art, is "variety", but not as the name of a concert institution, but as a designation for a whole variety of art. If we turn to the history of the appearance of the concept of "variety show", then its origins can be found in the programs of entertainment numbers shown in cafes and restaurants in the industrial regions of England at the end of the 18th century. The very word "variety" in French means variety, diversity. This term began to unite all artistic entertainment forms. Indeed, the performances of artists at fairs, in music halls, in concert cafes, in cabaret theaters are characterized by diversity, although, as it will be possible to establish as a result of further analysis, this is not at all the main and distinctive feature in this area of ​​art.

At the beginning of the 20th century, all kinds of theaters of small forms were opened in Russia, and against this background another concept began to be used - stage, which denoted entertaining concert performances in open areas. Today, as a general concept that unites all varieties of art of easily perceived genres, one should accept the concept of "variety art" (or abbreviated variety art), which has been used in domestic art history for a hundred years.
Already in the first decade of the XX century. the term "variety" begins to flicker in the press, not only in the then generally accepted sense - "platform, elevation, for example, for music", but also broadly, including everyone, actors, writers, poets, coming to this "platform". On the pages of the authoritative magazine "Golden Fleece" for 1908, an article "Variety" was published. Its author perceptively saw the antinomy that arises before everyone who enters the stage:

a) the stage is necessary for the development and maintenance of abilities, and for the formation of the personality of the artist;

b) variety art is detrimental to both.

The author saw “harmfulness” in the actors' desire for success at any cost, alignment with the tastes of the mass public, the transformation of art into a means of enrichment, a source of life's blessings. Indeed, such phenomena are also inherent in modern pop music, so in our work we introduce such a concept as “variety”, that is, playing “for the public”, the desire to capture the attention of the viewer at any cost, which, in the absence of true talent, taste and sense of proportion among performers, often leads to the perniciousness about which the author of the above article spoke. There were other articles that considered the stage as a phenomenon of a new urban culture. After all, it was during this period that a person’s dependence on natural conditions (primarily on the change of seasons) gradually weakened in the city, which led to the oblivion of calendar and ritual folklore, to a shift in the timing of holidays, their desemantization and deritualization, to their transition into the form of “ceremonial ", according to P.G. Bogatyrev, to a decisive predominance of verbal forms over non-verbal ones. In the same years (1980-1890) in Russia, the emergence of mass culture takes place, which, in turn, reproduces many of the generic properties of traditional folklore, which are characterized by the social and adaptive significance of works, their predominant anonymity, the dominance of the stereotype in their poetics; secondary plot motivations in narrative texts, etc. However, mass culture differs sharply from traditional folklore in its ideological "polycentricity", increased ability for thematic and aesthetic internationalization of its products and for its "streaming" reproduction in the form of identical copies unthinkable for oral creativity.
In general, in Russia, the urban stage of the late 19th - early 20th century is characterized by dependence on the audience to which it is oriented. Accordingly, the range of variety forms - from "salon" to the most "democratic" - is extremely wide and differed both in the nature of the "stage" and the type of performers, not to mention the repertoire. And yet, we can conclude that the term “variety” at the beginning of the 20th century was still used purely functionally: as “variety repertoire”, or “pop singing”, etc., that is, not only as a definition of a platform where action takes place, but also as an element of a musical entertainment spectacle.

As a result of the need, which arose after October, for the nationalization of “every kind of stage” and small private enterprises, many solo actors, as well as small, often family groups, etc., the concept of stage established itself as a designation for a separate art. For decades in Soviet Russia, and then in the USSR, systems for managing this art will be developed and changed, various associations will be created, complex multi-stage forms of independent subordination. In Soviet aesthetics, the question of the independence of pop art remained debatable. Various kinds of resolutions, companies regulated variety practice. The "fight" against satire, Russian and gypsy romance, jazz, rock, tap dance, etc. artificially straightened the line of variety development, affected the evolution of genres, and the fate of individual artists.

In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia for 1934, an article was published devoted to the fact that the stage is a field of small forms of art, but at the same time the question of the genre composition of the stage is not addressed in any way. Thus, attention was paid not so much to the aesthetic as to the morphological content of this term. These formulations are not accidental, they reflect the picture of the searches of the 30s and 40s, when the scope of the stage expanded almost limitlessly. During these years, as E. Gershuni writes, "the pop art made a bid for equality with the "big" art...". First of all, this is due to the emergence in Soviet Russia of the forerunner of modern art, PR - the social technology of mass control. In essence, the mass entertainer (usually a local trade union activist) took under ideological control not only the holidays, but also everyday life. Of course, not a single holiday passed without a pop concert. It should be noted that the mass entertainer himself, in everyday life, as a rule, had a variety feeling. After all, he always needs to be in the spotlight, entertain and amuse the audience.

In the process of development of Soviet art, the content of the term "variety" continued to change. The concept of variety art appeared, which was defined as “an art form that unites the so-called. small forms of dramaturgy, dramatic and vocal art, music, choreography, circus.

The Russian recording industry began to develop in 1901. In fact, it was not entirely Russian, but rather a French industry in Russia: the Pate Marconi company opened its branch in Russia and began to stamp records. Just as in Europe the first recorded singer was Enrique Caruso, in Russia the world-famous opera singer Fedor Chaliapin also became the first. And the first Russian records, as well as in Europe, were with classical music.

The musical picture of pre-revolutionary Russia was complete. Academic music and pop music coexisted organically in one cultural space, where pop music developed in the general mainstream of romance lyrics (reflecting its diversity and evolution) and the dance culture of its time. A special place was occupied by the folklore part of the stage - the Pyatnitsky choir, folk song performers - L. Dolina, epics - Krivopolenova and Prozorovskaya. After the defeat of the first revolution (1905), the songs of prison, penal servitude and exile were popular. In the genre of a topical couplet and musical parody, artists performed in different roles: "tailcoats" - for a fashionable audience, "bast shoes" - for peasants, "artists of a torn genre" - for the city bottom. Popular dance rhythms penetrated the minds of people from the filing of salon and city brass bands, which specialized in the performance of dance music. In salons and studios, tango, foxtrot, shimmy, two-steps were learned. The first performances of A. Vertinsky in the genre of musical and poetic short stories date back to 1915.

The heyday of the Russian stage took place against the backdrop of an unprecedented growth of a new means of "mass information", like gramophone records. Between 1900 and 1907, 500,000 gramophones were sold, and the annual circulation of records reached 20 million. Along with light music, they also had a lot of classics (Chaliapin, Caruso).
The popular choirs of D.Agrenev-Slavyansky, I.Yukhov and others, who performed songs in the "Russian style" ("The Sun Rises and Sets", "Ukhar the Merchant", etc.) compete with the soloist performers. Orchestras competed with Russian choirs balalaika players, horn players, harp players.

In the 10s, the first truly folklore performers, such as the ensemble of M. Pyatnitsky, gained fame. Artists with the "intimate" style of French chansonniers appear in theaters and cabarets in St. Petersburg and Moscow (A. Vertinsky). By the end of the 19th century, there was a clear division of the song into "Philharmonic" (classical romance) and actually "Variety" (gypsy romance, old romance, mood songs). At the beginning of the 20th century, mass songs that are sung at political gatherings and demonstrations become widespread. This song is destined for a number of decades to become the leading variety of the Soviet pop song.

After 1917 the situation began to change. The ideological state is a phenomenon that is not yet fully understood and not fully studied. The revolution was spiritually based on an idea that was forcibly planted in society, depriving people of the right to choose, making this choice for them. But a person is so constituted that his consciousness, in spite of everything, resists what is imposed on him, even from the best of intentions. The state decided that it “needed” the classics, “needed” a Soviet song, “needed” folklore. And unconsciously, even the masterpieces of classical music began to be perceived as part of the state ideological machine aimed at neutralizing the individual, dissolving a separate “I” into a monolithic “we”.

Pop music in our country is the least ideological part of the musical process. Involuntarily, she became the only outlet for the Soviet people, something like a sip of freedom. This music in the mind of a simple person did not carry anything instructive, appealing to natural feelings, not suppressing, not moralizing, but simply communicating with a person in his language.

Variety is a type of performing art in which short concert performances by one or more artists (narrators, singers, coupletists, dancers, acrobats, magicians, etc.) constitute an integral program, designed, as a rule, for mass perception. The stage is many-sided and varied. The audience's perception of this art is also varied. For some, the stage is the performance of song and musical groups and performers, for the third - the performance of comedians, for the fourth - clownery or contemporary dance performers. The forms of existence of this art are also different: a concert in a club, a cinema and concert hall, a student skit in the assembly hall of the institute, a theatrical program at a stadium or in the Sports Palace, a performance by the Theater of Miniatures, a performance at the Variety Theater, a solo concert, etc. And in each case the composition of the audience, its size determine the features of live variety action.

The roots of pop music go back to the distant past, can be traced in the art of antiquity - Egypt, Greece, Rome, its elements are in the performances of itinerant comedians - buffoons, hairpins, jugglers, dandies, etc. However, in modern forms, pop art developed in Western Europe during the 19th century . So, visitors to Parisian cafes were entertained by musicians, singers, coupletists, in whose repertoire there were sharp and topical things. The success of such cafes led to the emergence of larger entertainment enterprises - cafe-concerts (Ambassador, Eldorado, etc.). In England, at inns (hotels), musical halls arose - music halls, where dances, comic songs, circus numbers were performed; The first is the Star Music Hall, founded in 1832.

Like the London music hall Alhambra, in 1869 the Folies Bergère opened in Paris, and two decades later, the Moulin Rouge, called the “variety hall” (from the French variété - variety). Gradually, the word "variety" began to be applied not only to specific theaters, but also to the whole art, consisting of various genres, from which a holistic performance is ultimately created.

In 1881, an artistic cabaret (from the French cabaret - zucchini) "Sha noir" ("Black Cat") was opened in Paris, where young artists, actors, and writers gathered. It often touched on acute social and political problems. Cabarets were very famous in Germany, Austria and other countries. In our time, this form, having separated from the cafe, began to exist as a political and satirical theater of small forms (Germany) with a slightly changed name - cabarette.

Variety shows came to Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Following the variety show, the cabaret also attracted the attention of the public. They had their own predecessors in Russia, who largely determined the originality of the Russian stage. These are booths that amused the audience of a diverse social composition on holidays, and divertissements - small concert programs that were given in theaters before and after the end of the main play. Divertissement programs included Russian songs and arias from operas, classical and folk dances, couplets from vaudeville, poems and stories performed by dramatic actors. In general, the theater had a considerable influence on the Russian stage, which determined its originality.

After the October Revolution, artists left the small, cramped halls of cabarets, variety shows, miniature theaters to the streets and squares, to the people. They changed speakers at numerous concerts, rallies, traveled with concerts to the fronts of the civil war, spoke at recruiting stations, in barracks, and workers' clubs. It was then that the concept of “stage” (from the French estrade - stage) spread to the whole area of ​​art.

The basis of pop art is a performance, short in time, but complete in form, a performance (by one or several artists) with its own dramaturgy, in which, as in a large performance, there should be an exposition, a climax and a denouement. Shortness implies the utmost concentration of expressive means. Therefore, hyperbole, grotesque, buffoonery, and eccentricity are widely used on the stage; hence the brightness, the exaggeration of details, the instantaneous acting transformation. The number retains its significance in a variety performance (show, revue, etc.) created on the basis of a play (review). In such a performance, the numbers are united by the figure of an observer or by a simple plot.

Artists performing on the stage widely use the so-called mask, a certain image, which is distinguished by the constancy of not only the external appearance, but also the properties of character and biography. This image, born of artistic imagination, may have nothing to do with the personality of the artist himself.

Often, however, the mask of a variety artist becomes, as it were, a concentrated expression of his own personality. But behind whatever mask the artist is hiding, he addresses the audience directly, seeks to include them in the action, to make them his "interlocutors".

On its way, the Russian stage solved various problems: it agitated, encouraged, inspired, educated, enlightened and, of course, entertained. Entertainment is inherent in the stage, like no other art. But it is not the same as inconsistency. Serious content is often hidden behind external lightness, gaiety, and the more talented the artist, the higher his skill, the better he manages to conclude a serious thought in an easy form. An example of citizenship, sharpness of social content and perfection of the artistic form is the satirical art of A. I. Raikin.

Traditionally, a large place on our stage belongs to the genres associated with the word. This is a story, a monologue, a small scene, a feuilleton, a couplet, a parody, an entertainer. The task of introducing the broad masses of the people to culture in the 20–30s. 20th century brought to life a form of artistic reading from the stage of works of modern and classical literature. Artists-readers strive to reveal the world of the author, the artistic originality of his works, to the audience as fully as possible.

The leading place on the stage was occupied by musical and vocal genres: romance, bard and folk songs, pop and rock music, jazz, etc. Huge audiences gather solo concerts of famous pop singers. In the process of development, new forms and stylistic directions arise, they enrich the musical stage with fresh artistic ideas, reflect the rhythms of the times. Choreographic performances, both ensemble and solo, are widely represented on the stage: folk dances, plastic duets, game miniatures, dances in modern rhythms.

Circus performances attract with spectacle: jugglers, illusionists, manipulators, acrobats, tightrope walkers, mimes. A lot of exciting things are born at the intersection of genres: pantomime and acrobatics, pantomime and juggling, etc. Many artists use the eccentricity inherent in the very nature of variety art.

Variety art developed widely in the USSR. The All-Union Olympiad of Theaters and Arts of the Peoples of the USSR in 1930, the All-Union Festival of Folk Dance in 1936, the decades of national art of the Union republics, the reporting concerts contributed to the formation of this type of creativity among peoples who had not previously known it, except for folklore forms. All-Russian and all-Union competitions of creative youth were regularly held. Synthetic in nature, pop music has always been associated with theater, cinema, literature, and music. Various forms of mutual influence of variety art with other arts are visible throughout its history. Jazz, rock music are included in symphonic music; variety dance, acrobatics influence classical choreography; constantly refers to the stage of cinema; critics write about the staging of the theatre. In turn, the stage is captured by the process of theatricalization, it affects all its genres, the general tendency to theatrical programs, to the creation of performances, variety theaters.

Everyone knows the remarkable skill of K. I. Shulzhenko, who penetratingly performed lyrical songs.



Performance by Tarapunka (Yuri Timoshenko) and Plug (Yefim Berezin, left)./



Illusionist Harutyun Hakobyan on stage.



The famous English band The Beatles.

The roots of the stage go back to the distant past, traced in the art of Egypt, Greece, Rome; its elements are present in the performances of itinerant comedians-buffoons (Russia), shpilmans (Germany), jugglers (France), dandies (Poland), mascarabozes (Central Asia), etc.

Satire on urban life and customs, sharp jokes on political topics, a critical attitude to power, couplets, comic skits, jokes, games, clown pantomime, juggling, musical eccentricity were the beginnings of future pop genres that were born in the noise of carnival and public entertainment.

Barkers, who, with the help of jokes, witticisms, funny couplets, sold any product in the squares and markets, later became the forerunners of the entertainer. All this was of a massive and intelligible nature, which was an indispensable condition for the existence of all pop genres. All medieval carnival artists did not play performances.

In Russia, the origins of pop genres manifested themselves in buffoons, fun and mass creativity of folk festivals. Their representatives are raus grandfathers-jokers with an indispensable beard, who entertained and invited the audience from the upper platform of the booth-raus, parsley, raeshniks, leaders of “learned” bears, actors-buffoons, playing “sketches” and “reprises” among the crowd, playing the pipes , harp, snot and amusing the people.

Variety art is characterized by such qualities as openness, conciseness, improvisation, festivity, originality, entertainment.

Developing as an art of festive leisure, pop music has always strived for unusualness and diversity. The very feeling of festivity was created due to external entertainment, the play of light, the change of picturesque scenery, the change in the shape of the stage, etc. Despite the fact that the variety of forms and genres is characteristic of the stage, it can be divided into three groups:

The concert stage (previously called "divertissement") combines all types of performances in variety concerts;

Theatrical stage (chamber performances of the theater of miniatures, cabaret theatres, cafe-theaters or a large-scale concert revue, music hall, with numerous performing staff and first-class stage equipment);

Festive stage (folk festivals, holidays at stadiums, full of sports and concert numbers, as well as balls, carnivals, masquerades, festivals, etc.).

There are also these:

3. 1. VARIETY THEATERS

3.1.1. MUSIC HALLS

If the basis of a variety performance is a finished number, then the review, like any dramatic action, required the subordination of everything that happens on the stage to the plot. This, as a rule, did not organically combine and led to the weakening of one of the components of the presentation: either the performance, or the characters, or the plot. This happened during the production of "Miracles of the 20th Century" - the play broke up into a number of independent, loosely connected episodes. Only the ballet ensemble and several first-class variety and circus performances had success with the audience. The ballet ensemble staged by Goleizovsky performed three numbers: "Hey, Let's Go!", "Moscow in the Rain" and "30 English Girls". The performance of "The Snake" was especially spectacular. Among the circus numbers the best were: Tea Alba and "Australian Lumberjacks" Jackson and Laurer. Alba simultaneously wrote different words with chalk on two boards with her right and left hands. The lumberjacks at the end of the race were chopping two thick logs. An excellent balance number on the wire was shown by the German Strodi. He performed somersaults on a wire. Of the Soviet artists, as always, Smirnov-Sokolsky and the ditties V. Glebova and M. Darskaya had great success. Among the circus numbers, the number of Zoya and Martha Koch stood out on two parallel wires.

In September 1928, the opening of the Leningrad Music Hall took place.

3. 1.2. THEATER OF MINIATURES - a theatrical group working mainly on small forms: small plays, sketches, sketches, operas, operettas along with pop numbers (monologues, couplets, parodies, dances, songs). The repertoire is dominated by humor, satire, irony, and lyrics are not excluded. The troupe is small, the theater of one actor, two actors is possible. The performances, laconic in design, are designed for a relatively small audience; they represent a kind of mosaic canvas.

3. 1.3. TALKING GENRES on the stage - a symbol of genres associated mainly with the word: entertainer, interlude, sketch, sketch, story, monologue, feuilleton, microminiature (staged anecdote), burime.

Entertainer - entertainer can be paired, single, mass. A colloquial genre built according to the laws of "unity and struggle of opposites", that is, the transition from quantity to quality according to the satirical principle.

Variety monologue - can be satirical, lyrical, humorous.

An interlude is a comic scene or musical piece of playful content, which is performed as an independent number.

A sketch is a small scene where intrigue is rapidly developing, where the simplest plot is built on unexpected funny, sharp positions, turns, allowing a whole series of absurdities to arise in the course of action, but where everything usually ends in a happy denouement. 1-2 actors (but no more than three).

Miniature is the most popular colloquial genre in pop music. On the stage today, a popular anecdote (not published, not printed - from Greek) is a short topical oral story with an unexpected witty ending.

A pun is a joke based on the comical use of similar-sounding but different-sounding words to play on the sound similarity of equivalent words or combinations.

Reprise is the most common short colloquial genre.

Couplets are one of the most intelligible and popular varieties of the colloquial genre. The coupletist seeks to ridicule this or that phenomenon and express their attitude towards it. Must have a sense of humor

The musical and colloquial genres include a couplet, a ditty, a chansonette, a musical feuilleton.

A parody common on the stage can be "colloquial", vocal, musical, dance. At one time, recitations, melodeclamations, literary montages, "Artistic reading" adjoined speech genres.

It is impossible to give a precisely fixed list of speech genres: unexpected syntheses of the word with music, dance, original genres (transformation, ventrology, etc.) give rise to new genre formations. Live practice continuously supplies all sorts of varieties, it is not by chance that on old posters it was customary to add "in his genre" to the name of an actor.

Each of the above speech genres has its own characteristics, its own history, structure. The development of society, social conditions dictated the emergence of one or another genre to the forefront. Actually, only the entertainer born in the cabaret can be considered a "variety" genre. The rest came from the booth, the theater, from the pages of humorous and satirical magazines. Speech genres, unlike others, inclined to master foreign innovations, developed in line with the national tradition, in close connection with the theater, with humorous literature.

The development of speech genres is associated with the level of literature. Behind the actor stands the author, who "dies" in the performer. And yet, the intrinsic value of acting does not detract from the importance of the author, who largely determines the success of the performance. The authors often became the artists themselves. The traditions of I. Gorbunov were picked up by pop storytellers - Smirnov-Sokolsky, Afonin, Nabatov and others created their own repertoire. Actors who did not have literary talent turned to authors for help, who wrote based on oral performance, taking into account the mask of the performer. These authors, as a rule, remained "nameless". For many years, the question has been discussed in the press whether a work written for performance on the stage can be considered literature. In the early 1980s, the All-Union, and then the All-Russian Association of Variety Authors were created, which helped legitimize this type of literary activity. The author's "anonymity" is a thing of the past; moreover, the authors themselves took to the stage. At the end of the 70s, the program "Behind the Scenes of Laughter" was released, compiled according to the type of a concert, but exclusively from the performances of pop authors. If in previous years only individual writers (Averchenko, Ardov, Laskin) came up with their own programs, now this phenomenon has become widespread. The phenomenon of M. Zhvanetsky contributed a lot to the success. Having started in the 60s as the author of the Leningrad Theater of Miniatures, he, bypassing censorship, began to read his short monologues and dialogues at closed evenings in the Houses of the Creative Intelligentsia, which, like Vysotsky's songs, were distributed throughout the country.

3. JAZZ ON THE STAND

The term "jazz" is commonly understood as: 1) a type of musical art based on improvisation and a special rhythmic intensity, 2) orchestras and ensembles that perform this music. The terms "jazz band", "jazz ensemble" are also used to designate groups (sometimes indicating the number of performers - jazz trio, jazz quartet, jazz orchestra, big band).

4. SONG ON THE STAND

Vocal (vocal-instrumental) miniature, widely used in concert practice. On the stage, it is often solved as a stage "game" miniature with the help of plasticity, costume, light, mise-en-scenes ("song theater"); Of great importance is the personality, features of the talent and skill of the performer, who in some cases becomes a "co-author" of the composer.

The genres and forms of the song are varied: romance, ballad, folk song, couplet, ditty, chansonette, etc.; the methods of performance are also varied: solo, ensemble (duets, choirs, wok-instr. ensembles).

There is also a group of composers among pop musicians. These are Antonov, Pugacheva, Gazmanov, Loza, Kuzmin, Dobrynin, Kornelyuk and others.

Many styles, manners and trends coexist - from sentimental kitsch and urban romance to punk rock and rap. Thus, today's song is a multi-colored and multi-style panel, which includes dozens of directions, from domestic folklore imitations to inoculations of African-American, European and Asian cultures.

5. DANCE ON THE STAND

This is a short dance number, solo or group, presented in group variety concerts, variety shows, music halls, theaters of miniatures; accompanies and complements the program of vocalists, numbers of original and even speech genres. It was formed on the basis of folk, everyday (ballroom) dance, classical ballet, modern dance, sports gymnastics, acrobatics, on the crossing of various foreign influences and national traditions. The nature of dance plasticity is dictated by modern rhythms, formed under the influence of related arts: music, theater, painting, circus, pantomime.

Folk dances were originally included in the performances of the capital's troupes. The repertoire included theatrical divertissement performances of rural, urban and military life, vocal and dance suites from Russian folk songs and dances.

In the 1990s, dance on the stage sharply polarized, as if returning to the situation of the 1920s. Dance groups engaged in show business, such as Erotic Dance and others, rely on erotica - performances in nightclubs dictate their own laws.

6. DOLLS ON THE STAND

Since ancient times, people in Russia have valued handicraft, loved toys, and respected a fun game with a doll. Petrushka dealt with a soldier, a policeman, a priest, and even with death itself, bravely brandished a club, laid down on the spot those whom the people did not like, overthrew evil, affirmed people's morality.

Petrushechniks wandered alone, sometimes together: a puppeteer and a musician, they themselves composed plays, they themselves were actors, directors themselves - they tried to preserve the movements of the puppets, mise-en-scenes, puppet tricks. Puppeteers were persecuted.

There were other spectacles in which puppets acted. On the roads of Russia one could meet vans loaded with puppets on strings - puppets. And sometimes boxes with slots inside, along which the dolls were moved from below. Such boxes were called nativity scenes. Puppeteers mastered the art of imitation. They liked to portray singers, copied acrobats, gymnasts, clowns.

7. PARODY ON THE STAND

This is a number or performance based on ironic imitation (imitation) of both the individual manner, style, characteristic features and stereotypes of the original, as well as entire trends and genres in art. The amplitude of the comic: from sharply satirical (degrading) to humorous (friendly caricature) - is determined by the attitude of the parodist to the original. Parody has its roots in ancient art, in Russia it has long been present in buffoon games, farce performances.

8. SMALL THEATERS

Creation in Russia of cabaret theaters "The Bat", "Crooked Mirror", etc.

Both "Crooked Mirror" and "The Bat" were professionally strong acting groups, the level of theatrical culture of which was undoubtedly higher than in numerous miniature theaters (Petrovsky stood out more than others from Moscow, the director was D.G. Gutman, Mamonovsky, who cultivated decadent art, where Alexander Vertinsky made his debut during the First World War, Nikolsky - the artist and director A.P. Petrovsky. Among St. Petersburg - Troitsky A.M. Fokina - director V.R. V.O. Toporkov, later an artist of the art theater, successfully performed as an entertainer.

4. Musical genres on stage. Basic principles, techniques and directing.

There are variety genres:

1 Latin American music

Latin American music (Spanish musica latinoamericana) is a generalized name for the musical styles and genres of Latin American countries, as well as the music of people from these countries who compactly live in other states and form large Latin American communities (for example, in the USA). In colloquial speech, the abbreviated name "Latin music" (Spanish musica latina) is often used.

Latin American music, whose role in the daily life of Latin America is very high, is a fusion of many musical cultures, but it is based on three components: Spanish (or Portuguese), African and Indian musical cultures. As a rule, Latin American songs are performed in Spanish or Portuguese, less often in French. Latin American performers living in the US are usually bilingual and often use English lyrics.

Spanish and Portuguese music proper do not belong to Latin American, being, however, closely connected with the latter by a large number of connections; moreover, the influence of Spanish and Portuguese music on Latin American is mutual.

Despite the fact that Latin American music is extremely heterogeneous and has its own characteristics in each country of Latin America, stylistically it can be divided into several main regional styles:

* Andean music;

* Central American music;

* Caribbean music;

* Argentinean music;

* Mexican music;

* Brazilian music.

However, it should be borne in mind that such a division is very arbitrary and the boundaries of these musical styles are very blurred.

Blues (English blues from blue devils) is a genre of music that became widespread in the 20s of the XX century. It is one of the achievements of African American culture. It was formed from such ethnic musical trends of the African American society as "work song" (eng. work song), "spirituals" (eng. spirituals) and cholera (eng. Holler). In many ways, he influenced modern popular music, especially such genres as “pop” (English pop music), “jazz” (English jazz), “rock and roll” (English rock’n’roll). The predominant form of 4/4 blues, where the first 4 measures are often played on the tonic harmony, 2 each on the subdominant and tonic, and 2 each on the dominant and tonic. This alternation is also known as the blues progression. The rhythm of eighth triplets with a pause is often used - the so-called shuffle. A characteristic feature of the blues are "blue notes". Often music is built according to the “question-answer” structure, expressed both in the lyrical content of the composition, and in the musical content, often built on the dialogue of instruments among themselves. Blues is an improvisational form of a musical genre, where compositions often use only the main supporting "frame", which is beaten by solo instruments. The original blues theme is built on the sensual social component of the life of the African American population, its difficulties and obstacles that arise in the way of every black person.

Jazz is a form of musical art that arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States as a result of the synthesis of African and European cultures and subsequently became widespread. Characteristic features of the musical language of jazz initially became improvisation, polyrhythm based on syncopated rhythms, and a unique set of techniques for performing rhythmic texture - swing. Further development of jazz occurred due to the development of new rhythmic and harmonic models by jazz musicians and composers.

Country combines two varieties of American folklore - the music of white settlers who settled in the New World in the 17th-18th centuries and the cowboy ballads of the Wild West. This music has a strong heritage of Elizabethan madrigals, Irish and Scottish folk music. The main musical instruments of this style are the guitar, banjo and violin.

"The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" is the first "documented" country song written in 1871 by Will Heiss of Kentucky. 53 years later, Fiddine John Carson records this composition on a record. In October 1925, the Grand Ole Opry radio program began, which to this day broadcasts concerts of country stars live.

Country as a music industry began to gain momentum in the late 1940s. thanks to the success of Hank Williams (1923-53), who not only set the image of a country performer for several generations to come, but also outlined the genre's typical themes - tragic love, loneliness and the hardships of a working life. Already by that time, there were different styles in country music: Western swing, which took the principles of arranging from Dixieland - here the king of the genre was Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys; bluegrass, dominated by founder Bill Monroe; the style of musicians like Hank Williams was then called hillbilly. In the mid 1950s. country, along with elements from other genres (gospel, rhythm and blues) gave birth to rock and roll. The boundary genre immediately appeared - rockabilly - it was from him that such singers as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash began their career - it is no coincidence that they all recorded in the same Memphis studio Sun Records. Thanks to the success of Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs (1959), the country-and-western genre became distinct, dominated by scenes from the life of the Wild West.

Chanson (fr. chanson - “song”) - a genre of vocal music; The word is used in two senses:

2) a French pop song in the style of a cabaret (inclined in Russian).

Blatna? I'm singing (criminal folklore, blatnyak) is a song genre that sings about the life and customs of the criminal environment, originally designed for the environment of prisoners and people close to the underworld. It originated in the Russian Empire and became widespread in the Soviet Union and subsequently in the CIS countries. Over time, in the genre of criminal music, songs began to be written that go beyond the criminal theme, but retain its characteristic features (melody, jargon, narration, worldview). Since the 1990s, a criminal song in the Russian music industry has been marketed under the name "Russian chanson" (cf. the radio station and awards of the same name).

Romance in music is a vocal composition written on a short poem of lyrical content, mostly love.

The author's song, or bard music, is a song genre that arose in the middle of the 20th century in the USSR. The genre grew in the 1950s and 1960s. from amateur art, regardless of the cultural policy of the Soviet authorities, and quickly achieved wide popularity. The main emphasis is on the poetry of the text.

6 Electronic music

Electronic music (from the English. Electronic music, colloquially also "electronics") is a broad musical genre that refers to music created using electronic musical instruments. Although the first electronic instruments appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, electronic music as a genre developed in the second half of the 20th century and includes dozens of varieties at the beginning of the 21st century.

7 Rock music

Rock music (Eng. Rock music) is a generalized name for a number of areas of popular music. The word "rock" - to swing - in this case indicates the rhythmic sensations characteristic of these directions associated with a certain form of movement, by analogy with "roll", "twist", "swing", "shake", etc. Such signs rock music, as the use of electric musical instruments, creative self-sufficiency (for rock musicians, it is typical to perform compositions of their own composition) are secondary and often misleading. For this reason, the affiliation of some styles of music with rock is disputed. Rock is also a special subcultural phenomenon; subcultures such as mods, hippies, punks, metalheads, goths, emo are inextricably linked to certain genres of rock music.

Rock music has a large number of directions: from light genres such as danceable rock and roll, pop rock, Britpop to brutal and aggressive genres - death metal and hardcore. The content of the songs ranges from light and laid-back to dark, deep and philosophical. Often rock music is opposed to pop music, etc. "pop", although there is no clear boundary between the concepts of "rock" and "pop", and many musical phenomena balance on the verge between them.

The origins of rock music lie in the blues, from which the first rock genres came out - rock and roll and rockabilly. The first subgenres of rock music arose in close connection with the folk and pop music of that time - primarily folk, country, skiffle, music hall. During its existence, there have been attempts to combine rock music with almost all possible types of music - with academic music (art rock, appears in the late 60s), jazz (jazz rock, appears in the late 60s - early 70s ), Latin music (Latin rock, appears in the late 60s), Indian music (raga rock, appears in the mid 60s). In the 60s and 70s, almost all the major sub-genres of rock music appeared, the most important of which, in addition to those listed, are hard rock, punk rock, rock avant-garde. In the late 70s and early 80s, such genres of rock music appeared as post-punk, new wave, alternative rock (although early representatives of this direction appeared already in the late 60s), hardcore (a major subgenre of punk rock ), as well as brutal metal subgenres - death metal, black metal. In the 90s, the genres of grunge (appeared in the mid-80s), Britpop (appeared in the mid-60s), alternative metal (appeared in the late 80s) were widely developed.

The main centers for the emergence and development of rock music are the USA and Western Europe (especially Great Britain). Most of the lyrics are in English. However, although, as a rule, with some delay, national rock music appeared in almost all countries. Russian-language rock music (the so-called Russian rock) appeared in the USSR already in the 1960s and 1970s. and reached its peak in the 1980s, continuing to develop in the 1990s.

8 Ska, rocksteady, reggae

Ska is a musical style that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s. The appearance of the style is connected [source not specified 99 days] with the advent of sound installations (English "sound systems"), which allowed dancing right on the street.

Sound sets are not just stereo speakers, but a form of street discos, with DJs and their mobile stereos, with increasing competition between these DJs for the best sound, the best repertoire, and so on.

The style is characterized by a swinging 2/4 rhythm, when the guitar plays on the even-numbered drum beats, and the double bass or bass guitar emphasizes the odd ones. The melody is played by wind instruments such as trumpet, trombone and saxophone. Among the melodies of ska you can find jazz melodies.

Rocksteady ("rock steady", "rocksteady") - a musical style that existed in Jamaica and England in the 1960s. The basis of the style is Caribbean rhythms in 4/4, with increased attention to keyboards and guitars.

Reggae (English reggae, other spellings - "reggae" and "reggae"), Jamaican popular music, first mentioned since the late 1960s. Sometimes used as a general name for all Jamaican music. It is closely related to other Jamaican genres - rocksteady, ska and others.

Dub (English dub) is a musical genre that arose in the early 1970s in Jamaica. Initially, records in this genre were reggae songs with (sometimes partially) vocals removed. Since the mid-1970s, dub has become a phenomenon in its own right, considered an experimental and psychedelic variety of reggae. The musical and ideological developments of dub gave birth to the technology and culture of remixes, and also directly or indirectly influenced the development of a new wave and genres such as hip-hop, house, drum and bass, trip-hop, dub-techno, dubstep and others. .

Pop music (Eng. Pop-music from Popular music) is a direction of modern music, a type of modern mass culture.

The term "pop music" has two meanings. In a broad sense, this is any mass music (including rock, electronic, jazz, blues). In a narrow sense - a separate genre of popular music, directly pop music with certain characteristics.

The main features of pop music as a genre are simplicity, melodiousness, reliance on vocals and rhythm with less attention to the instrumental part. The main and practically the only form of composition in pop music is the song. Pop music lyrics are usually about personal feelings.

Pop music includes sub-genres such as euro pop, latin, disco, electropop, dance music and others.

10 Rap (Hip-hop)

Hip-hop (English hip hop) is a cultural trend that originated among the working class of New York on November 12, 1974. DJ Afrika Bambaataa was the first to identify five pillars of hip-hop culture: eMsiing (English MCing), DJing (English DJing) , breaking, graffiti writing, and knowledge. Other elements include beatboxing, hip hop fashion and slang.

Originating in the South Bronx, in the 1980s, hip-hop became part of the youth culture in many countries around the world. Since the late 1990s, from a street underground with a sharply social orientation, hip-hop has gradually turned into a part of the music industry, and by the middle of the first decade of this century, the subculture has become "fashionable", "mainstream". However, despite this, many figures within hip-hop still continue its “main line” - a protest against inequality and injustice, opposition to those in power.

It is known that stage direction is subdivided into direction of a variety performance and direction of a variety act.

The methodology of work on a variety performance (concert, review, show), as a rule, does not include the tasks of creating the numbers that it consists of. The director combines ready-made numbers with a storyline, a single theme, builds a through action of the performance, organizes its tempo-rhythmic structure, solves the problems of musical, scenographic, and lighting design. That is, he faces a number of artistic and organizational problems that require resolution in the program as a whole and are not directly related to the variety act itself. This position is confirmed by the thesis of the well-known stage director of variety performances I. Sharoev, who wrote that “most often, the stage director accepts performances from specialists in various genres, and then creates a variety program from them. The room has a lot of independence.”

Working on a variety act requires the director to solve a number of specific tasks that he does not face when staging a large program. This is, first of all, the ability to reveal the individuality of the artist, to build the dramaturgy of the performance, to work with a reprise, trick, gag, to know and take into account the nature of the specific expressive means of the performance, and much more.

Many methodological postulates of creating a performance are based on common fundamental principles that exist in drama, musical theater, and circus. But then completely different structures are built on the foundation. In variety direction, significant specificity is noticeable, which, first of all, is determined by the genre typology of the variety act.

On the stage, the director, as a creator, achieves in the performance the ultimate goal of any art - the creation of an artistic image, which is the creative side of the profession. But in the process of staging the number, there is the work of a specialist on the technology of expressive means. This is due to the very nature of some genres: for example, most sub-genre varieties of a sports and circus kind require rehearsal and training work with a coach on sports elements, special tricks; work on a vocal number is impossible without lessons from a vocal teacher; in the choreographic genre, the role of the choreographer-repetiteur is essential.

Sometimes these technical specialists loudly call themselves stage directors, although their activity, in fact, is limited only to building a special stunt or technical component of the number - it doesn’t matter whether it’s acrobatics, dancing or singing. Here, talking about creating an artistic image can be a stretch. When the leading masters of the stage (especially in the original genres) share the secrets of their skill in printed works, they mainly describe the technique of tricks, acrobatics, juggling, etc.

I would like to emphasize once again that the artistic structure of a pop act is complex, diverse, and often conglomerative. Therefore, staging a pop number is one of the most difficult activities of a director. “Making a good performance, even if it only takes a few minutes, is very difficult. And it seems to me that these difficulties are underestimated. Maybe that's why I respect and appreciate the art of those who are sometimes somewhat disparagingly called entertainers, giving them a not very honorable place in the unwritten scale of professions. These words of S. Yutkevich once again confirm the importance of analyzing the artistic structure of a pop act with the final exit to the study of the foundations of the methodology of its creation, especially in terms of directing and staging work.

Conclusion.

VARIETY ART (from French estrade - platform, elevation) - a synthetic form of stage art that combines small forms of drama, comedy, music, as well as singing, artistic. reading, choreography, eccentricity, pantomime, acrobatics, juggling, illusionism, etc. Despite its international nature, it retains folk roots that give it a special national flavor. Born in the Renaissance on the street stage and starting with clowning, primitive farces, buffoonery, E. and. in different countries it evolved differently, giving preference to one or the other genres, one or another image-mask. In the variety programs of the salons, circles and clubs that arose later, in booths, music halls, cafes, cabarets, miniature theaters and on the preserved variety garden and park sites, cheerful humor, witty parodies and cartoons, caustic communal satire, pointed hyperbole, buffoonery prevail , grotesque, playful irony, sincere lyrics, fashionable dance and music rhythms. Individual numbers of the polyphonic variegation of the divertissement are often held together on the stage by an entertainer or a simple plot, and theaters of one or two actors, ensembles (ballet, musical, etc.) - with an original repertoire, their own dramaturgy. Variety art focuses on the widest audience and relies primarily on the skill of the performers, on their technique of impersonation, the ability to create spectacular entertainment with concise means, a vivid character - more often negative comedy than positive. Exposing his anti-heroes, he turns to metaphorical features and details, to a bizarre interweaving of credibility and caricature, real and fantastic, thereby contributing to the creation of an atmosphere of rejection of their life prototypes, opposition to their prosperity in reality. Topicality is typical for variety art, the combination of entertainment with serious content in the best examples, educational functions, when fun is complemented by a variety of emotional palette, and sometimes socio-political, civic pathos. Show business generated by bourgeois mass culture lacks the latter quality. Almost all operational “small”, “light” varieties, including common “skits”, are characterized by a relatively short lifespan, fast depreciation of masks, which depends on the exhaustion of the relevance of the topic, the implementation of social order, the change in interest and needs of the audience. Being one of the most mobile forms of art, at the same time more ancient arts, pop art is subject to the disease of stamping, reducing the artistic and aesthetic value of talented finds, up to turning them into kitsch. The development is strongly influenced by such "technical" arts as cinema and especially television, which often includes variety performances and concerts in its programs. Thanks to this, the traditional forms and techniques of variety art acquire not only greater scale and prevalence, but also psychological depth (the use of close-ups, other visual and expressive means of screen arts), and vivid entertainment.

In the system of performing arts, the stage today firmly occupies a separate place, representing an independent phenomenon of artistic culture. The popularity of variety art among the widest and most diverse audiences forces it to respond to the conflicting aesthetic needs of various groups of the population in terms of social, age, educational and even national composition. This feature of pop art largely explains the presence of negative aspects in the professional, aesthetic and taste merits of pop works. The mass nature of the pop audience in the past and present, its heterogeneity, the need to combine entertaining and educational functions in pop art, imposes specific requirements on the creators of works of pop art, imposes a special responsibility on them.

The complexity of the study of pop works, as well as the development of methodological approaches to their creation, is due to the fact that, in general, it is a conglomeration of various arts. It synthesizes acting, instrumental music, vocals, choreography, painting (for example, the genre of "instant artist"). Sports (acrobatic and gymnastic numbers) and science are wedged into this synthesis of arts (among pop genres there is a mathematical number - "live counting machine"). Moreover, there are pop genres based on a stunt component, which requires the manifestation of a person's unique abilities and capabilities (for example, a number of pop-circus subgenres, hypnosis, psychological experiments). The multiplicity of expressive means, their unexpected and unusual combinations in various synthetic forms on the stage are very often more diverse than in other spectacular arts.

List of used literature.

Bermont E. Variety Competition. //Theater. 1940, No. 2, p.75-78

Birzhenyuk G.M., Buzene L.V., Gorbunova N.A.

Kober. The highlight of the program: Per. with him. L., 1928. S. 232-233; Stanishevsky Yu. Number and culture of its presentation // SEC. 1965. No. 6.

Konnikov A. Variety world. M., 1980.

Ozhegov S. I. and Shvedova N. Yu. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language: 80,000 words and phraseological expressions

Rozovsky M. Director of the spectacle. M., 1973.

Russian Soviet stage // Essays on history. Rep. ed. doc. lawsuit, prof. E.Uvarova. In 3 T. M., 1976, 1977,1981.

Uvarova E. Variety Theatre: Miniatures, Reviews, Music Halls (1917-1945). M., 1983; Arkady Raikin. M., 1986.; How to have fun in the Russian capitals. St. Petersburg, 2004.

Sharoev I. Stage direction and mass performances. M., 1986; Multifaceted stage. M., 1995.