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Michael H. Hardern
Operetta Research Center
7 May, 2015
It’s a grand day in Moscow today, filled with military parades. Perhaps it’s the appropriate time to remember one of the greatest Russian operettas too, and especially a superb film version of that operetta: Dmitri Shostakovich’s Op.
105, Moscow, Cheryomushki about a district in Moscow full of cheap subsidized housing built in 1956.
Cover for the Decca DVD release of “Cherry Town.”
The operetta is a kind of Russian “Street Scene,” only with a very socialist twist.
That is hilarious to watch. The show premiered in 1959, with popular music filled with satiric elements. Because of the success, it was turned into a movie in 1963 by Gerbert Rappaport, for Lenfilm.
A gentle satire on the lives and aspirations of young Soviets in the late s, the story follows the on-off romances of three young couples.It was released under the title Cheryomushki. Decca released the film on DVD as Cherry Town. But you can actually see the full movie on YouTube today.
This filmed operetta is a blast, actually. Some scenes are so wildly over the top, that you fe