Plays performed by the Imperial Family in Tobolsk

[Margarita Markovna]

Was the family alone on the ship (I mean along with sailors, attendants, etc.) ?

[Sarastasia]

This is probably gonna sound weird, but I heard that during one of these performances when Anastasia was playing a boy and a girl, her skirt lifted up and revealed that she was wearing a pair of her father's underwear!!!

Anyone know anything about this?

Sarastasia

P.S: Anyone know how to get hold of a copy of "The Bear"? Maybe a plot summary on the net??

[Sarushka]

Sarastasia --

I've read about that incident too, though I can't remember where at the moment (perhaps in Nicholas & Alexandra or The Last Empress). As for The Bear, see my earlier post above. (The short answer is: the library!)

Sm

[Sarushka]

Update on the underwear incident Sarastasia mentioned --

It seems to be true! You can find the story in House of Special Purpose, by Trewin. I know I've seen it elsewhere as well, but it's definitely in Trewin's book.

[Margarita Markovna]

I thought I heard it happened in Tobolsk. Did it really happen in Ekaterinburg?

[Sarushka]

Ritka --

I'll double check, but I also think it happened in Tobolsk. Despite the title, Trewin's book covers more than just the Ekaterinburg period.
Sm

[grandduchess_42]

didn't they sing as well?

does any body know what songs they sang?

[Margarita Markovna]

Ritka --

I'll double check, but I also think it happened in Tobolsk. Despite the title, Trewin's book covers more than just the Ekaterinburg period.
Sm

Thanks! I thought it only covered Ekaterinburg.

didn't they sing as well?
 
does any body know what songs they sang?  

They sang hymns.

[Sarushka]

Looks like it happened in Tobolsk -- at the bottom of the program I posted, Alix has written (in Russian) Tobolsk, and the date.

[Georgiy]

I read somewhere they would sing the Cherubic Hymn. This hymn is sung during the liturgy in two parts: Part one before the Great Entrance when the clergy come out from the altar with the Gifts that are to be changed into Christ's Body and Blood, Part two after the Clergy re-enter the altar area through the Royal Doors. There are many moving and hauntingly beautiful melodies for this hymn, but the words are as follows:

"Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim and chant the thrice-holy hymn to the Life-creating Trinity, now lay aside all Earthly care."

"That we may receive the King of all, who comes upborne by the Angelic Hosts. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

[Historybuff262]

Hi, I was looking for the play The Bear because I knew that the Imperial family did this play, but In The Last Tsar by Edvard R., He talked about a play in which Czar Nicholas is a guy named Smirnov, and Olga is a widow. I was looking at a book of plays in my school library and there was a play by Chekov called The Boor. This play's two main characters were a guy named Smirnov and a widow. Go fig. Did the I.F. do 2 plays by Chekov The Boor and The Bear?

[Sarushka]

Probably not -- I bet it's just a difference in translation. (A boor is someone with the manners of a bear!)

[Historybuff262]

Ha Ha. Clever.   8)I saw the program that one of the I.F. wrote, but it said The bear. The play Edvard R. wrote about was The boor

[Sarushka]

Hi, I was looking for the play The Bear because I knew that the Imperial family did this play, but In The Last Tsar by Edvard R., He talked about a play in which Czar Nicholas is a guy named Smirnov, and Olga is a widow. I was looking at a book of plays in my school library and there was a play by Chekov called The Boor. This play's two main characters were a guy named Smirnov and a widow. Go fig. Did the I.F. do 2 plays by Chekov The Boor and The Bear?

The edition of Chekhov's plays I read (translated by Paul Schmidt in 1998 ), gives the title of the play you're talking about as The Bear. The two main characters are Smirnov and a widow. It's the same play as The Boor. The title has been translated differently, that's all.

[Sarushka]

According to Charlotte Zeepvat's book, Romanov Autumn, Alekesi mentions 7 different plays in his Tobolsk diary. Unfortunately, she only gives the names of two of them:

At nine we practised the play "A La Porte" and at quarter past nine performed an English play "Packing Up." M., A., and I were in it. Everyone was in fits of laughter.
(quoted from Aleksei's diary on 4/17 February)