Nicole writes:
We were feeling pretty wiped, so we took a restful day (including some work and a jog in Gorky Park for Nicole) to save our strength for a big evening of theater. We attended a performance of Hamlet at the Theater of Moscow South-West. This was a poignant moment for Nicole because it was the touring performance of Hamlet that Nicole saw performed in Chicago when she was a freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and it is safe to say that was the moment when Nicole learned what theater could really be. That performance began a 30-year relationship between Nicole and the Theater of Moscow South-West!
But first we held court in the basement cafe of the theater so Nicole could see friends as they got a break from rehearsal. We cracked up as person after person came down the stairs, saw Nicole, and (kindly) declared, “you have not changed one bit!” Lyuba served us a traditional Russian meal of cutlets, buckwheat kasha, and vinegret (beet/potato salad).
The performance was sparkling if bittersweet, as this is the first time Nicole has been back to Moscow since the death of Valeryi Romanovich Beliakovich, the founding artistic director of the Theater of Moscow South-West and one of Nicole’s artistic mentors.