Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
9
Moscow After Dark
A large proportion of Moscow's
tourists come primarily for its performing
arts or, increasingly, its nightlife. Its repu-
tation in both departments is well-
deserved. The Bolshoi Theater is merely
the most famous of the city's top-quality
ballet and opera houses, which survived
the cash and identity crisis of the 1990s to
emerge livelier and just as talent-packed as
before. Prices are no longer rock-bottom
bargains, but most performances will still
cost less than in the West, especially classi-
cal music concerts.
The club scene, meanwhile, raced out
of the restrictive Soviet era to make Mos-
cow one of the most cutting-edge party
spots in Europe, complete with sex, drugs,
and enough over-the-top behavior to
impress even the most jaded clubbers. Not
so long ago, Russia's bar scene was limited
to hotel lobbies and seedy, standing-only
beer halls frequented largely by construc-
tion workers. Today's gamut of bars is as
broad as that of any European capital,
with cool cocktail bars, kitschy Soviet
theme bars, billiards bars, cigar bars, sports
bars, and more. The booming Russian
beer industry has helped, with several
brewery-run bars around town.
Less obvious but no less impressive is
Moscow's jazz scene, the legacy of devoted
musicians who coveted banned LPs in the
Soviet era and have taken Russian jazz to a
nuanced, world-weary level.
The most thorough English-language
listings for theater, music, and movies are
found in the Friday edition of
The Moscow
Times
(www.themoscowtimes.com), the
Russia Journal
(www.therussiajournal.
com), and the monthly magazine
Passport
(www.passportmagazine.ru). The inten-
tionally offensive weekly
eXile
newspaper
(www.exiledonline.com) is a guide to
hedonistic Moscow as well as the premier
English-language source of bar and club
advice.
Buying Tickets
Russian theaters rarely run one show at a time. Instead, they have a constantly
rotating repertoire; for example, the Bolshoi Theater runs
Giselle
once or twice a
month all season long. Tickets for top venues are available through most hotels,
though they often include a hefty service charge, and the choice is limited. If
you're looking for something cheaper or more unusual, you can try the indepen-
dent theater kiosks throughout the city and in several metro stations. These can
offer same-day tickets for conservatory concerts or daring new operas. Lists of
available performances are often written out on index cards in Russian, making
for chaotic reading. If you're looking for something specific, just ask—there's a
good chance either the vendor or another customer will speak English. These
sources are generally reliable, but be sure to check your ticket (sometimes just a
flimsy paper with the theater's name and the show's name stamped on it) for the
proper date and time. Dates are written European-style, with the day before the
month, and times are usually written using the 24-hour clock. Punctuation varies
too. So “19.00; 01.07.10” means 7pm on July 1, 2010.
