Oleksandr Ivashutych, a student of Les Kurbas, as a universal figure in the theater of musical comedy
Authors: Shchukina Yuliia 
Published: January 2021

Background. Analyzing the origins of the school of Kharkiv Academic Theater of Musical Comedy, we cannot ignore its founders. People’s Artist of the UzSSR O. Ivashutych was a director, head of the theatre (during the 1940s), drama actor from the year of its founding (1929) to 1971. Methods and novelty of the research. The research is based on historicalchronological, biographical, typological, and comparative methods with an element of performances and roles reconstruction. Not much is known about O. G. Ivashutych. The only encyclopedic reference about him (from the “Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine”) does not shed light on the director’s method, indirectly giving an idea only of the acting range. The work of Yu. Stanishevsky (1970) on the first forty years of musical comedy theaters of Ukraine (“Colors of Ukrainian operetta”) has several useful elements of reconstructions of the roles in the early period of O. Ivashutych’s work. N. Yermakova’s (2012) monograph “The Berezil Culture…” contains facts and important assessments of O. Ivashutych’s activity as a member of the Berezil Art Association. The author of this paper has collected more than 30 articles in the funds of scientific libraries and Specialized music and theater library of Kharkiv, as well as in the archives of KhATMK, and for the first time the information about the work of O. Ivashutych is analyzed. In addition, the actresses who worked with O. Ivashutych were interviewed. Therefore, this study is the first to reveal and systematize peculiarities of the creative path of O. Ivashutych, an actor, director, head of Kharkiv Theater of Musical Comedy. The director made about 40 productions on the stage of Kharkiv Theater of Musical Comedy and in Central Asia, where he was later evacuated. As an actor, O. Ivashutych played more than 100 versatile roles. The article aims to identify and characterize the main stages of the creative path of O. Ivashutych as well as differences between his acting and directing in different aesthetic eras. Results. O. Ivashutych’s creative individuality leaned towards the tragicomedy of Charlie Chaplin and Maryan Krushelnytsky. As a student of Les Kurbas in the Berezil Art Association and a member of the director’s laboratory of this theater, Les Ivashutych mastered the method of the famous avant-garde company, Les Ivashutich mastered the stage method of the famous avant-garde company, skillfully building rhythm of a performance and a role, turning to circusize, grotesque sharpening of images. In his directing work on the stage of the Musical Comedy Theater, O. Ivashutych, as a pupil of “The Berezil”, sought to consistently develop two repertoire trends: the embodiment of the best European classics (often exclusive in the country salon repertoire) and Ukrainian works (musical comedies and operettas by M. Verykivsky, M. Lysenko, O. Riabov). In our opinion, during these years L. Ivashutych drew a dash line of the European repertoire in his theater: he presented unique in the history of Kharkiv Theater of Musical Comedy operettas “The Borgia’s Garter” by K. Kraus, “Jeanne Who Cries and Jean Who Laughs” by J. Offenbach, “Ball at the Savoy” by P. Abraham (1940), “The Marriage Market” by V. Jacobi (1947), “The Eagle Feathers” by F. Farkas (1957), “Fraskita” by F. Leh&#225;r (1959), “The Waltz King” by J. Strauss (1961) and the first productions of famous operettas “Rose Marie” by G. Stotgardt and L. Friml (1942), “The Circus Princess” (1947), “Zorika (Gypsy Love)” by F. Leh&#225;r (directed by O. Ivashutych in the year of the composer’s death). In addition, O. Ivashutych staged four performances based on the musical comedies of the classic of Ukrainian operetta O. Riabov. The only performance, which could directly reveal the methodology of “The Berezil” was a fantastic comedy “Viy” (1951). The director also impressed with frank theatricality in circus scenes from the Milyutin’s operetta “Circus lights the fires” – together with choreographer A. Gulesco he managed to set up the style related to “girls” from “The Berezil” revues. Conclusions. Olexandr Ivashutych’s acting naturally evolved from the avantgarde of the 1920s – early 1930s, when he created, in particular, an eccentric image of Orpheus in the production of J. Offenbach, to the realistically psychological roles of 1950–1960, performed in a soft comedic manner (Amadeus in “The Bat”, Rooster in “Akulini”, Underwud in “The Kiss of Cianita”). L. Ivashutych worked as a director only during the period of the theater of “socialist realism”, which resulted in the corresponding realistic principles of his productions. However, even in such circumstances the director appreciated and skillfully used bright elements of theatrical imagery (fantasticality in “Viy” by M. Gogol, choreography in the spirit of the revue in “Circus lights the fires”). O. Ivashutych’s activity in Kharkiv Theater of Musical Comedy was based on the significant personal culture of the artist and his worldview of an intelligent leader.