...all taking place very, very far away. At my only visit to the Bolshoi, to see ballet I've now forgotten, I still vividly remember the forceful way in which my coat wax taken by the coat-lady (you may not enter the auditorium at the Bolshoi without checking your coat), and how blazing hot it was inside, despite the fact that it was dead in the middle of a Russian winter.

When you read a critic's review of an opera, you find out what happens onstage--which is how it should be. But not every night at the opera can offer high drama onstage, and often it's the quirky opera-house customs that we remember best.

I decided to see if the coat-checking procedure is still in place at Russian theaters. Absolutely, says David Shengold, who has spent a lot of time at the beautiful blue-and-gold Mariinsky Theatre, in St. Petersburg. "Do not show up at any Russian theater at the very last minute," says Shengold. "You will need time to check your coat--coat-checking is required in Russian theaters and museums at the garderob. Don't necessarily bring your best coat, and don't leave your Rolex in it, but do have a hook for hanging it up, or you may get a mini-lecture from the garderobshchitsa. More than once, they have--unasked--sewn one in while I was off enjoying Rimsky or Glinka." Don't leave your program on your seat at intermission, if you expect to keep it, and visitors should be aware that the Mariinsky also has a two-tier system of ticket prices, lower for local citizens, more expensive for foreigners.

In Moscow, however, the Bolshoi does not have the locals-versus-foreigners ticketing system in place: "They don't like the discriminatory aspect of it, and I don't either," says George Loomis. "I think it's a very outrageous plan." Bolshoi tickets are not expensive: prices are ridiculously low...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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