MAKS & THE FLYING SMIRNOVS
SUSAN RABIN, the recipient of a Marin Arts Council playwriting grant, is the granddaughter of Bella and Morris Rabinowitz - formerly of Odessa, Russia. Her musical play, Maks & the Flying Smirnovs, follows the quest of Maksim Smirnov to become an American star. Maks has sabotaged his fledgling career to save the family’s run-down dance studio in the Russian immigrant neighborhood of San Francisco called the Richmond district.
Maks’ trapeze artist parents, Boris and Ludmila, the celebrated “Flying Smirnovs,” are on tour in Moscow, but get detained because of gambling debts owed to the Russian mob. They plead with Maks to rescue them from the gulag (actually the Moscow Hilton). At the same time, Maks gets an offer for a role in a new Disney musical opening in Los Angeles. In order to take this break in L.A. and resuscitate his career, Maks must get his parents back home. But, he needs ransom money and quick! Maks resorts to stripping - under the pseudonym, “Monty LaRue.” He gets hired by eager, wealthy, ‘mature’ Rita Hunter - which sets up a love triangle with Maks, Rita, and Maks’ talent agent, Angie. Maks learns he must abide by a decency code to work in the Disney musical. Stripping, even under a pseudonym, risks his exposure and loss of the gig. Maks faces an even bigger risk - guilt and shame for not being a “good Russian son” who is supposed to honor his parents and sacrifice his trivial show biz ambitions for those of the illustrious “Flying Smirnovs.” |
|
The music for the show is rock, pop, with some Russian bailalaika laments – to reflect Maks’ pull between his American and Russian cultures.
Dances include a sultry striptease, high energy jazz dances, and a tap number performed by members of the FSB (formerly KGB) and Matryoshka dolls.
The show skewers the old-world parents’ Russian paranoia, tendency to be morose, and their preference for borscht and all things Russian. It teases the older woman-younger man coupling, computer hacking and assorted espionage, and, celebrity. Mainly, Maks & the Flying Smirnovs depicts with
Dances include a sultry striptease, high energy jazz dances, and a tap number performed by members of the FSB (formerly KGB) and Matryoshka dolls.
The show skewers the old-world parents’ Russian paranoia, tendency to be morose, and their preference for borscht and all things Russian. It teases the older woman-younger man coupling, computer hacking and assorted espionage, and, celebrity. Mainly, Maks & the Flying Smirnovs depicts with
