Moscow

Moscow Music and Drama Gypsy Theatre "Romen"

since 1931

The Moscow “Romen” theater, founded by Ivan and Georgy Levbedev in 1931, is the only professional Gypsy theater in Russia. Nowadays, the troupe of “Romen” consists of more than 60 people. “Romen” is not just an ordinary theater, but a real family, in which many generations, entire dynasties of Gypsy actors have been formed. Gypsy choirs began to emerge and gain great popularity in Russia back in the late XVIII — early XIX century. There were some early attempts to create Gypsy theater troupes. One of them, for example, happened at the end of the XIX century due to the head of one of the Gypsy choirs, Nikolai Shishkin. His team first began performing on the stages of Moscow theaters. The next, more global and undoubtedly successful attempt took place already at the beginning of the XX century in 1931, when the “Indo-Romen” professional theater and music studio was opened. It became the prototype of “Romen” that we know today. An important role in the formation of the theater, which took place in the second half of the 1930s, was played by the actor and playwright Ivan Lebedev (who later took the prefix “Rom” to his surname) and his brother Georgy Lebedev, the first director of “Romen”. Since the 1960s, “Romen” due to the young and talented artistic director Nikolai Slichenko, has moved to a new stage of development: numerous television appearances, concerts, tours… Slichenko, who became the face of the theater for many decades, actively popularized Gypsy culture and “Romen" in particular. Today, “Romen” is still faithful to its traditions. The repertoire of the theater is based mostly on classical works with gypsy motifs: “We are Gypsies”, “Grushenka”, “Bells of Love”, “Hello, Pushkin!” and others. Many of the performances have been demonstrated on the stage of “Romen” for more than a dozen years.