Freak Accident Kills Performer at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater

It's thought he was crushed by a descending set piece
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 10, 2021 7:00 AM CDT
Freak Accident Kills Performer at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater
The Bolshoi is shown.   (Getty Images)

A freak accident in Russia killed a performer at Moscow's renowned Bolshoi theater on Saturday. The BBC reports scenery fell on the 36-year-old during a set change for Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Sadko. Yevgeny Kulesh, who had performed at the theater for nearly 20 years, is thought to have tried to exit the stage in the wrong direction as the scenery descended and was crushed by it. Some reportedly thought it was a trick or intentional at first, until cries of "there is blood" were heard. Attempts to revive him failed.

The New York Times reports that initially, the orchestra played on and singing continued, until apparent commotion gave way to performers yelling for the music to cease. "The music ground to a halt, and most of the performers walked offstage while a few went to the rear of the stage to help the man. The curtains closed," is how the Times puts it. "The performance was immediately stopped, the audience was asked to leave the hall," said the Bolshoi in a statement. Kulesh was reportedly one of 50 Bolshoi employees who worked as an onstage extra. (It's not the first tragedy at the theater. In 2013, a Bolshoi violinist died after falling into the orchestra pit.)

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