Clug powerless as Bolshoi picks his ballet to drop Kremlin-critical artist

Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre has decided to cancel a ballet production by the Kremlin-critical director Kirill Serebrennikov and replace it with a ballet by Slovenian-based choreographer Edward Clug. Clug says he is powerless because the Bolshoi holds exclusive rights to his ballet until 2026.

The Bolshoi cancelled a May revival of Kirill Serebrennikov's 2015 ballet production A Hero of Our Time and replaced it with Clug's adaptation of The Master and Margarita, which made a major hit after opening in Moscow in 2021.

Serebrennikov, who was found guilty in 2020...