Published on: 2026-09-15
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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“We are Gypsies” — the main hit, the calling card theatre “Romen”, subordinate to the Moscow Department of Culture. The play has been performed on this stage for over 50 years and sells out every time. The article on mos.ru tells how it is made and the stories connected with it.
We are Roma
First of all, this is not a conventional play with a usual linear plot. The creators defined its genre as a folk musical spectacle, since Gypsy art is inseparably linked with heartfelt romances and cheerful camp songs. The main character of the production is an entire people and their history. Before the audience unfolds the long nomadic journey of the Gypsies: first, they wander the world for centuries, passing through Ancient India and Egypt, then find a small homeland in our country. The play harmoniously intertwines episodes from works of world classics in which Gypsies appear: the images of Carmen, Esmeralda, Grushenka, or the Gypsy girl Masha.
The events on stage are calmly and measuredly narrated by the storyteller — a role that has been performed for many years by People’s Artist of Russia, the artistic director of the theater, Nikolai Sergienko.
“I open the performance — I need to come out from behind the scenes and reach the middle of the hall on the stage. At that moment, I feel the energy of the audience, understand them with my soul, tune in to the same wavelength with them. If an artist has good looks and vocal skills but lacks energy and charisma, they are not a true artist. You can only engage with the audience if you yourself are filled with something,” he believes.
If the first act is entirely devoted to the journey of the gypsies, then the second is a concert featuring famous romances, melodies, and dances. The entire troupe is involved in the performance — everyone contributes their part.
This concept has not changed throughout half a century of performances. Changes only concerned the narrator — over time, his text and presence on stage were reduced.
“I asked for it myself,” says Nikolay Sergienko. “Before, I hardly ever left the stage; I was given complete improvisation. I could sit down, think while the characters performed some actions, I could come up and look at something for a long time. But this greatly slowed the pace, so we gave way to the action, music, and vivid numbers.”
Creators of the production
The premiere of the iconic play took place on June 26, 1976. The creators of the production were Ivan Rom-Lebedev, the founder of the “Romen” theater, and actor-director Nikolai Slichenko.
Nikolai Alekseevich appeared in the theater in the early 1950s. He came to conquer the capital from a Gypsy collective farm near Voronezh at the age of 17. At first, the «Romance» troupe did not want to take the young man, but one of the troupe’s most famous actors, Sergey Shishkov, saw in him something that others did not notice.
They listened to Shishkov, and Nikolai Slichenko remained working. He was given small roles, but over time he was trusted with more serious ones. This was helped by one incident when the same kind patron, right before the performance of the play “Four Grooms,” told the management that he was sick, and his role could very well be played by Slichenko, as he had long known the lines by heart. That evening, young Nikolai became one of the audience favorites.
In 1977, Nikolai Slichenko became the artistic director and chief director of the theater, and in 1981 he was awarded the title of People’s Artist of the USSR. Over his lifetime, he received more than 20 awards, including the Government of the Russian Federation Prize for the play “We Are Gypsies.” He passed away in 2021.
The first Gypsy theater. How the “Romen” Theatre is organized
The exceptionally beautiful, bright, and distinctive costumes for the legendary play were created by Vyacheslav Zaitsev. The designer developed recognizable looks featuring traditional flowing skirts, scarves, shirts, and shawls tied at the waist. Of course, they have not survived to this day, and for the current shows the craftsmen sew new ones — but according to the very same sketches.
The stage scenery, reflecting the main features of the countries — from the Egyptian Sphinx to Russian birch trees — was designed by People’s Artist of Russia Sergey Barkhin.
A performance that conquered Japan
Nikolai Slichenko’s main goal was to make the whole world talk about his theater. “Romen” toured many countries, including France, India, and Turkey. It was loved; foreign audiences gladly attended the performances. But a very special place in these touring chronicles was taken by the trip to Japan.
“Our first foreign tour was Japan. It was the early 1980s, when only the most reliable were allowed abroad. We had to represent our homeland with dignity. And I vouched for each artist with my head and party membership card. They received us very warmly…” — recalled Nikolai Slichenko.
Before the performance began, the impresario, through a translator, warned the artists that Japanese audiences are very reserved in their emotions, and if the hall is very quiet, it does not mean they don’t like it. The troupe understood this, and soon the curtain was raised.
The narrator Nikolay Sergienko had to perform with a Japanese soundtrack so that the audience could understand what was being discussed. However, the other members of the troupe were completely free in their self-expression, giving the audience all their energy and demonstrating the signature Gypsy temperament.
“Gradually, gradually the audience began to applaud, then more and more. What was happening with them towards the end! They were clapping standing up, with exclamations. When the performance ended, the impresario ran up to them: ‘What have you done to Japan? Nothing like this has ever happened!’” recalls Nikolai Sergienko.
New season
This landmark performance traditionally opened the new, milestone 95th season. Next, the production can be seen on September 12 and 26. In addition, it will participate in the musical theater festival “Seeing Music” on October 17.
In the second half of the season, work will begin on a large-scale project — the play “King Lear” based on the tragedy of the same name by William Shakespeare. The material will be handled by Liliya Bornashova, a laureate of numerous theater festivals. The premiere is scheduled for June 2027, at the end of the season.
Visitors will also be treated to a large retrospective exhibition dedicated to the history of “Roman”. The opening is scheduled for December 1. Guests will be shown unique materials from the archive, never exhibited before. And on December 16, a big anniversary concert will take place, featuring performances by all the troupe’s artists.
“We are preparing very seriously for this concert now. We will be 95 — is that a lot or a little for a theater? In any case, it seems to me that this is a very good, serious anniversary,” said the artistic director.
Roman means gypsy
The story of “Romen” began in the legendary restaurant “Yar” in Petrovsky Park. Every cabman knew that address. The audience of the 19th century adored the bright, dynamic performances of the Gypsy choir — it was not yet called theater. Everything changed by the 1880s, when the artists’ fame reached the Maly Theater. They were invited to participate in the performances of “The Gypsy Baron” and “Gypsy Life.”
In the early Soviet years, artists had their own club, and in 1930 the magazine “New Path” published an article stating that a Gypsy theater would open in Moscow. The idea was proposed by Ivan Rom-Lebedev, conductor of the Moscow Gypsy Choir, actor, and playwright, his brother Georgy, as well as actor and director Moisey Goldblat. Soon, a decree was issued to create a “musical-dramatic Indo-Romani theater-studio.” It was named “Romen” — a word that means “Gypsy.”
However, the first performances were conducted exclusively in the Romani language — only over time did the artists begin to add Russian. A little later, plays based on the works of Alexander Kuprin, Maxim Gorky, Prosper Mérimée, and other classics appeared. Starting from 1940, the Romani language disappeared from the stage.
In 1969, the theater acquired its building on Leningradsky Prospekt — the actors returned to the place where their predecessors once performed, where the “Yar” restaurant was located.
“We ordered ouha au champagne and some tiny game”: what the legendary restaurant “Yar” was like
Today the theater, as in the past, tours extensively, participates in festivals and theatrical laboratories. The troupe includes People’s and Honored Artists of Russia, among them Irena Morozova, Boris Vasilevskiy, Nikolai Shishkov, Artur Buldyzhenko and many others. In the repertoire, besides the legendary “We are Gypsies,” there are equally striking productions such as “Grushenka”, “Witch’s Love”, “Horseshoe of Happiness” and others.
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