SAN DIEGO ARTS FESTIVAL: Treasures of the Soviet Union : Super Powers Sunday Will Launch Soviet Arts Festival

It’s been almost two years since Mayor Maureen O’Connor unveiled her complex and often controversial plans to mount the “San Diego Arts Festival: Treasures of the Soviet Union.”

On Sunday, she’s celebrating their fruition with a party in Balboa Park, and she’s hoping for 50,000 friends to help her kick off the three-week Soviet festival at Super Powers Sunday.

Starting at 9 a.m., visitors to the park can, at no charge, see many of the performers scheduled to appear throughout the festival. These include the Georgian State Singing and Dancing Ensemble, whose performances have been sold out for several weeks, and the Tbilisi State Marionette Theatre, a band of tiny puppets, also a sellout.

And, although they can’t be seen free, the touted Imperial Faberge eggs will be on display for the first time at the Museum of Art. Tickets for Sunday’s viewing of the 27 jeweled eggs are still available only at the museum.

The mayor even managed to land an appearance from Mickey Mouse, who will lead the opening ceremony procession at noon with Frish, the Russian clown, and Ronald McDonald. Strolling entertainers will roam the park, fest-goers can sample Georgian cuisine and Malcolm Forbes has lent his egg-shaped hot air balloon to the festivities.

It’s been 54 years since Balboa Park has seen a celebration the size planned for Sunday. A total of 59,987 showed up when the California Pacific International Exposition opened on May 29, 1935.

And, on New Year’s Eve 1914, about 31,800 revelers helped kick off the Panama-California Exposition, for which Balboa Park was originally built.

Festival organizers spent $50,000 of the Soviet festival’s $6-million budget on Super Powers Sunday, said coordinator Peg Nugent, mostly to purchase shuttle transportation for visitors who must park downtown.

Super Powers Sunday runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Most Soviet performers will appear between noon and 5. Here are some highlights:

Georgian Folk Dancers--This may be the only opportunity many San Diegans have to see these leaping, saber-flashing dancers. Tickets to scheduled performances during the rest of the festival have been sold out for weeks.

On Sunday, fest-goers can see the 65-member dance troupe free. The adult and child dancers will give separate performances. The first show is scheduled for 12:25 p.m., immediately following opening ceremonies in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

Soviet Prodigies--Airapetianz Ripsime, 14, and Yekaterina Mechetina, 11, are recognized as two of the Soviet Union’s most promising young musical talents. A violinist, Ripsime is a ninth-grade student in a Moscow music school where she has developed a diverse concert repertoire that includes selections by Mendelssohn, Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

(Katia) Mechetina, a fifth-grade student, studies piano at the same music school in Moscow. She began piano lessons at age 4, gave her first concert by age 5, and has played publicly since she was 8.

The girls will perform separately and as a duet Sunday at the Casa del Prado Theatre.

Soviet Marionettes--Sunday marks the first U.S. performance of Georgian Rezo Gabriadze’s Tbilisi State Puppet Theatre. Gabriadze’s popularity in his homeland stems from his ability to write shows that both entertain children and challenge adults. His stories and scenarios revolve around life, work and family themes, and have been made into 30 feature films.

Marie Hitchcock Puppets--Local puppeteer Marie Hitchcock, 78, has been entertaining San Diegans for 41 of her 78 years. Her show honoring the Soviet Festival features a meeting between four Faberge eggs and Humpty Dumpty.

Opera Talents--American cast members from the Russian opera, Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov,” will sing a variety of popular arias and light opera during a 40-minute show on the Old Globe Theatre outdoor stage. Scheduled performers include Stephen West, Martha Jane Howe, Robert Galbraith, Bernard Fitch and Patricia Minton-Smith.

Organizers had originally scheduled Soviet opera performers to entertain as well. But San Diego Opera officials vetoed that plan, maintaining that the Russian singers would be too busy preparing for performances of “Boris.”

Soviet, Mexican and American muralists--Artist Nikolai Ignatov of Georgia has been in San Diego since early October working on a mural commemorating the “Treasures of the Soviet Union” festival, in conjunction with muralists from the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park. The trio of international artists will continue their work Sunday at the Centro.

Georgian Chefs--Six master chefs spent days working with cooks from the U.S. Navy to prepare a feast of Georgian cuisine, including shashlik (grilled lamb on a skewer), basturma (marinated filet of beef cooked over an open flame), and lobio (a bean-and-herb spread). Of course, a sturgeon dish is also on the menu, as well as pomegranate ice cream.

Visitors can sample those dishes for $2 a taste.

For those whose tastes are slightly less adventurous, American favorites like hot dogs, popcorn and ice cream will be available.

Imperial Faberge Eggs and other exhibits--Sunday marks the opening of the Faberge Egg exhibit at the Museum of Art, and tickets for Sunday’s viewing are still available. Adult admission is $5, which includes free admission for one child under 12 years and $2 for each additional child.

Faberge eggs are hand-crafted, decorative artworks made primarily from gold and silver. They are encrusted with precious stones such as rubies, diamonds and pearls. The eggs were created by master jeweler Peter Carl Faberge for the Romanov Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II between 1885 and 1917.

A total of 27 eggs will be shown--believed to be the largest collection since 1917.

In conjunction with the showing of the celebrated eggs, a special exhibition of Faberge gem and mineral carvings will be displayed at the Natural History Museum.

Soviet jewelry in gold, silver and cloisonne enamel can be seen at the B Street Pier Exhibit Hall as part of the “Masterworks in Metal,” display. And an exhibit of Russian lacquer miniatures is being presented by the Museum of Man.

The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and the San Diego Historical Society are sponsoring a display of Soviet and American space art at the Museum of San Diego History, which also is hosting an exhibit of Soviet and American children’s art.

And photographs of daily life in the Soviet Union are on display at the Museum of Photographic Arts in “An Insight into Contemporary Soviet Photography: 1968-88.”

Admission will be charged Sunday for all museum exhibits.

Forbes Hot Air Egg Balloon--International financier Malcolm Forbes owns this egg-shaped balloon, crafted to honor the nine Faberge eggs he has collected. The balloon’s design matches Forbes’ rosebud egg, one of 27 Imperial jeweled eggs on display through January at the Museum of Art.

Street Entertainers--Performers from Sea World and Seaport Village, local bands including the Mar Dels, and children’s choruses from around the county will entertain at sites throughout the park.

Parking--Festival organizers are encouraging people to avoid traffic Sunday by arriving well before the noon opening ceremonies begin. Many of the park’s interior parking lots will be closed to the public on Super Powers Sunday, but free shuttles will be provided from several parking lots downtown.

Free parking will be available at the county Administration Building on Pacific Coast Highway, the San Diego City College parking lot at Pershing Drive and B Street, Morley Field off Pershing Drive and the Metropolitan Transit Board parking lot at 12th and Imperial avenues.

Buses will pick up passengers from these lots and drop them off on Park Boulevard in front of the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater. One bus will carry early-bird passengers from Morley Field at 7:30 a.m. Other buses will start running at 9 a.m., unless demand warrants an earlier start. Buses will run until 7 p.m.

For fest-goers riding the trolley, shuttles will pick them up at the trolley stop at 12th Avenue and B Street near City College.

Maps and programs--Brochures, maps and a schedule of events will be given to everyone riding the shuttle buses. Others can get them in the park at any of 10 information booths. For those who still can’t find their way, 500 volunteers will be on hand to offer directions.

For more information about the festival, call 1-800-245-FEST.