Word: rasputine
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Hemophilia, the bleeder's disease, evokes images of royal princes who suffered from this genetic malady, and of the Russian monk Rasputin, who gained influence over Nicholas and Alexandra by convincing them that he could control their son's bleeding. Such aristocratic associations have tended to obscure the grim fact that hemophilia strikes ordinary mortals as well. It imposes enormous physical, emotional and financial burdens on both sufferer and family...
Reactions to Boney M's flashy feathered costumes and funky music ranged from disgust among the elderly to hand-clapping enthusiasm among the younger set. But one song Muscovites did not get to hear was the group's latest hit, Rasputin. Its lyrics run: "Ra Ra Raspu-teen, lover of the Russian Queen/ Here was a cat that was really gone/ Ra Ra Raspu-teen, Russia's greatest love machine." Soviet officials had cautioned Boney M's producer well in advance of the engagement that the tune might not be appropriate for Moscow audiences...
Korchnoi's retinue was equally diverse. It included two young chess experts from England, an Austrian woman who reportedly had spent ten years in a Siberian prison after being convicted of spying for the U.S., and a young Belgian, known only as "Rasputin," whose job was to ward off Zoukhar's "evil eye." A former Soviet grand master who defected to the West two years ago, leaving his wife and son behind, Korchnoi was prepared for all of Moscow's ploys. So unnerving was the prospect of a Korchnoi victory to the Soviet press that it avoided...
...disobey God's commands. David (Suzanne Baxstresser), the young hero of the tale, emerges as a Machiavellian schemer whose love of power makes him patient enough to wait for it. Samuel Steven Weinstein)--in the Bible a wise judge--becomes the string-pulling kingmaker, a self-styled and arrogant Rasputin figure. Lipsky adds the role of Ruth (Phoebe Barnes), a local witch who loves and is loved by Saul, but who loses out to Saul's political ambition and his sense of duty...
...Rasputin of fraud. The straggly hair that frames his craggy Florentine features is a fright wig of deceit. His flamingo legs carry him with awkward zest from sin to sin, while his tongue utters unguentary lies. Yet we are too conscious that he is a self-aware villain, scoring stunning acting points without carrying complete emotional conviction. And Stefan Gierasch's Orgon is not quite the ideal foil. He seems more like an exacerbated paterfamilias who wants Tartuffe to cow his recalcitrant brood rather than a breathless gull hopelessly infatuated by a bogus saint...