Reassurance

I should think it sufficient – and sufficiently marketable – that GSO music director Edvard Tchivzhel defected from Gorbachev’s Soviet Union not quite a year before it collapsed, but maybe sufficiency isn’t the issue. Maybe, times being what they are, Tchivzhel’s patriotic bona fides will need to be trotted out at regular intervals until further notice, lest the Putin-wary public put two and two together, get five, and take their entertainment dollars elsewhere.

Otherwise, why the season banner’s emphasis on Tchivzhel’s “choice”? The message seems to be yes, he was born in the bad place, and we’re sorry (and so is he!), but he defected, ya’ll! He’s totally one of us now! He’s on the team! Team USA!

So keep playing that national anthem, Edvard. And keep telling us how we’re the best of all the rest. Loud and proud and often.