"Why were you not stepping up as soloist?"
DMITRY
Dmitry: "Because... I'm already content. Singing in the middle row, with friends between my shoulders. I can see other people instead just at audience. And I don't want to sing alone. It feels intimidating when I sing alone while my friends behind me."
Interviewer: "But the fame, the salary, and better connection!"
Dmitry: "As long the flour and yeast price not skyrocketing, I am content. As long I can still send money to Stalingrad, I am content."
Interviewer: "What, you have family?"
Dmitry: "...Just a neighbor who used to caring me while my mom working."
Interviewer: (jot down the notes)
VASILY
Vasily: "Because I heard there's a rule about reduce smoking and drinking habit to maintain good voice. I am not going to bent by such rules!"
Interviewer: "But soloist Georgy Vinogradov was popular as alcoholic wine drinker and heavy smoker."
Vasily: "BUT HE IS HANDSOME AND TALL LIKE ELF. I AM SHORTY BALD WITH EYEBAGS!!"
Interviewer: "Okay calm down! Yeah fair enough."
OLEG
Oleg: "I'm already a tenor coordinator. It's already multitasking as chorist too while maintaining my colleagues."
Interviewer: "Well, you can... pass your role to someone else, right?"
Oleg: "My colleagues trusted me more. I am crowd controller and mediator for every conflict among chorists."
Interviewer: "But I got information from Alexander Vasilyevich, you were kept thrown out of the bus because your pranks towards your peers?"
Oleg: "It's their love language. Because of me, they are staying in harmony without hostility. And so, they thanked me by make sure I don't leave them for a such isolating position."
Interviewer: "What."
ANATOLI
Anatoli: "Well, I would love to... but the position already taken by better singers than me. And I don't mad because they do talented! As example... Razumovsky, Nikitin, Laut, Vinogradov, Tverdokhlebov, Verkhulevsky, Kuznetsov, Babayev, Pankov, Lyagin, Shilov, Tolstov, Glazov, Ustinov, Fedorov, Bycheev...."
Interview: (slowly tune down the mic and stepped away)
FYODOR
Fyodor: "I don't need more unnecessary pressure from too much people, I guess."
Interviewer: "But the fame, the salary, and better connection! Moreover you have same surname like a military figure, Konstantin Rokossovsky!"
Fyodor: "Fun fact: tenor soloist Tverdokhlebov literally caught by NKVD three times and sent to Siberia, and somehow he always managed to escape, come back to the ensemble, and finally spared just because Commissars finds it funny."
Interviewer: "What—"
Fyodor: "Another fun fact: our Maestro's subordinate Shulman who usually managing the venues, were caught and kept in Siberia for years. Cannot escape until now."
Interviewer: "That's not connected at all—"
Fyodor: "It does. Having popular surname will make my life harder if I become too popular. So no thank you." (leaves the room)
Interviewer: (Speechless)