Yekaterinburg

State Theatre of Musical Comedy

1933-1985

The Sverdlovsk State Theatre of Musical Comedy was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Ivan Kabakov, First Secretary of the Ural Regional Committee of the Communist Party. The theatre’s establishment was led by Leonid Lukker, a 28-year-old actor of the Sverdlovsk Drama Theatre, appointed director and artistic director. The company was formed outside Sverdlovsk. Its core was a touring troupe from Ukraine registered under the Smolensk Directorate for Entertainment Enterprises. The ensemble was expanded with actors from Leningrad as well as graduates of the Moscow Choreographic School, brought in by choreographer Viktor Tsaplin. For the inaugural production—”Rose-Marie” by R. Friml and H. Stothart, which opened the theatre on 8 July 1933—the theatre engaged Aleksei Feona, a director from the Leningrad Theatre of Musical Comedy. Set design and costumes were created by Valentina Khodasevich and Viktor Basov, the conductor was E.A. Sinitsyn. In 1933, the former Clerks’ Club building was selected to house the operetta theatre, its reconstruction was completed in 1934. In its initial period, the theatre did not have a fully prepared home venue and used rented stages. Alongside classical works, the theatre consistently turned to contemporary repertoire, including productions such as “The Hundredth Tiger” by Boris Aleksandrov (1938), “Akulina” (1948) and “The Bronze Bust” (1945) by Iosif Kovner, “Pansies” by Yuri Milyutin (1964). In 1986, the theatre was granted the title of “Academic.” The Bakhrushin Theatre Museum’s collection holds costume designs, photographs, posters, and programmes related to productions of the Sverdlovsk State Theatre of Musical Comedy