The Bolshoi presented it in Moscow a year later. But, Soviet authorities reportedly felt it parodied the bureaucracy, and it wasn't staged again in Russia till Ustinov's production at the Bolshoi in November 1997. Now it's in the Bolshoi repertoire. It is startlingly original, with an emphasis on the avant garde. Much of the credit for that must be shared by designer Oleg Sheintsis.
Courtiers appear in black monks' gowns with miners' head lamps.
There are also riveting special effects. A huge iron ball shoots real flames. The dance sequences by Mikhail Kislyarov are imaginative and energetic, as much Broaway as Bolshoi, and make this an event for ballet aficionados as well as opera lovers. The singers, of course, are up to the Bolshoi standard. As for the political satire, it will always be apropos to poke fun at plotting in the Kremlin.