Those who wish are not refused...": "The Riot of Peasant Women" on the Vyoshenskaya stage (To the 90th anniversary of the Rostov Theatre of Musical Comedy)
The performance of musical comedy based on the M. Sholokhov's early short stories, that took place soon after the premiere on the stage of the Palace of Culture at the village of Vyoshenskaya (May 1975), where the writer lived and worked from the mid-1920s, is a significant event for the history of the theatre, for the fate of the writer's legacy, and for the cultural life of the village. The Rostov theatre never gave performances in the hometown of the author of the literary source; amongst the numerous adaptations for stage and screen versions of Sholokhov's works, "The Riot of Peasant Women" was and remains the only musical comedy; the troupe of professional artists with a total number of about 100 people (soloists, choir, ballet, orchestra members) were hosted by the Vyoshenskaya stage, most likely for the first and so far for the last time. The article renews the creation story of the play, which is still included in the repertoire of the Rostov Musical Theatre. Furthermore, on the basis of printed and oral evidence, the author attempts to reconstruct the facts about the tour, establish what preceded and followed it, what form the performance took, what was the reaction of the audience, etc. The difficult negotiations with the writer, whose written permission for the production was needed, and a letter addressed to him by the theater management with the "resolution" by the author of "Don Stories" are reconstituted and presented in the article. The dates of the Rostov premiere and two performances of the play in Vyoshenskaya, and the reasons for the absence of Sholokhov, who was on treatment in Moscow are specified. The sketchily presented context allows us to see this episode of theatrical life as an interesting page of the Don cultural history.