Colorful, fun, with great enthusiasm was held in the Turkmen Music and Drama Theater. Makhtumkuli rehearsal of the new musical comedy performance "Marriage", based on the famous play by Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky "Balzaminov's Marriage". The events of the Russian provincial town of the 19th century famously swept on the stage, from the very first minute completely capturing the attention of the audience.

Petty official Misha Balzaminov is a dreamer by nature. He loves to sleep on the stove and watch dreams in which beauties confess their love to him. Perhaps he would have slept in this way until old age, if not for his new friend Lukyan Lukyanych Chebakov. Judging by his manner, the retired captain behaves in life with the same recklessness as when attacking during a battle. Chebakov lured Balzaminov to take part in the removal of his fiancee Raisa from strict brothers. A dog barked desperately in the yard, and Balzaminov, horrified, found himself through a hole in the fence into a neighboring yard, where the rich widow Belotelov was languishing with boredom. Seeing the young man, the widow immediately fell in love with him.

The uncomplicated story ended with a wedding, and the performance ended with an unceasing ovation of grateful spectators for the pleasure of a brilliantly performed funny performance.

We met with the creators of this wonderful performance and asked them to reveal the secret of theatrical success. The main "instigator" of the wedding that took place on stage, director Merdan Khandurdyev, tells:

- In 2019, during the festival in Kazan, where we presented the play "Leyli and Majnun", I saw several performances from Russian classics and literally fell in love with them. I asked myself: “Why don’t we put the same one? Our theater is musical, there are a lot of dancing and singing actors in it, so we can do a musical comedy. And thus the scene of the Turkmen theater for the first time will be enriched with Russian classics.”

We chose the play "The Marriage of Balzaminov" by Alexander Ostrovsky. The main task that I set for the creative team was not so much the transfer of humor as the Russian soul and Russian flavor. Here I want to express my special gratitude to the choreographer Olga Vasilyeva, who advised the actors, achieving the gestures, gait, facial expressions characteristic of a Russian person, the peculiarities of conversation and communication.

Of course, during the production, we used every opportunity to make the audience laugh. Moreover, the entire creative team participated in this process. There was a case when the work on the play captivated everyone and turned into a holiday.

Sometimes our characters turned out to be somewhat exaggerated, and sometimes there was even a fear of not playing too much: it's still a classic! But, it seems to me, everything went within the limits of permissibility.

I am very pleased with the production: firstly, my dream came true, and secondly, I got a lot of like-minded people who were inspired by my idea and helped to make a sold-out performance.

And here, in Balzaminov's make-up, actor Ata Charlyev, who was constantly distracted by his colleagues during the interview, congratulating him on his excellent work:

- This is incredible: I have been serving in the theater for only a year and already - the main role in Russian classics! Of course, I gave 100 percent. Frankly, my hero is very similar to Georgy Vitsin from the old movie "Balzaminov's Marriage". However, Vitsin played Balzaminov so brilliantly that there was no point in changing anything. And I played a worthless funny little man, who was attacked even by dogs, but under certain circumstances he became a balm for the anguish of the widow Belotelova. And yet, in the final scene, I introduced a dance on the wedding carriage from myself. It was my idea to end the performance like that, and everyone liked it.

“I was surprised by the offer to play Belotelov in the play,” admits Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Aysoltan Kovusova. - Probably, I got this role, because I somehow remind our director Nonna Mordyukov from the movie "Balzaminov's Marriage". Of course, it was not easy for me, a Turkmen actress, to play the role of Belotelova. A foreign culture with an image of a heroine uncharacteristic for Turkmens complicated my work. But the advice of director Merdan Khandurdyev and choreographer Olga Vasilyeva helped. In addition, there was an amazing atmosphere at the rehearsals - we were all “infected” with inspiration from our director.

- From the 5th grade, as soon as I watched the film "The Balzaminov's Marriage", I "fell ill" with the desire to play Lukyan Lukyanych Chebakov, - the Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Dovlet Berdyev begins the conversation from afar. - And, finally, fate gave me the opportunity to "embrace the classics" and throw out all the emotions accumulated in Chebakov. I am a film buff, and I consider Rolan Bykov's work on the uncontrollable retired captain as a model, so I tried to transfer the eccentric hero from the screen to the stage. I think I succeeded because I enjoy being in this role.

I am sure that playing the classics is the dream of any actor, besides, the classics are the kitchen, without which acting professionalism cannot take place.

The play "Marriage" is hard to imagine without dancing, music and songs. The dancers literally "flyed" around the stage, capturing the spirit of the audience. Therefore, we also met one of the choreographers, Olga Vasilyeva, who was wearing a Russian sundress with red beads.

- As a ballet dancer, I am very glad to realize my abilities in choreography in the musical and drama theater, she says, - and in the play "Marriage" such an opportunity presented itself. “Flying” dancers is, of course, a ballet that we staged with choreographer Bahar Meretaliyeva. In this performance, everyone went all out. For example, what an exact hit of the musical arrangement of Dovletmammet Okdirov. Famous Russian folk songs "Ah, Samara, town", "Oh, you, Kolya, Kolya, Nikolai!" sounded in Turkmen, but the courage and spirit of Russian did not disappear in them. And what a scene we have! This is the debut of the second-year student of the State Academy of Arts of Turkmenistan Ainabat Dzhumamuradova.

- The director helped me, - Ainabat is modest. But the scenography is really incomparable. The production designer Dzhumamuradova managed to connect the unconnected in one plane: a stove, trees, a well. But it turned out clear. A stove is a house, a well is a yard, trees are a street. However, the wedding carriage in the final struck me the most.

Surely, the play "Marriage" will become a favorite theatrical production in the repertoire of the Turkmen Music and Drama Theater. Makhtumkuli. And the performance of this performance as part of the Days of Culture of the Russian Federation will be proof of the growing friendship between the Turkmen and Russian peoples.