Selling of tickets for "Nord-Ost" resumes

The selling of tickets for the popular musical play "Nord-Ost", the spectators of which were taken hostage by Chechen terrorists in the end of October, will be resumed in Moscow on Tuesday. The first-night show of the renewed musical play will most likely take place in the beginning of February, 2003, General Producer and one of the authors of the first Russian musical play Georgy Vasilyev disclosed to a RIA Novosti correspondent.

As a result of the terrorists' actions and the hostage rescue operation the building of the theatre on Dubrovka street in the southeast of Moscow was badly damaged. At the present moment construction workers are completing the repairing of the building.

The troupe of the musical play is completely staffed, the General Producer said. Nevertheless, there is an extra selection of artists due to the idea to form a "touring" version of the "Nord-Ost" play for staging performances around the country. On October 23d, the performance was stopped at the beginning of the second act, when the terrorists burst into the stage of the Theatre centre. The spectators, artists, musicians and the staff of the theatre, who were present at that moment in the building, were taken hostage by the terrorists. As a result of the special rescue operation, which was carried out on October 26th early morning, 750 hostages were rescued, all terrorists eliminated. 129 people died as victims of the terrorist act.

The first-night show of the musical play "Nord-Ost", which was staged on the basis of the patriotic novel "Two Captains" by famous Soviet writer Veniamin Kaverin, took place in October of 2001. For the year of everyday shows more than 352,000 spectators visited the theatre's performances.