ABSTRACT
The attraction for the public was that several actors of the Maly Theatre would appear together with the members of the Alekseev Circle. There were two theatres, one very large thousand-seater, for operetta, another open-air for melodrama and tales of magic, called the 'Anteus', built to look like a Greek ruin. In both theatres there were productions that were excellent for the time with several orchestras, corps de ballet, choruses and the finest, most talented actors. In the next winter season, in the Moscow dining room theatre, the Alekseev Circle prepared to mount The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan. Family groups, simple folk, aristocrats, 'ladies' of doubtful virtue, young men out on the town, businessmen, all flocked to the Hermitage in the evenings, especially on hot summer days when Moscow was stifling. All Moscow and all its foreign visitors could be found in the gardens.
