History of Theatre
The theatre launched its very first season in spring of 1947, in Lviv. Having already won recognition, the troupe of young people moved to Odesa in 1953, where their creativity came into full play. The plays about Odesa and its people became the theatre’s signature. During their tour to all former Soviet cities the troupe was always received standing ovation. As several plays were made into movies the leading actors gained a countrywide popularity. Talented artists and directors brought success to the theatre. Among them are Izakin Grinshpun, Matvey Osherovskiy, Yuliy Grinshpun, Eduard Mitnitskiy, Viktor Strizhevoy, Semen Shteyn, etc.
Many unforgettable plays and characters were created on this stage. This theatre saw the brilliant performances of Mikhail Vodyanoy, Evgeniya Dembskaya, Yuriy Dynov, Margarita Demina, Vsevolod Primenko, Lyudmila Satosova, Semen Krupnik, Viktor Aloin, and Yuriy Osipov. In 1981 the theatre moved from a small stage in Young Spectator's Theatre to a new specially put up building. And now the Theatre of Musical Comedy is one of the largest and best-equipped theatres in the city.
This theatre has always been a pioneer of genre. The theatre stages classical operettas as well as musicals, rock operas, musical comedies, and fairytales. Today the theatre troupe has a great creative potential. Here people’s artists of Ukraine (Evgeniya Dembskaya, Vikroriya Frolova and Vladimir Frolov, Olga Oganezova, Natalya Zavgorodnaya and Nikolay Zavgorodniy) and honoured actors of Ukraine (Idaliya Ivanova, Alina Semenova, Tamara Tishchenko, Aurika Ahmetova, Viktoriya Podolnaya, Stanislav Kovalevskiy, Sergey Lukashenko, Irina Kovalskaya and Pavel Kolomiychuk) work with the prizewinners of prestigious contests (Ruslan Rudnyiy, Vladimir Kondratiev, Denis Falyuta, Sergey Milkov, Timofey Krinitskiy) and with many young and talented leading singers who recently joined the theatre.
The theatre repertoire includes classical operettas: “The Bat”, “Silva”, “The Merry Widow”; musicals “My Fair Lady”, “Kiss Me, Kate”, “Hello, Dolly!”, “The Canterville Ghost”, “Some Like It Hot”, “An Ordinary Miracle”, “Christmas Eve”; rock operas “Romeo and Juliet”, “Moses”; plays for children, etc.
Today the theatre group is successfully headed by the manager Elena Redko, honoured worker of Ukraine culture, the principal director Vladimir Podgorodinskiy, honoured cultural worker of RF, the principal conductor Vadim Perevoznikov, honoured worker of Ukraine culture, the principal ballet master Igor Didurko, honoured worker of Ukraine culture, the chief choirmaster Yuriy Topuzov, honoured worker of Ukraine culture and also by the chief artist Stanislav Zaytsev, honoured artist of Ukraine.
In 2006 the theatre was awarded an academic status.
Odesa Theatre of Musical Comedy named after Mikhail Vodyanoy is full of creative ideas. We set new goals and broaden our horizons. We are ready for experiments and we want to share our love, optimism and vital energy with our audience.
