The Impresario (КАТМК)

Theatre director Frank is recruiting singers and actors for his troupe. Yet each performer longs to be the star of the company and receive the highest fees. In response to Frank’s threat to cancel the production, they finally agree to work together, united by their love of high art. The Impresario wittily portrays the intrigues and manners of the theatre world, which, as it turns out, have hardly changed in our own time: the same rivalries, the same capricious and temperamental «stars of the stage.»

In the story, the director and a comic buff vividly discuss the future of the troupe, only to find themselves drawn into a «battle» between two rival singers, each vying for the role of prima donna and the largest honorarium. To put an end to the quarrel, the director is forced to threaten cancellation of the performance and only then do all agree to reconcile and devote themselves to art.